Warlord-Ted Bell

Warlord
Ted Bell
Morrow, Sep 14 2010, $27.99
ISBN: 9780061859298

Prior to his last mission, British spy Alex Hawke met Russian artist Anastasia Korsakova on a Bermuda beach while on R&R. He falls in love with her, but his case inside the New Russia puts him against her father Count Ivan Korsakov. While he completed the mission, his beloved Anastasia dies (see Tsar).

Almost a year later, Hawke remains depressed with his only companion a bottle of rum that rarely numbs the pain inside his heart. He wants nothing to do with the espionage game until his royal friend Prince Charles begs him to help as someone threatens to assassinate the Royal family. Normally one to ignore such intimidation, Charles explains that somehow the culprit left a tome with a signature identical to the one belonging to his late uncle, Lord Mountbatten, who was murdered three decades ago. Hawke leaves Bermuda for London to begin his search for the mysterious killer. At the same time the Sword of Allah unites with the Taliban and al-Qaeda to form an evil alliance terrorizing the world.

The latest Hawke espionage thriller is an exhilarating tale that combines news headlines with the historical killing of Lord Mountbatten inside a super spy tale. Hawke’s battle with suicidal depression feels real as he lost his love while killing her father so has welcomed a Russian death squad since he returned home to Bermuda. Now, only a special case called in by the Prince of Wales can get him back on the job and out of his crippling grief. Once in London, he reverts to Hawke super counter espionage agent. Warlord is a fabulous action-packed entry, but it is the fight within the hero’s soul that makes it special.

Harriet Klausner