Tsar: A Thriller

Author - Ted Bell ... [Goo?] [Posters]

This Hardcover Book item from Atria was reviewed on 6-Oct-2008.

Search ISBN:1416550402 offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. Tsar: A Thriller Reference Book. Classifications : Action & Adventure Genre Fiction Literature & Fiction Subjects Books Political Genre Fiction Literature & Fiction Subjects Books General United States World Literature Literature & Fiction Subjects Bo . Click the following link to view the cover of Tsar: A Thriller.

Related topics: Action & Adventure. Genre Fiction. Subjects. Books. Political. Genre Fiction. Subjects. Books. General. United States.

1) Hardcover Book Tsar: A Thriller by Atria. I don´t read many spy espionage thrillers anymore. I was a big fan of Ian Fleming´s 007 when I was a kid, and I still enjoy James Bond movies and the "Bourne" series, so I thought I´d give "Tsar" a try. I had seen an interview with the author on some late night show a couple of weeks ago, and the host was enthusiastic about it. Certainly Russia is in the news because of the escalating tensions over the situations in Poland and Georgia.

Well, um, the author is very enthusiastic, and he got the book done, so thumbs up on those counts. Anybody who actually finishes writing a book, even a not-so-good one, I admire their perseverance. The thing is this: every time I started trying to lose myself in the story, just surrender to the flow, suddenly a obviously incorrect fact would jump up and ruin it for a while. Shoot, I´m okay with the protagonist being much like a short-haired Conan with a gun ("Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet") but when he says Cuba is 90 miles from Miami (ouch-wrong) or had ICBMs (wrong-ouch), it just throws a wrench into the works.

I am ok with the story part being fantastical and nothing more than something to read on the plane or on a beach, hey, that´s cool with me. If 8-foot sullen-eyed reaver Hawke wanted to hunt a unicorn in the wild woods or foggy heath, in between saving nations and bedding goddesses, I´ll pull up a chair, I like yarns and escapism. But, sorry, can´t we have fantasy with sound fact-checking on the parts that ARE amenable to fact-checking? I can deal with Godzilla trashing Tokyo, but when it attacks Billings the beachside capital of Montana, well, you lost me, bub (there isn´t any ocean in Montana, not since the Cretaceous I hear, and Helena has always been the capital).

So, I give the story two-stars, one for gettin´ ´er done, and another because it has a timely premise. Otherwise, well, hire a decent fact-checker for the parts that can be checked, and then have fun adding to the modern Nemedian Chronicles...or maybe Hawke can encounter Yog-Sothoth while crashing the next Hezbollah shindig ;-)¤

2) Hardcover Book Tsar: A Thriller by Atria. Actually, I thought it was difficult to get into, but I hung in there because of Alex Hawke. A lot of the drivel leading up to the meat of the story in my opinion, was unnecessary and very boring.¤

3) Hardcover Book Tsar: A Thriller by Atria. good book. exciting... author needs to pay a little more attention to detail... still a great read.¤

4) Hardcover Book Tsar: A Thriller by Atria. After hearing all hype about Bell´s new book, Tsar, predicting Russia´s taking back the Soviet Union´s territories, I bought a copy. Since this is my first Ted Bell novel, and based upon other comments, I assume Alex Hawk is a regular character, and that his exploits are typical of his other adventures.

I was disappointed with the plot, which seemed childish. Putin in a radioactive dungeon?

Small computers with seven ounces of some new explosive that can destroy a house? A control device with fourteen ounces of the same explosive that has a 500 yard radius of destruction? Too much for me.

Another author, Lee Boyland, has Russia regaining its lost "Stans" in a very believable story. Check out Behold, an Ashen Horse An exciting story with lots of weapons, written by an author that knows his subject.¤

5) Hardcover Book Tsar: A Thriller by Atria. This book is both a source of fast paced entertainment and some insights into the former evil empire. An entertaining read.¤

6) Hardcover Book Tsar: A Thriller by Atria.

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´.¤

Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 3-Nov-2008, 14165504029781416550402, 730-820-150-240-280-3X1-021-8

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