Books Pirate: A Thriller (Hawke)
Books and Publications Average Rating:

Rating: - Ok thriller but has major problems
I just finished the book (unabridged audio version)and found it to be an OK thriller provided you can overlook the major faults with the weapons and tactics used in many places in the book. There are more problems and plot holes with this book then there are with a book by Clive Cusler.

For example the US military loans Hawke a preproduction model of the F35 to fly into a hostile foreign airfield to test the status of the now fly zone and how they will react to the US. First he's not really trained on the plane which even the author admits flies substantially different than less advanced fighters, but the bad guys (foreign nations) would just about do anything to get a working version of the plane which he had planned to land in their laps. Later in the book there is an insane (from a military standpoint) intent to use a super gun with 120+ mile range to cover the 20 mile wide Strait of Hormuz. Not only wouldn't it be appropriate to use it there the installation parameter and the relatively flat trajectory the gun installed where it's supposed to be would negate the effectiveness and range of this gun which was in the real world is intended to launch it's shell in a ballistic trajectory. Beyond the faults with the weapons there are other problems that our hero solves in impossible ways or in impossible time periods. The damage to the auxiliary engines latter in the book is just one glaring example.

The book is like a James Bond movie. It works if you don't care about the details. This was the first and will be the only book I read by Ed Bell.

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Rating: - Turn off the brain and enjoy the ride.
Pirate was my second Ted Bell book to read after Assassin and was a better written book overall.

Once again, Alex Hawke is thrown into another crisis in the volitile world in which he lives. Madmen are teaming up with rogue governments to consolidate power and try to regain respect in the world if by way of the sword and the book moves at a pretty fast clip.

The thing that I couldn't shake throughout the entire book was the fact that Hawke is in his early thirties and carries the resume of a cia retiree. It drove me nuts! I'm in my early thirties and started thinking "What have I done with my life?" Hawke is personal friends with the President of the US who utilizes Hawke and his team to figure out this French / China connection; Hawke is trusted enough to fly a brand new design of a US fighter jet where he is known by the US Navy from previous exploits; His friends are Vietnam Vets and senior Scotland Yard detectives; and he travels around in his personal yacht converted over to a personal battleship. Hey, must be the money!

Anyway, this is a fun read that goes well with a beach and a beer, just turn your brain off and you'll do fine.

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Rating: - A Big Letdown
Compared to Ted Bells other books, this was a big letdown. I hope his next book is better.

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Rating: - Drivel by any other name is still drivel
Ok, let's create a thriller. Throw in a 4th rate James Bond, using the Ian Fleming style of product placement, an extremely silly plot - the French! the Chinese! World Domination! - and some hack writing and here you are.

The wooden villans can not shoot straight (although they are armed with machine guns). Our hero never misses. His character is lacking. For example, (spoiler alert...just kidding) to rescue the tortured CIA agent he is able to walk onto a Chinese ship (in the harbor of Cannes - Thank God the Chinese decided to hang out with their captive) after stabbing two men. He then rushes the pilot house (oh yeah, best place to keep a captive, a place with huge glass windows). There he is overpowered, but luckily one of the villans decides to monologue. The friendly Navy Seal (I hear that they are great to have around in times like these) intervenes. Our hero has a moment of thought when he sees the villan on the ground - he hates to kill in cold blood (um, what about the two guys on the dock?). Our hero continues to look for the captive and finds him in a closet. One of the bad guys is shooting at them, but the hero is able to shoot him, whipping his Walther out in less than a second, from a rubber boat before his friendly Navy Seal (who is slow to respond to a machine gun - I guess he was sick that week in training) is killed.

If you have time to kill, and do not require much besides the occasional "blow stuff up", this is the book for you. If you require that the author writes proper English, creates characters, has a sense of place and setting, then pick up someone else. This one wanders off into French-hating, evil Chinese, and a plot defined by twelve monkeys and a typewriter.