• Warlord

  • Alex Hawke, Book 6
  • By: Ted Bell
  • Narrated by: John Shea
  • Length: 16 hrs and 51 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (972 ratings)

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Warlord  By  cover art

Warlord

By: Ted Bell
Narrated by: John Shea
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Publisher's summary

Alex Hawke has all but given up on life. The British-American MI6 counterterrorism operative lost the woman he loved almost a year ago and has sought refuge at the bottom of a rum bottle ever since. But late one night at his home on Bermuda, he receives a wake-up call... literally.

His Royal Highness Prince Charles, an old friend, desperately needs his help. The prince has discovered a not-so-subtle threat directed toward the British royal family. What’s more, the evidence reveals an ominous connection to Charles’s godfather, Lord Mountbatten - the beloved family patriarch assassinated by an ingeniously designed bomb 30 years before. A shadowy figure from the past has the British crown in his sights, and has proven once before that his warnings are not to be taken lightly. Several clues point to IRA involvement, but the authorities have little to go on and answers are scarce. This is just the call to duty Hawke needs to get back into action - if the madman doesn’t strike first.

Take another thrill ride with Alex Hawke.
©2010 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Bell's fine sixth thriller featuring swashbuckling British spy Alex Hawke mixes action and suspense with just the right amount of humor and old-fashioned boys-book adventure." ( Publishers Weekly)
“A James Bondish adventure brought up to date…. A meaty, entertaining thriller…just the thing for fans of Ludlum, Trevanian and Fleming.” ( Kirkus Reviews)

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What listeners say about Warlord

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Overall
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

I got my Alex Hawke fix!!!!

I am a huge fan of this series. Im sorry the first book is not on audio tape ("Hawke"). I highly suggest this book first before listening to the audio tapes in order. It will add much to your listening pleasure and understanding. That said, I was as entertained as always with this newest offering. Warlord is my ulltimate fantasy. Alex Hawke is a character I would definitely not mind knowing in real life-handsome with charisma, insanely rich, adventurous, etc., etc. John Shea does an excellent job of narrating this book. I can't believe he isn't British. He really does a great British accent. Ambrose and Hawke sound like the real thing. My other favorite character is Stokely. My only comment is that I wish there had been more conversation between Stokely and Hawke. The two interacted together more often in previous books. The communication between the two is pure genius. I always laugh so hard I end up in tears. Although both are equally amusing in this book, I wish they had more time together. Maybe in the next book, since this one is a cliffhanger@@ I really hate to have to wait til the next book to find out what happens.
Ted Bell has a wonderful imagination. I hope he keeps on with this series. James Bond has nothing on Alex Hawke. He has a personality that women will find irresistable, and men will envy. I do not want to give away the plot. You will not be disappointed. The perfect escape !

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

right wing bodice ripping cartoon epic

The book often devolves into a right wing vehicle used to rant about the greater fanatical Islamic conspiracy. The heroic cartoon characters are courageous and extremely well proportioned. Somehow Hawke, our thirty-eight year old hero has been everywhere and done everything even though some of those things are only possible with time travel given his youth. Think James Bond, the author did but Hawke falls short just as the prose would embarrass Ian Fleming. Stoke, a secondary character, was a medic in Vietnam and still in the prime of life circa 2009. In sum, if you can suspend disbelief, get past stock characters, sex scenes that border on comedic bodice rippers and right wing ranting, this book is for you.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Waiting for # 5

On a scale of 1-5 Warlord is a 6. Bell has absalutely done it again!!! This is the best of the series and will keep you laughing or intrench until the very end. Thank you Mr. Bell for such a wounderful batch of caractors with a narrator that is unmatch in a story that can only come from the vivid mind of Master Dr Bell.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Author's unreasonable fear has ruined the series.

With this book, Ted Bell has ruined what had been a mostly entertaining series. The other books, of course, have veins of right wing fanaticism running in them, but this book crosses the line. When he has Stokely take a prisoner into international waters just so he can torture him for information -- that's when I turned the book off. Save your money and turn on Fox news if you need a right wing fear fix.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Entertaining

The plot is simple and entertaining but sometimes the author makes it difficult to follow by sudden jumps from past to present. For this type of novel, some situations are hard to believe as plausible, but is good reading. The narration by Mr. Shea was excellent.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent listen

Wow... is this a movie or going to be? This is everything the action movies of today are and more. Stokes is my absolute favorite! I have stayed away from the current wave of terrorist novels because I see enough of that on the news. I listen for entertainment and suspense. This book has opened a new world in listening for me and I will be enjoying another one of Mr Bell's books soon. - it really SHOULD be made into a movie, though!
John Shea has to be one of the best male narrators as well. Kuddos for an excellent listen!

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Won't dissapoint!

Great book! Fast paced and action packed! Alex Hawke never dissapoints and neither does Ted Bell! I absolutely love the ending and set up for the next book, I'll be waiting anxiously for it! Back to Russia (Hint)!

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Another fun adventure of Lord Hawke

I have been hooked on Lord Hawke since the first of the series. Sure, they can be a bit corny at times, and this is no exception. But my life had to be put on hold for 2 days while I listened to it. The narrator did a great job. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Can't wait for the next adventure, which was revealed in the last few minutes of the book.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Betcha Saw This Coming …

… if you listened to “Tsar” first. Yes, the predictable surprise-ending to “Warlord” will probably come as no surprise at all to anyone who has listened to the previous episode in the Alex Hawke series (after all, he never 𝙙𝙞𝙙 actually see the body, did he?); but never mind: “Warlord” still provides us with rip-roaring good entertainment. However, starting with “Tsar,” I would suggest that you need to listen to the Alex Hawke series in order … In other words: Listen to “Tsar” before you listen to “Warlord,” so you will fully understand why Alex is moping around so badly in the first chapter, and why the last chapter comes as no surprise. Also, prepare to suspend disbelief entirely for the whole Alex Hawke series. Although author Ted Bell does do his research, and comes up with some pretty scary scenarios for his novels — based on actual real-world situations — he then extrapolates potential threats to their worst-possible outcomes; at which point Alex Hawke, & Co. must step in to save the world — 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣 — at the last moment. Good stuff for all thriller-lovers!

Some reviewers have accused Ted Bell of right-wing racism. While Bell certainly does lean considerably to the right; and one could legitimately accuse him of testosterone-poisoning — and maybe even a bit of misogyny (which kinda goes with the testosterone-poisoning, right, ladies?) — I must disagree with the racism accusation. I think, rather, that Mr. Bell is fiercely patriotic and just plain fed-up with all terrorism and any “P.C” tolerance for terrorists. To quote one of the minor characters in “Warlord:”

“They hated the country, the people, and the government, from what he had read in the Daily Mirror. Terry had an idea: If they didn’t bloody like it here — didn’t like our flag, our religion, our way of life — pack up and go home! He had never expressed those feelings out loud, of course — very un-P.C., as his wife would say. But he was beginning to wonder about this whole “P.C.” movement. He thought that it was ruining everything … especially the truth.”

As a dyed-in-the-wool liberal, I none-the-less tend to agree with Mr. Bell on this issue. To mis-quote Winston Churchill: “Anyone who is not liberal in their youth has no heart. Anyone who is not conservative in their maturity has no brain.” Experience does, hopefully, teach us a thing, or two; including the hard lesson that tolerance has its limits. On the other hand, Mr. Bell needs to exercise some anger-management in his proposed solutions to the terrorism dilemma, lest we emulate the terrorists themselves. Do terrorists deserve due-process? Obviously not. Should we apply the same torture-techniques to the terrorists that they use on their hostages? Hmmm …

Animal-lovers, stand forewarned about this audiobook: I have deducted a star from my rating of “Warlord,” because of the scene where Alex Hawke & Co. murder their pack-animals, in order to provide a bullet-bulwark against approaching Afghan Mujahideen fanatics. As a devoted animal-lover and animal-rights activist, I could not bear this scene, and will never listen to this audiobook again, because of it. To me, murdering or hurting other animals differs in no way from murdering or hurting our fellow humans: Both are criminal actions — every bit as evil as terrorism — and devising a literary predicament where murdering animals provides the only solution sends a wrong message. I therefore recommend against this audiobook to all animal-lovers, although I generally recommend the Alex Hawke series to thriller-lovers.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Typical Alex Hawke, Wanna be Bond...

This book was one of my favorites even though the suspension of disbelief must be pretty high, this book & 'Pirate' are not bad & 'Tsar' rounds it out to the top 3 I think in the Bond Wanna-be books... Stokley is still the coolest character, any large special forces black man the size of an armoire with an extremely funny sense of humor. Since all the Hawke books are average comparable speaking to most other books of this Genre I'm going to write a small spoiler, I would borrow 'Tsar' from the library just to hear John Shea's voice for Vlad Putin & the conversation he has with Hawke in Energetica

This book is not bad because its the book that comes right after 'Tsar' & how he ends up coping with what happens in that particular book & what it takes to get him back in the saddle or his Aston again... seriously, some people say he's not a bond wanna-be? The only reason he isn't is because he needs the other characters to get his jobs done, everyone from the family butler since he was a child, to Stokley Jones, to Harry Brock, to Congrieve... The concept of this book is OK although I don't think it would ever happen with the type of security a country like England has nowadays... Also the way America just trusts him is takes some suspension of disbelief because America is all about its own, it doesn't want a James Bond it wants a John Rambo lol...

The book does reveal where Hawke gets his hatred towards certain people & his past regarding his family & what happened to them... so if u were wondering about that, its revealed in this book, I would recommend this book for purely entertaining purposes... u will not venture into ur inner thoughts or give u a smile for revealing what family is all about... its a James Bond like book that will end like they all do... Hawke lives by the way *** spoiler lol ***

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