Rating: 
Summary: Go Back to Writing Ad Copy
Review: I read through 2/3's of this book and could not continue. This is the most badly written spy/technothriller I've ever read. This dude obviously has never been around real U S Naval Aviators (I was a fighter pilot for 22 years). He doesn't seem to know the difference between an F-18 Hornet and an F-14 Tomcat. Then he figures that the F-14A is the main bird in the flock. If memory serves me the Tomcat version is now F-14D or maybe even later. The A's did not last all that long. All of 'em were upgraded with new engines and a lot of other stuff.
Back to the book the various people on the flight deck wear colored jerseys to conform to their general duties. To clarify, the yellow shirts are aircraft directors, the blue shirts are plane pushers, the red shirts are ordnance, purple is the refueling crews, white is normally medical, and so forth. There are also subsets. The catapult and arresting gear crews wear yellow shirts. Green shirts are for aircraft maintenance people and brown shirts are exclusively for plane captains.
His knowledge of the intel community is farcical. My last 8 or so years with the USN was in with that group and I can tell you that Bell never met a real spook.
Ted Bell obviously got this novel pushed through based on his clout. I highly recommend that he return to writing ad copy rather than taint the world of Clancy, Coyle, Huston, Bond, Cobb, Grady, Griffin, Coonts and Herman. There are many others, but these are the ones I'm familiar with and respect highly.
I suspect that Cussler and Demille were either pressured or bribed to make their false statements regarding this novel.
This novel was a waste of my valuable time and money.
I chickened out and continued reading the book with high hope that it had to improve.
USN aircraft carriers do not have orderlies. They don't utilize ensigns as personal servants for officers. And I'd say that the entire corps of USN ensigns were collectively insulted by using cherubic to describe a smile. Whoo-boy!
I'm trying to figure from under what rock the term, "Let's book." came from. I mean, like you could substitute "rock" or "roll" or both or "do it" or about a jillion other appropriate comments, but "book"? I think not.
The other point is that flight ops aboard a carrier are very carefully crafted and to think that the Kennedy was already at Flight Quarters before awakening our "hero" from a drunken stupor begs the question of how this book got published. Perhaps upon looking at the photo Mr. Bell might figure that everybody else imbibes heavily. In the USN there has been no booze officially allowed on board since sailing ships. There have been occasions, but only under the closest supervision and due to vastly extended at-sea periods.
Rating: 
Summary: "A-Team" Level Story
Review: I found myself wondering whether this book would have made it into print if the author were not a former vice chairman of a global advertising agency. The characterizations are trite, the main character comically overblown, and the action scenes like something out of the "A-Team". There's no sophistication, no subtlety, and seemingly little research to support the book. It's OK to read (although it could have used a stronger editor to fix mistakes, clean up style--Mr. Bell obviously likes to use the word 'obviously'--, and reduce its repetitiveness), but it's a long distance below the likes of Clancy or Ludlum.
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't live up to the hype
Review: The most disappointing thing about Ted Bell's first novel is how low respected authors like James Patterson and Nelson DeMille would go to hype a book that is so silly it borders on the ridiculous. Mr. Bell apparently decided to create a character who fulfilled all his fantasies and place him in a world so overblown with unreality that the plot collapses under its own weight.Alex Hawke, whose ancestors included a famous pirate, somehow goes from professional soldier to billionaire business tycoon in about a decade. He would have been so much more believable if Mr. Bell hadn't tried to make him be everything.
Rating: 
Summary: "Wow! All I Can Say Is WOW!!"
Review: Steve Martin's line from "Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels" is right on for this first work from Ted Bell. I could NOT put this one down until I finished it. Plotting, characterization and pace are outstanding, and the quality of the prose is remarkable for a book of this genre. There has been a real dearth in swashbuckling adventure fiction of late, due, in my opinion, to the current fascination with courtroom drama (which, being an attorney, I CANNOT understand!). "Hawke", one hopes, will bring similar books to the fore, again. I cannot say enough in praise of this one, folks; I only hope that Mr Bell is working hard at the next Alex Hawke book. This book is guaranteed to please any lover of adventure fiction.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Start
Review: Years in the advertising business leave an indellible cast to Ted Bell's writing. Good story but the editor must have run out of red ink. So many concepts and so many unfinished brush strokes make for laborious reading. The author is continually running cleaver ideas up the flag pole to see if the reader will react. Many references may be obscure to the younger reader.
Rating:
Summary: Hawke - A truly excellent adventure
Review: Hawke, like the painting on the cover, is bigger than life. Author Ted Bell has written a captivating adventure that vividly reflects our current political climate and technical achievements, yet is timeless, imaginative, and appealing to all who relish a truly enthralling tale.
Although the devastating loss of his parents at a tender age makes Alex Hawke sweetly vulnerable, our hero is handsome, brave, intelligent, dashing, and at all times a true gentleman. We loved the good guys, hated the bad characters and were enthralled by every turn and twist in this story. We are keeping fingers crossed that we will see much more of Alex Hawke in the future.
Rating:
Summary: action adventure thriller
Review: Seven-year-old Alex Hawke is with his parents on their yacht when his father suddenly takes him into a secret room and tells him to hide. The pirate brothers, (Manso, Juanito, and Carlos) demand the treasure map that the pirate Blackhawke made before his hanging three centuries ago. They claim that BlackHawke stole the gold from their ancestor. They torture, rape and kill the Hawkes but fail to obtain the map, which is with Alex in the secret room. Alex blocks out the tragedy and much of the first seven years of his life. He becomes a powerful and wealthy adult who does intelligence work for the British and the American governments. The de Herrera siblings become a force in the Cuban government having access to millions of dollars. They buy a stealth submarine from the Russians that is virtually undetectable and carries forty nuclear warheads. The trio obtains a biological weapon that they sneak into Guantanemo Bay, which they intend to use if the Americans don't vacate the base and lift the embargo. The Americans use intelligence gathered by Alex to make war plans but it is his destiny to have the final showdown with the men who killed his parents. Move over James Bond, Lord Alex Hawke is on the scene and he is more realistic, believable and personable than Ian Fleming's character ever was. This is an action adventure thriller with the emphasis on action. There is no chance readers will ever feel ennui reading Hawke, a twenty first century pirate novel that takes place on the high seas and in a Cuba where Castro's control is waning. Harriet Klausner
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: Seriously lacking in research and proof reading
Review: Ted Bell's main character, with his 'toys', is an inferior imitation of Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt. I appreciate books that include a map of the story area. Unfortunately, Bell ignores the map and local geography. He tells of a boat sailing in the Straits of Florida that is caught in a hurricane. Hurricanes in the Caribbean move northwest, yet this boat is driven about 800 miles to the southeast toward Hispaniola. A plane is described as taking off from Martinique and flying north over Trinidad and Tabago - wrong, Martinigue is several hundred miles north of these islands. The plane then skirts the southern coast of Haiti and turns due north to the southwest coast of Cuba. Wrong again, the southwest coast of Cuba is about 800 miles to the west-northwest.
This book is so full of holes it woulld sink if it were a boat.
Rating:
Summary: AN ACTION FILLED READING
Review: Actor/voice performer John Shea has said, "When I read a role, I try to find something I can bring to the role and something that the role can bring to me. Something that I don't know anything about and that the character can teach me." Such in depth study and exploration of a character is obvious in his commanding reading of Ted Bell's debut action/adventure "Hawke." Directly descended from the notorious English pirate Blackhawke, Lord Alexander Hawke knows a lot about seafaring, and a bit about skullduggery himself. As a child he witnessed a horrific scene - the brutal murder of his parents aboard their yacht. Hidden in a compartment the boy was privy to the brutality of the crime and the identity of the killers. As an adult and one of the most decorated heroes in England, Hawke returns to the Caribbean waters where his parents were slain. He's on a secret mission for the U.S. government - find a Soviet built experimental sub carrying 40 nuclear warheads before there is mass destruction. Is there any connection between the criminals controlling the sub and the murderers of Blackhawke's parents? Those with a taste for seagoing adventure and international intrigue will find "Hawke" much to their liking. - Gail Cooke
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