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Tsar: A Thriller | 
| Author: Ted Bell
Publisher: Atria
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy Used: $11.45
You Save: $15.50 (58%)
Rating:  201 reviews
Sales Rank: 6331
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 512
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6.2 x 1.6
ISBN: 1416550402
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9781416550402
ASIN: 1416550402
Publication Date: September 23, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Very Good; Very Good Condition - Exactly as Described -- EXACT ISBN MATCH - **Hardcover** -- Dust Jacket has shelf wear at edges and tips of corners. No personalizations, writing or marks in the text. Clean, Tight and Neat. Ships Quickly - IN STOCK - Satisfaction Guaranteed!
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Swashbuckling counter Spy Alex Hawke returns in New York Times bestselling author Ted Bell's most explosive tale of international suspense to date. There dwells, somewhere in Russia, a man so powerful no one even knows his name. His existence is only speculated upon, only whispered about in American corridors of power and CIA strategy meetings. Though he is all but invisible, he is pulling strings -- and pulling them hard. For suddenly, Russia is a far, far more ominous threat than even the most hardened cold warriors ever thought possible. The Russians have their finger on the switch to the European economy and an eye on the American jugular. And, most importantly, they want to be made whole again. Should America interfere with Russia's plans to "reintegrate" her rogue states, well then, America will pay in blood. In Ted Bell's latest pulse-pounding and action-packed tour de force, Alex Hawke must face a global nightmare of epic proportions. As this political crisis plays out, Russia gains a new leader. Not just a president, but a new tsar, a signal to the world that the old, imperial Russia is back and plans to have her day. And in America, a mysterious killer, known only as Happy the Baker, brutally murders an innocent family and literally flattens the small Midwestern town they once called home. Just a taste, according to the new tsar, of what will happen if America does not back down. Onto this stage must step Alex Hawke, espionage agent extraordinaire and the only man, both Americans and the Brits agree, who can stop the absolute madness borne and bred inside the modern police state of Vladimir Putin's 'New Russia'.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 196 more reviews...
 tsar by ted bell January 6, 2009
Jane P. Ylvisaker
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Prescient, fast paced yarn told by ex advertising director concerning the topical situation of Russia flexing its oil rich muscles and lack of regard for human life. A page turner that whisks you away to an almost fantasy world. Ted Bell enjoys his imagination & it shows.
If you're in the mood..... December 31, 2008
Ronald K. Goodenow (Northboro, MA USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Improbability and fun. A hero who could grace the cover of Mens Health, but doesn't practice safe sex. Elegant little best-selling computers with explosive laden hard drives that could destroy America and provoke World War III. A head of British intelligence air headed enough to take a swim with sharks while checking out Jamaican criminals in Bermuda who were trailing a friend. A Secretary of State named Conch, and a new Tsar who writes symphonies while impaling enemies by the thousand (please kids, don't read this)and winning a Nobel Prize for physics. Putin in a radioactive prison with a secret lead-lined cell. Glimpses into the secret (and boring) world of the rich and famous and extreme Russian nationalists. The world just a minute or two from mass destruction. Oh yes, brutal sex, gentle sex, English butlers, the Brooklyn Russian Mafia, lots of booze, right wing geo-political nightmares and, yes, at the very end, Diamonds are Forever. Forget the facts (Bell really messes around with history), play to curiosity and fears, load the torpedoes and full speed ahead.
I have to hand it to Bell. Though it seems like he writes while popping steroids and wolfing down Grade B movie popcorn, he tells a pretty good, if occasionally incoherent yarn, and that's what this genre of entertainment is all about, aside from making money. Forget the stereotypes, and the lucky breaks which make a bittersweet world-saving ending possible, he also writes well. The plot weaves its way through settings which he describes nicely (having spent some time at the Bermuda Yacht Club he describes, I can tell you he got the details nailed perfectly), and there is a pretty appealing and sometimes very human quality to the rather odd group of characters who populate the good side in his books: the gigantic black Stoke and the old Scotland Yard and CIA chums to name a few. Lots of guy stuff in a book, I would think, primarily for those of us of the male persuasion.
So, why not five stars? It just seemed to me that while Lord Alex Hawke is a brave if softhearted soul, neither he nor his motley crew of buddies demonstrate the kind of analytical skills one would hope to find in those selected to run the world's most important and secret spy program. And though the Russians are portrayed as brutal and duplicitous (particularly to each other), it is a kind of fortuitous macho prowess (albeit with the hand of one brave woman) that ends up saving the day.
In other words, something of a good entertaining and utterly improbable romp. But not much more than that.... Until I read in today's NY Times that the Ruskies are threatening to cut off natural gas to Europe, and recent reports say they have sent warships to Venezuela and have bought up half of France....But folks, whatever you do, don't buy a Russian computer for $80. Their free hackers are enough of a problem. And forewarned, you have nobody to blame but yourself. Spend the money on this book and popcorn. And, you won't need the steroids. You already bought 'em.
 We Are Not Far From The Truth, Bradford P. Miller Author "Lessons From Rocky" December 31, 2008
Bradford P. Miller (Palm Beach, FL.)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Another in the Alex Hawke series puts its finger on a very real concern in our 21st Century. Ted Bell sets the stage for an action packed read that will take you on a memorable ride.
With some personal knowledege about Russia, I can say that Ted Bell has been researching his subject and has identified what should be a major concern for the Free World as we all know it. Although fiction, you will be asking yourself whether it is possible for Russia to achieve its objective...and can Alex Hawke stop the Russian Empire.
Strap yourself in for a good read.
Review written by:
Bradford P. Miller, Author "Lessons From Rocky"
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