Rating: 
Summary: BUCKLE YOUR SEATBELTS SWASHBUCKLER!
Review: About time somebody wrote this kind of thriller again-like a fresh breeze. It's set in Cuba not the middle east for starters and there's something kinda nice about some of the bad guys and not so nice about the good guys. It just feels right. Fun, yes. Fast, yes. Worth reading, definitely. Can't wait for the follow-up! Highly recommended for anyone who yearns for armchair adventure rather than politiical science!! Great.
Rating:
Summary: "COULD NOT BE MORE FUN!!"
Review: Word on this thriller is spreading like wildfire and well it should. This book simply could not be more fun and is one of those rare books that actually takes the genre up a notch! Beautifully written with humor and wit and intelligence, you simply do not want it to stop! The hero owes Bond a nod, but is totally fresh and a character all his own. If thrillers are your thing, go get it. Nothing else even comes close!!
Rating: 
Summary: Cliches ahoy!
Review: The protagonist is a cool, suave, super-handsome, young billionaire super-businessman who's descended from a cool pirate, and who works on the side as a secret agent (I was surprised professional polo player was not on the list (though maybe that's back story)). Even his name -- Hawke -- is cool (and his pirate ancestor's is even cooler -- "Blackhawke"). If that doesn't strain your credibility, you may like Hawke.
Regrettably, the author gives us little in the way of his character. But if you're of the school that a man is defined by his yacht or townhouse, you won't have a problem with that either.Then there's the plot -- similarly, a hodgepodge of Bond rip-off. It's by numbers and predicable -- at best. At its worst, entire storylines have no purpose. The pirate backstory, for instance, seems put in because it was cool. It could have been cut and not missed. The treasure is meaningless to this billionaire. The one cool character, his parrot (trite as that may seem) inexplicably disappears a third of the way through the book. On a postitive note, much of it is funny (though unintentionally). The writing is slightly below airport-paperback level. Little in the way of craft. Lots of superflous adverbs and adjectives and stuff like that. But I'll tolerate that for a good story any day. This book will only please the most super-tolerant of thriller-readers.
Rating:
Summary: A Fast-Paced Story with a Totally Engaging Protagonist
Review: Ted Bell is not exactly a household name yet, but he has quietly influenced our world. Bell is the former Vice-Chairman of the Board and World-Wide Creative Director (impressive title) of Young & Rubicam, which is one of the world's leading advertising agencies. You've seen Bell's work at some point and have seen a lot of it. You've probably even bought products because of it. Bell has now turned his hand to writing, creating out of whole cloth an instantly likable, totally engaging character named Hawke. Hawke is Lord Alexander Hawke, a direct descendent of Blackhawke, a legendary English pirate rumored to have buried a stolen treasure on a forgotten island. It is ironic that HAWKE opens with seven-year-old Alexander witnessing the murder of his parents at the hands of modern day pirates bent on acquiring the treasure that Hawke's ancestor reputedly stole from THEIR ancestors. Flash forward to the future. Lord Hawke is fully grown, a decorated British naval hero, and wealthy beyond imagination. He also has no memory of the terrible event that he witnessed as a child. He is experiencing flashbacks however as he finds himself in the same waters where his parents were murdered. This time though, he is on a secret mission on behalf of the U.S. government. A top-secret Soviet stealth submarine has been stolen and appears to be in the hands of a cartel whose aim is to overthrow the Cuban government and launch a preemptive strike against the United States. And the men who are behind this plot are the same men who murdered Hawke's parents. Hawke finds himself racing against time as he attempts to neutralize the sub, forestall the overthrow of the Cuban government and, in his spare time, rescue his lady love, who has fallen into the hands of the rebels. Bell keeps his story racing along a triple track, injecting lots of action and derring-do into the story. It's escapist literature, oh-so-wonderfully done, and appears to be the first of what will hopefully be many tales of Hawke. HAWKE is what, in an earlier and more enlightened age, would have been called a "swashbuckler" or a "ripping yarn." What we can call it however is great, great, great. There are all sorts of terrific influences here --- there's a bit of Jules Verne, a lot of Ian Fleming, and a touch of Robert Ludlum. There's even a homage to Robert Louis Stevenson's classic KIDNAPPED around two-thirds of the way through, but if you blink you'll miss it. Don't blink. And don't miss HAWKE. --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Rating:
Summary: "Outstanding!"
Review: This is a seriously good adventure thriller. I loved every single minute of it and only wish it had kept on going, I was having so much fun. You gotta hope there's another one in the pipeline and and whole lot more...so cool to have Cuba in a thriller since its so close and so believable...Fidel, read this book and start watching your back, buddy. Wow, some book!
Rating:
Summary: "OUTSTANDING READ!"
Review: An awesome adventure thriller that really gets the old blood pressure pumping! This thing'll keep you up all night and home from work the next day if you're not careful...can't wait for the sequel and what a movie!
Rating:
Summary: "FINALLY. A LITERATE ADVENTURE THRILLER!"
Review: Not literary, mind you, but certainly literate, Hawke may not be the armchair admiral's cup of grog,(Yeah, yeah, we know, god is in the spook/weapons/military details, but by god Hawke gets most of that stuff right too!)At its best, this absotively cannot put it down thriller is right up there with the best of the best, no exceptions. It's got characters with real character, intricate plotting that actually tracks, and a flawed hero who should live to fight another day. There's a girl, too, which is all too rare these days. Great start and one can only hope just the beginning...!!
Rating:
Summary: "A 3-D THRILLER AT LAST!"
Review: Finally comes a breath of fresh air in the old spy thriller genre with living breathing characters and dialog that doesn't sound computer generated. Bona fide funny in places. Also refreshing, a plot and a few sympathetic bad guys that don't sound spit out of the old plot machine. It goes down a lot of roads but every one is a trip and you totally enjoy the ride. A peek inside the beltway techno-thriller with chapters ripped from the pages of the CIA training manual it's not. A rip-roaring adventure tale told with heart and humor it is. Read it.
Rating: 
Summary: Silly
Review: This book is a totally mindless read and some may enjoy it for that. The main character is one of the most silly and irritating characters that I have encountered. I must confess, however, that I couldn't finish the book, so perhaps I am being unfair.
Rating:
Summary: "Hawke"... a real clanger
Review: The book "Hawke" by Ted Bell is a thrilling adventure novel. Sadly, the story was poorly edited. Research was really lacking in the novel and errors were so blatant that even average people who read thrillers but are not in the military could notice the mistakes. The word 'obviously' was obviously overused.
In the end one painfully finishes the novel to see what other thriller cliche the author will use.You find yourself looking for errors because you bought the book,you want to finish it,you know the author must have done this on a dare,so you slog your way to the end. I hope Mr. Bell has got "write a novel" off his list of things to do in life because "buy a Bell novel" is sure off my list of things to do in life.
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