In Ted Bell’s scorching follow-up to his New York Times bestseller Assassin, intrepid intelligence operative Alex Hawke must thwart a secret, deadly alliance between China and France before they annihilate everything and everyone in their headlong rush toward world domination. Aboard the Star of Shanghai in the south of France, an American spy is held captive. He possesses vital, explosive intelligence linking two nations and one horrifying plot. If he is not rescued, he faces certain torture and inevitable death. Nearby, in a seaside hotel, a man still haunted by the loss of his wife two years earlier finds comfort in the arms of a beautiful Chinese actress - but is she to be trusted? So begins Pirate, an electrifying thriller marking the return of international counterterrorist Alex Hawke. In Paris, a ruthless descendant of Napoleon has risen to power, hell-bent on restoring France’s former glory. His fiery ambitions are cynically stoked by a coterie of cold-blooded Mandarins, plotting behind the gates of Beijing’s Forbidden City. Cloaked in secrecy, this unholy alliance devises a twisted global plan, backed by China’s growing nuclear arsenal, that will send America and the world to the brink of a gut-wrenching showdown. With the aid of his old friend and former Navy SEAL, Stokely Jones, Hawke sets out to investigate the deadly connections that bind the French-Chinese axis. Together, they discover that a powerful German industrialist may hold the key, somewhere inside the walls of his Bavarian mountain lair. Meanwhile, clues to an old and gruesome murder in Paris lead to New York City, where horrifying evidence could finally bring a madman to his knees. In the end, as American and British forces prepare to defend a sovereign and oil-rich Gulf nation against unwilling occupation, the terror is all too real. The world is once more balanced on the knife-edge of a full-blown nuclear confrontation. Hawke must once more prepare to hurl himself deep into the nightmare visions of madmen. He must garner every ounce of strength, courage, and useful pain from his past. He must defeat this enemy or else forfeit the lives of untold thousands, including his own, to an axis of evil no historian could have ever predicted. Packed with unrelenting action, glamour, and high style, and featuring the spectacular Alex Hawke, who time and again transports readers to the edge of danger, Pirate is a spellbinding thriller. Be prepared for Alex Hawke’s most daunting and heart-pounding mission yet. Here is an author who gets you in the palm of his hand . . . and then clenches his fist!
My life has entered a brand new and exciting chapter. In addition to publishing a new thriller, PHANTOM, next March, I have been elected a Visiting Scholar at Cambridge University, UK. I hold this position at the University's Department of Politics and International Studies. We are a primary resource for the Intelligence Community as well as high level government connections. I was also honored to be named Writer In Residence at Sydney Sussex College here at Cambridge. My college was founded in 1596. I am working on a new novel, the 7th in the Alex Hawke series of spy thrillers. The new thriller will be rooted in Cambridge espionage traditions (the university is over 800 years old) and deal with the looming threat of China's ascent to world dominance. I also plan to write a 3rd installment in my series of historical novels for young people, the Nick McIver Time Adventures published by St. Martins. My Alexander Hawke novels are published by Harper/Collins. Life here at Cambridge is extraordinary, as well it should be as it was recently voted the #1 university in the world. There is certainly no lack of intellectual stimulation and even the most casual conversations with fellow scholars are a wonder to me. As are the amazing architecture and ancient customs. I often feel I'm living in a Harry Potter movie.
PHANTOM, will be published on March 20th, 2012. It is about the next revolution in warfare, cyber war, and the impact that artificial intelligence is having, not only on the military, but on all aspects of human life. I believe the book breaks new ground in the thriller category and hope my fans and new readers have half as much fun reading it as I did writing it!
