Hawke (2003) (Hawke #1) by Ted Bell. h title character is Lord Alexander Hawke. Rich and famous, one of England’s most decorated naval heroes, he is the dream central character for this series of adventure books. This book sets out to set up the characters, define past troubles, give us a world threat, bring in the Russians and Cubans as the bad guys (both very relevant almost twenty years ago) and toss in a love interest.
It is a good fun read. The characters are sympathetic and likable, determined and, in the case of the bad guys, evil, evil, evil. We start in the past when Alex, who has just turned seven, sees the unthinkable happen in front of his eyes. It is so terrible that he erases it from his memory.
Thankfully it also means he then lives with his grandfather,a retired Admiral of the Realm, and grows up have fantastic, bold adventures. He enters the Royal Navy and continues to excel in every bit of harsh training thrown his way. He also becomes super rich and garners very loyal friends, both people he has met on the way and employees he treats with respect and who therefore admire him.
In any ways he reminds me of Batman sans cape and cowl.
Three evil bothers have managed to place themselves as generals and admirals within the Cuban military and are close allies with Castro. But they have plans for a new revolution, with the help of a few, powerful renegade Russians and the arms they are selling. Specifically, one stealth
submarine holding 40 nuclear missiles, now located off the coast of Cuba.
Hawke mission, as he frequently works with both the British and American governments in solving tricky problems, is to destroy the sub. His personal agenda is about retribution against those who caused his nightmares.
This is a fast paced action tale. Hawke is being pitched as a modern day Bond, but with an almost unlimited amount of funds at his instant disposal, and a team of heroic cutthroats willing to go into Hell for him, but without the resemblance to Hoagy Carmichael. ( )

I found this entertaining (even if others reviewed it harshly). Few books I read get a solid 5 stars (they really have to 'Wow' me). Overall, however, this held my interest, and I will read others. ( )

I picked up this novel as a Kindle after finishing all the Alistair MacLean and Ian Fleming novels and searching for a new author to collect - Ted Bell will not be that author. This book is corny, cliched and I am frankly amazed that it has had any follow-ups. I was troubled by all the inaccuracies in the book. A case in point, early in the book our hero Alex Hawke chastises a companion for smoking saying that cigarettes were the cause in John Wayne's death. Whilst Wayne did die of cancer, it was stomach cancer and not lung cancer, and most people accept that Wayne's involvement in the 1956 film The Conqueror close to the Utah atomic bomb tests was the cause for his cancer (a disproportionate number of the people who worked on the movie died of cancer brought on by exposure to the radiation from the tests). The book is peppered with similar inaccuracies showing poor research on the author’s part. Added to that is the fact that our hero Alex Hawke is possibly the most wholly unlikeable hero I have ever come across in fiction. He is rude, crass and intolerant. In meeting two Russian agents for a shady arms deal Hawke makes fun of the fall of the Soviet Union and Russians in general. Although I am no fan of the Soviet Union or communism it’s jarring and amateurish to see the authors obvious personal bias showing so clearly through the work. Earlier in the novel he has a U.S. Navy lowlife make fun of Chinese people. Although I can forgive Sax Rohmer and the like for their overt racism, they were a product of their time. Bell wrote the book Hawke in 2003 and his writing seems hopelessly out-of-step with modern sensibilities. Added to that is the fact that Hawke works simultaneously for both the British and American governments. For goodness sake make your mind up Hawke. I can buy an agent that works for one or the other, or an agent that is temporarily on loan to one from the other. Since Hawke is an Englishmen I would have preferred if he just worked for British intelligence in his off-time and once I awhile does a few jobs for Uncle Sam that are in-keeping with British interests. I have since discovered Desmond Bagley whose novels are much more to my liking and having much more fun reading Bagley's adventure novels. ( )

In the quest for a superhero, the author has given his character too much history and too many qualifications. The writing seemed to come from an amateur, obsessed with John Wayne and James Bond. The pages seemed to be a collection of clichés, interrupted by name dropping. I wonder if by the end of the book, he named every star in Hollywood. I didn't even like the title. After reading 10%, I gave up. ( )

Just awful...totally cheesy. Still mad at myself for wasting the time to plow through it all. I really don't understand how this became an 8 book series. ( )