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Tsar: A Thriller | 
| Author: Ted Bell
Publisher: Atria
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy Used: $12.94
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Rating:  147 reviews
Sales Rank: 761
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
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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 142 more reviews...
 Great Read! November 19, 2008
W. Wiggins (USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is the first Ted Bell book I have read. It won't be my last! Well written, great subject matter and a very intriguing story.
 Not a bad book -- not a good book. November 18, 2008
D. P. Schroeder (Amidst the Carolinas)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Bell has an excellent premise for a novel, but his execution in writing a story around it really disappoints. I have never read a Ted Bell tome before, so I cannot compare this with his previous ones, but after reading this, I just can't see myself picking up another.
It's not BAD writing, but it's completely lackluster. Part of this reaction on my part could be the letdown from the chain of endorsements on the cover, particularly Glenn Beck's "Think Tom Clancy and Robert Ludlum meet Stephen King." Ok, Bell may be in the same league as Stephen King, but I see nothing that suggests he remotely has the plotting or suspense-weaving talents of either of the first two writers.
Probably more on target is the NYT's "Very Bond-like." This is true, in a sense. In almost every scene, I felt I was reliving some part of a Bond movie I'd seen before (I'm not accusing the author of copycatting!) but couldn't quite remember. However, this feeling also was tinged with that of farce: there's so much hyperbole surrounding many characters as to make them almost cartoonish. In fact, I can't imagine this book being made into a movie unless the visual vehicle was animation.
A thriller? No. That's an insult to the genre. Only one thing in the book actually surprised me (I won't be a spoiler), and the only "pulse-pumping" kicked in for maybe the last 60 pages. So if only 60/486 pages are "thrilling," how should one characterize the book?
One off-putting thing for me -- the "romance" content. There is very little romance, which is fine, but what there is is mainly one of two types, fairly evenly distributed: what I'd call the adolescent and the forbidden (this latter not being "romance," but I can't sling out the real label since this is a public board). The first defines itself; the latter would probably be best euphemistically described as non-consensual. Neither of the two are pleasing; one is revolting. What type of audience is the author trying to "reach"?
Outside of that negative content, the book does sort of flow along with some sense of direction, so I hate to pan it too hard. It may just be a low in an otherwise-talented career. But I won't know the answer to that because I have found it to be rare for an author to stumble badly on good material, only to turn around and succeed upon lesser.
Hawke is back November 18, 2008
David Pruette (High Point, NC)
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
Tsar is Ted Bell's fifth thriller, and once again our hero is Alex Hawke. This time he is taking on Russian leaders after the overthrow of President Putin. These leaders are mysterious and pose an extremely ominous threat to the United States. Hawke appears to be the only one who can stop them. To further complicate matters, a small Midwestern town in the U. S. is literally flattened and an innocent family murdered. Can Hawke thwart the plans to return Mother Russia to her rightful place in the world? To find out, we read through some excellent action scenes, meet some nasty people, and watch the military in action. Tsar is fun to read.
SPY-COUNTER TERROR SPY REDUX November 17, 2008
Kay's Husband (Virginia, U.S.A.)
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
First time for me with a Ted Bell book. Seems to me to be another novel in a long line of Fleming-Clancy-Ludlum-LeCarre mode of an agent of counter spy and counter terror, one Alex Hawke. The last name presumably was chosen with implication, possibly the characteristics of the hawk.
A large 500 page novel of Russia concerning the power behind the power. The power that controls the man in the limelight. A very controlled changing of the guard, with not just a new 'president' but one named 'Tsar' and a man to be all that reactionary title implies, enabling Russia to be a country of conquest. Meanwhile in America, a killer is killing bent on obeying instructions from the Kremlin. America is to come under the shadow of blackmail.
Though the novel is not to my taste, as being just another of the numerous overworked spy-counterspy field, it is a well written novel and should hold many reader's attention. The maps inserted in front and rear covers do the book great justice.
Ted Bell, being a best selling author, appeals to many readers and this lastest from him should have wide appeal, doing equally well in both hardcover and mass market paperback editions.
Semper Fi.
CLICHE, "Kle-Shay," Noun: A person or character whose behavior is predictable or superficial November 17, 2008
Jeffrey Peter A. Hauck (Pennsylvania USA)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Review of Ted Bell's "Tsar."
This is my first experience with one of author Ted Bell's works. For the sake of expediency and clarity and without repeating the multitude of reviews Bell's protagonist is "Alex Hawke," ascribed "espionage agent extraordinaire" and neo-cold warrior who is of Noble English birth and enjoys a high degree of personal wealth. It should be mentioned that Hawke is a former Harrier Pilot who attained the rank of Commander in the British Navy; is well trained in (among other things) close quarters combat, military special operations, and is a fine physical specimen sporting a full head of "untamable" black hair and "glacial" blue eyes.
Translation for me? A clone of James Bond of Ian Fleming fame. I apologize but I could not get that cliche out of my head. I tried to give the book an objective read from cover to cover but, in my opinion, Bell kept dropping allusions to Fleming's work. Example: The first part of the book in Chapters 1 & 2 the stage was set similar to scenes from "Dr. No," the middle of the book draws from numerous "Sean Connery" like interactions and even the last page of the book the protagonist kept repeating the phrase "a diamond is forever." There are more and for anyone familiar with Fleming/Bond the parallels will be obvious.
The plot involves Hawke's meeting with and the subsequent "taking to task" of one Count Ivan Korsakov, a genius billionaire Russian Nobel Prize recipient and inventor who is plotting nothing less than becoming modern Russia's first Tsar (and of course taking over the world) whilst tooling across the globe in a huge modern airship dirigible fashioned Hindenburg style (reminiscent of the one used by Max Zorin in "A View To A Kill").
Korsakov has covertly created and commercially packaged a unique weapon system (no spoilers here!) that allows its introduction into nearly every home in the world, that if used, threatens Anglo-American hegemony of the globe ... (you get the picture).
Bottom line: I had heard this book hyped on a few talk shows. I actually could not wait to get it. Well, as I like this particular genre I gave the book three stars for effort. I am not dumping on the book but it seemed like a repackaged or even "leftover" Bond to me. I could not shake the parallels. I found the reading predictable and cliche. Caveat Emptor!
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