Rating: 
Summary: Assassin belongs in the Trash bin
Review: Clipped sentences, and conversation-style writing, this is the worst written novel I have ever started. Though the plot seemed plausible, I couldn't get beyond how terribly it was written. I'm amazed that trash like this even gets published, the pros, and descriptions of action scenes were horendous, and the characterizations were cartoonlike.
The author, as well as main character have a 'Center of the universe' ego, but what bothered me most was that the author made it a point to use the Lord's name in vain, as often as possible, something few authors do, because it is unnecessary, and uncalled for.
Read instead, anything written by Clive Cussler, a much better, and more reverent author. Cussler, leader of National Underwater Marine Agency(NUMA), lives his adventures, and embellishes on them to make them more exciting for the reader. Cussler also takes care to not insult his readers beliefs, or sensitivities, something Bell considers immaterial when writing his trashcan fillers.
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing Even Comes Close!
Review: ABSOLUTELY NOT TO BE MISSED!! A great tale well told with a hero that will get you standing up on your chair and cheering. Superb second installment in a thrilling new series!!
Rating:
Summary: A book Tom Clancy would've written
Review: ...in high school. I intended to hammer on the abundance of cliches in this book, but others have beat me to it. I short, if you can relate to a rich, pedigreed, intelligent, handsome, decorated war hero with zero character flaws, than Ethan Hawke is your man. And no, a penchant for margaritas is not a character flaw.
I actually shouted at the book out of frustration a couple times. Imagine your father or grandfather trying to rap or talk teenage slang, and you'll get an idea of how awkward some of the dialog feels. It gave me a nosebleed just trying to read the parts featuring the "Stokely Jones'" character.
This was the first and last Ted Bell novel that I'll ever read. Shame on you Glenn Beck for talking this up so much on your radio program.
Rating: 
Summary: fast-paced action-adventure thriller
Review: American Ambassador to Italy, Stanfield goes out for a late drink after a tryst with his mistress, but is killed by a smart missile that specifically targeted him. Alex Hawke and Dr. Victoria Sweet exchange "I Dos" when a sniper kills the bride. In Saudi Arabia, American Ambassador Butch McGuire drops dead from having his internal organs fried.Secretary of State Consuelo de Los Reyes asks the grieving Hawke to join Jack Patterson on investigating the assault on the United States diplomatic corps. Hawke agrees. However, in the meantime in Maine a female teen babysitter slaughters Deirdre Slade and her two preadolescent children; the victims are the loving family of a diplomat. The Sweet killing evidence points to Cuban exile Scissorhand while the ambassador murders look like the work of bin Wazir. Though he prefers to go to "Little Havana" to confront Scissorhand, Hawke lets friends handle that while he tries to stop further assassinations from occurring even as the intrepid ambassador to France Duke Merriman dies from phosphorus fire. ASSASSINS is an exciting action-packed and nonstop tale starring a terrific series of heroes and an even better band of killers. The story line is chilling in many ways as the assassins are pretty women who one would never suspect as killers yet their loyalty is to bin Wazir or his superior, his father-in-law the Emir, a believer in a Moslem only world. The satirical spoofing of the first novel (see HAWKE) never occurs, as this is more of a straight shooter. The dual plots come together although the Sweet murder seems overkill and pale vs. the more clever kills. Action-adventure readers will enjoy this testosterone vs. estrogen thriller. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Another Great Read
Review: Bell has done it again ! Assasin is a great follow-up to Hawke. Bell is getting better tying things together and not creating the odd timeline problem.
Assassin is a lot of fun to read and is fast paced. The language is a neat feature in that as the plot follows a particular character the language of the novel is in the dialect of the character. I found this technique made the work move better and I think displayed a under appreciated talent on the part of Bell.
Rating: 
Summary: Lame.
Review: Gee thanks Glenn Beck (sarcasm)... Love your show but your taste in books just plain suks.
DON'T waste your money on this book like I did. BELIEVE ME, there is a reason this book is so far down on the sales chart (Like four-thousand-and-something... No joke, check for yourself.) Hawke is no Bond, he's vague and unlikeable, as are the rest of the characters, In fact I had to keep reminding myself who the main one was because Hawke is about as active as a friggin sloth for 90% of the book.
This book is actually at a grade school reading level, and might be considerd half decent if judged by those standards, but IT'S NOT. Don't bother.
Rating:
Summary: Totally disappointed!
Review: I also bought this book based on Glenn Beck's hype of it and am now considering ending my Insider account with him. You can't tell me Glenn really thought this book was great. And to tell all of his listeners everyday for the last coulpe months how incredible this book is - what a joke. He's a total sell out. Maybe someone who has never read another book in their life might find these characters interesting, or the story line thrilling - but honestly it read like a bad Steven Seagal movie made into an even worse book.
Rating:
Summary: Why was this book printed and sold?
Review: I am a book lover of over 75 years and have read gloriously written, deeply interesting fiction. This garbage is at exactly the opposite end. Consider this:
1. A huge bodyguard is allowed by his superfat Muslim master to call him "The Dog". No Muslim would allow anyone to call him a dog, because dogs are unclean animals. Off would come the head.
2. Snay bin Wazir.... Snay is a Muslim name? A "wasir"is an administrative title, not a name.
3. Tippu Tib actually existed in the 19th century and was a mass-murdering businessman who made his fortune in the elephant-tooth trade, in part with the support of Belgian interests in the Congo. Here he resurfaces as Tippu Tip helping his master in the wholesale slaughter of elephants. This is accomplished by driving a large herd by Alouette helicopters into a pre-planted minefield - what a delicious irony: a Francophile superhero on the one hand and French choppers on the other.
Every imaginable heartstring-plucking, hug-the-trees stuff is there. His "hero" has already been taken apart by other reviewers, so I abstain from judging this guaranteed sterile superman who has no soft spots or, God forbid, vices. Oh, and let's not forget the bevy of super beauties who would bring smallpox to America if it weren't for the said superhero.
Had enough yet? If you are a certified, institutionalizeable moron, you buy this book.
PS: I am getting very tired of seeing books on the market that have no value whatsoever and are printed only (so it seems) to get money from the unsuspecting public in order to fatten the purses of some publisher/editors son-in-laws or cousins. Sad state of affairs in the publishing business.
Rating:
Summary: Carelessly Written
Review: Ted Bell seemed to have done a lot of research for Assassin, yet the book is about as believable as a typical Bond movie. There is a lot of detail, as though Bell is aiming to be Clancy-like, but the way characters and agencies (good and evil) respond to events is more fantastic than realistic. The ability of the bad guys to produce techno gadgets is implausible, the fight sequences are almost laughable (Austin Powers' judo chop is featured often), and everyone who's anyone happened to have met once back when they were nobody.
Most of that is forgivable, if distracting. What's not forgivable is frequent inconsistency. Example: An unarmed Hawke finds a Browning pistol, fires it until its empty, throws it away, and two pages later shoots a bad guy with it. Hmmm.
What should be a climax just churns. The evil genius tells his boss towards the end that the nuclear threat we've been reading about is too unstable, so he didn't finish it, but that's OK, instead he has a mutant virus. Yes, that was the first mention of the mutant virus. If that ruined the plot for you, well, it did for me too. As did the revival of the nuclear threat towards the end, when it becomes clear that the virus isn't going to get anywhere.
Fun hear and there. Chilling here and there.
Ar not goin to read more of des Hawkes books, mon.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written and vastly entertaining!!
Review: This is the kind of thriller you dream of finding: a compelling story, lucidly and vividly written, a hero worthy of the best of them (Move over, Bond) and humor and surprising wit and wisdom on every page. One review said Hawke redifines the modern thriller. Couldn't say it better myself!
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