Hawke

Alex Hawke, Book 1

De: Ted Bell

Narrado por: John Shea

"Hawke is a fast-paced adventure...truly an exciting listen", says Nelson DeMille. "Rich, spellbinding, and absorbing, Hawke is packed with surprises", raves Clive Cussler. Listeners beware, this stunning, high-caliber thriller is not recommended for the faint of heart.

Lord Alexander Hawke is a direct descendant of the legendary English pirate Blackhawke and highly skilled in the cutthroat's deadly ways himself. While still a boy, on a voyage to the Caribbean, Alex Hawke witnesses an act of unspeakable horror. Hidden in a secret compartment on his father's yacht, Alex sees his parents brutally murdered by three modern-day pirates. It is an event that will haunt him for the remainder of his life.

Now, fully grown and one of England's most decorated naval heroes, Hawke is back in the same Caribbean waters on a secret mission for the American government. A highly experimental stealth submarine, built by the Soviets just before the end of the Cold War, is missing. She carries 40 nuclear warheads and is believed to be in the hands of a very unstable government just 90 miles from the American mainland. Hawke is in a race against time. His mission: Find the deadly sub before a preemptive strike can be launched against the US, and confront the murderous men behind the personal nightmare that haunts him before they find him first.

Featuring breathtaking action, international intrigue, and a hero worthy of the very finest adventure fiction, Hawke heralds the exciting debut of a bold new talent.

©2003 Theodore Bell (P)2017 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved

Predictable, labored

A great deal of silliness ensued, under the guise of derring-do and high adventure. Amusing if you have time to kill and the patience to listen to wordy cartoonery and relentless misogyny a la cigar-smoke-filled boys clubs.

Hawke! Charming, lovable and gritty to the core.

This Hawke series is destined to be a great one. If the first book represents where Ted Bell could take the character Alex Hawke, I know I will listen to all of them! Bravo.

long

I made it through but it was long for no reason. I would have edited out a lot of the flowery detailed descriptions of irrelevant places and objects

meh...

narrator was meh. no real backstory on main character. just expected to buy into him being a badass.

Tedious and jerky

Hard to listen to with big tough oh no can't handle this I am damaged line flowing through it. The technical errors were a bit much as well.

Great story

terrific tale with brilliant, witty and full characters brought to life by the many voiced narrator.

great performance by narrator

Intriguing story from the first chapter. equally great performance by narrator. hopefully there will be another

Hawke & John Shea

Riveting story make perfect by John Shea's narration. The way he could change accents & voices made the story come alive.

Predictable with somewhat irritating narration

While this is somewhat entertaining summer fluff, I found the plot very predictable with caricature characters. A 37 year old hero who has had time to become a carrier pilot, complete SBS school and amass a business fortune? Really? I can suspend belief in the interest of a fun read, but the narrator reads all black characters with a laughing shuck and jive accent (even the SEAL, NYC cop) which I found irritating and distracting.

Hawke

Hawke is book one of the Alex Hawke series consisting of about a dozen books at this writing. Hawke is a handsome-type A personality-good guy with a small circle of quirky friends that gets bad guys with limited shoot-em-up stuff.

Plot – Book 1: Lord Alexander Hawke, as a seven-year-old boy, witnesses the horrific, brutal murder of his parents while on a Carribean cruise. Fast forward. Hawke is now a black-ops operator for the English government and is working undercover, again in the Carribean, for the United States.

Liked. Narration by John Shea is excellent. A good story that stands alone, no cliff hanger, although there are subsequent adventures to follow. Lots of intrigue and action. Hawke is more a military-experienced Sherlock Holmes than a tough guy. Not so hot. Although Hawke is supposed to be Ted Bell’s version of a Mitch Rapp, Jason Bourne, etc., he is not. Hawke makes me think of a privileged guy that probably went to the best private schools and wears patten-leather shoes.

Written by Ted Bell, narrated by John Shea, 16 hrs and 37 minutes of listening in unabridged audiobook format, released in February 2018 by Brilliance Audio. If you’re looking for an espionage hero who has a touch of British humor and sophistication, worth a look.