October 18, 2021
Bestseller Bell sets a new personal record for audacious silliness in his 12th thriller featuring MI6 superagent Alex Hawke (after 2020’s Dragon Fire). Hawke’s plans for a little downtime with his eight-year-old son get derailed when his boss, Lord David Trulove, dispatches him to Cuba to wreak havoc on a newly formed alliance of “all the Communist and socialist nations on earth,” which are plotting an attack on the West. Soon, the ageless hero is fighting sharks with his bare hands, organizing prison breaks, and sinking a troopship full of ISIS fighters, as well as a Chinese nuclear-powered submarine. Hawke does most of the damage from the deck of his armored yacht, which is equipped with a special laser-beam weapon designed by Tesla founder Elon Musk. Then, it’s down to the Amazon, where Hawke targets a huge enemy encampment deep upriver. While Hawke has a certain swashbuckling appeal, the action reaches absurd heights, and the writing, particularly in the fighting sequences, is choppy and repetitive. Even Bell’s fans may feel he phoned this one in. Agent: Peter McGuigan, Foundry Literary + Media.