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| Tsar: A Thriller | 
 enlarge | Author: Ted Bell
Publisher: Atria
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy New: $14.50
You Save: $12.45 (46%)
New (44) Used (22) from $13.31
Avg. Customer Rating:  146 reviews
Sales Rank: 765
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 512
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
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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 141 more reviews...
 The Trash That Rush Reads September 30, 2008
42 out of 55 found this review helpful
I decided that I wanted to read this book after I heard Rush Limbaugh talking about it the other day and referring to it as one of the most important books he's read in a long, long time. Apparently, he learned a lot about Russia and the peril that Russia poses from this action-packed spy-thriller.
Quick summary:
The Russians are evil again and they want to take over the world or, at least, expand back to the borders of the former Soviet Union. Russia is led by a very powerful but shadowy 'Count' who, being shadowy, lurks in the shadows or hides behind curtains and he gets people killed if he doesn't like them too much. The Russians MIGHT have succeeded if it wasn't for the son of one valuable British agent from the Cold War. Alex Hawke is a handsome man with black hair and blue eyes and a hint of cruelty at the corner of his mouth who works out (hard) every day, has a hole in his beach house floor so he can drop into the Ocean in the morning before he opens his eyes, sleeps on the beach in the nude, in Bermuda, in December and he meets, while naked and on the beach, the most beautiful daughter of the secret ruler of Russia who is almost naked too. Then, you have this explosive substance that's 1000 times more powerful than nitroglycerin and is distributed through hundreds of millions of very cheap home computers that are sealed (scary) - so no one can see the explosives - and are in the shape of a brain. Oh, and some airships.
Overall, it kept me captivated for the first 50-100 pages because it's so... good. I suppose the author thought it was important to come out with the book ASAP without spending much time on plot construction, character development, stylistic niceties or fact checking. But, let's see what we learn from the first few pages:
- Castro 'imported' Russian ICBM's in the early 60's. [He didn't. The missiles had stayed under Russian control at all times and they were NOT ICBMs. They were medium-range and could not even reach New York.]
- The not-ICBM's were NOT 90 miles from Miami, as the author claims. [Miami happens to be 229 miles from Cuba. Key West is 90 miles from Cuba.]
- Hawke fought "Hezbollah jihadists in the Amazon". [This is very interesting but Hezbollah happens to be an Iran and Syrian-backed socio-political movement of Lebanese Shi'a (Wikipedia) and its reach and ambitions tend to be confined to Lebanon and Israel. It is classified as a terrorist organization by the US government but there are no known terrorist activities attributed to Hezbollah outside of Lebanon and its mortal enemy, Israel.]
- We learn about a "light December rain" in Moscow. [The AVERAGE HIGH temperature in Moscow in December is -5C and the average low is about -10C. There seems to be no historical record of a 'December rain' in Moscow.]
- Zeta is `the last word in the Greek alphabet' [Alphabets have letters, not 'words' and, in any case, the last letter of the Greek alphabet is Omega. Zeta is the sixth.]
- Someone to be executed in a federal prison for a federal crime gets a `stay of execution' from a STATE governor? [As far as I know, STATE governors can't interfere with FEDERAL executions.]
- A `comsat satellite'? [Is the author thinking about "Comsat" which is, I believe, a division of Lockheed Martin? It would be unlikely for 'the Russians' to be using 'comsat satellites' as part of some improbable scheme of blowing up things via remote control. The Russkies have their own.]
- "A bloody billion dollar Bushehr reactor for Iran which will produce enough spent plutonium to produce sixty bombs minimum" [There is no such thing as 'a Bushehr reactor'. Bushehr is a town in Iran not a reactor brand and the Russians are building there A reactor. As for its ability to produce 'sixty bombs minimum'... I believe we need to know over what timespan and how big the bombs were going to be. Is it in a day? In a week? A year? 10 years? 10 kilotons? 10 megatons? Not to mention that the reactor will be operating under the Nonproliferation Treaty mandated supervision so Iran won't be able to get any plutonium out of it without the whole world knowing it did.]
- The Russians "could bring Europe to its knees in under an hour by simply turning off the oil and gas taps" [This is, actually, so funny, it motivated me to read 10-15 more pages.]
- Pravda was one of the Russian president's favorite newspapers. "There were three newspapers arrayed there beside his place setting. Pravda, the New York Times and the London Times.". [The problem is that Pravda went out of business in 1991. The paper was closed down in 1991 by decree of President Yeltsin. In 1999 Pravda Online was launched but the book talks about a newsPAPER, not a Web site.]
- The Russians were upset because we were `putting missiles into Poland and Czechoslovakia'. [There is no such country as Czechoslovakia any more. On January 1, 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In addition, we are only `putting missiles' into Poland. The Czech Republic will host a Radar station, not missiles.]
Overall impression: there is not much character development beyond some notes on their fitness, the action is boring, the plot is predictable, the scenery descriptions are long-winded and the 'facts' are questionable even though I can see how they would be quite acceptable on a cable news or radio talk show.
Could this be a good, at least, 'airport' book? I seriously doubt it. I tried hard to find a reason for granting this work 2 stars but I could not find one because I can't think of any good reason for anyone spending time reading it.
 Ted Bell Has Outdone Himself With TSAR September 5, 2008
34 out of 46 found this review helpful
If you haven't read any of the Alex Hawke series, my advice to you is grab your wallet and grab them all. They really are that good, and TSAR does not disappoint. I am actually wondering if Bell has a crystal ball considering how much of his "fiction" is starting to seem like reality. TSAR starts us off with a small account of the cold war in 1962 that introduces readers to Alex Hawke's father. We then proceed to find the much respected Alex Hawke enjoying some rest and relaxation in Bermuda, which of course doesn't last long before he is called to duty. Bell does a great job of giving enough background so even if the reader has no idea who Alex Hawke is, the story is complete. However, he does not go to the extreme of irritating readers who have read previous books. The supporting characters of TSAR get enough action to be brought to life, but without deviating from the main story. The primary threat of the story is a scary one to say the least, and will have you considering the possibilities for a while. If you are a fan of the Alex Hawke series, you will not be disappointed with TSAR, and if you have never read the series, I hope you will find TSAR as thrilling and entertaining as I have.
For me, it was like reading three different books. September 12, 2008
32 out of 41 found this review helpful
This review is of a book I received free through Amazon Vine Voice.
When I was reading the first third of this novel, I honestly did not think I would enjoy it enough to even finish it. But, I decided to read a little more and then a little more because I hate to give up on a book. The second third of the book began to interest me much more, perhaps because I had begun to recognize the characters and understand the situations they were in. The final third of the book was very exciting and fast paced. I wanted to find out what was going to happen in this series of incidences which had the potential to change the world forever.
Tsar is a book which places before the reader a premise of what if.... What if there was an incredibly powerful man who literally sat behind "the red curtain" in Russia. A man who had a mind so warped and twisted that he had no moral compass which would keep him from committing horrifying atrocities in order to rule as the Tsar of Russia. A Russia which meant a forced reuniting of the individual countries which had broken away from the old Soviet Union when they had the chance. And what if this man had devised a method of using a common item, a simple item, and yet use it in such a brilliant way that he could actually control the entire world just by entering a code into a machine and pushing a button.
I enjoyed the last third of this novel immensely. I had to read through the first part (which I didn't like at all) to get all the characters in place and then the second part (which began to capture my attention more) to lead up to the real action packed events. It was, for me, as if I read three different books. Luckily the last third was strong enough for me to give this book a four star rating.
I have never read any other books by Ted Bell. Consequently, I was not familiar with the character Alexander Hawke. As any worthy hero must be, he is larger than life and capable of pulling off miracles. If you enjoy action thrillers with the emphasis on political intrigue, spys, double agents, and military units trained to perform impossible feats, you will probably enjoy this book.
Avoid "Tsar" if you can October 18, 2008
26 out of 37 found this review helpful
Four years ago, I reviewed "Assassin", another novel by Ted Bell. I said of it: "I found myself finishing this novel only because I wanted to see how bad it could get. It got pretty bad and after the last page, I cursed myself for wasting the time."
I'm older and wiser and Ted Bell is no better a writer than he was in 2004. This time, though, I was a lot smarter: I stopped at page 42.
In the first 42 pages, Bell establishes himself as someone incapable of creating coherent plot, being historically accurate or forming credible characters.
Take for instance, the first chapter. In just five pages, Bell has Fidel Castro "importing" Russian "ICBMs". Castro didn't "import" them and they were intermediate range missiles, not intercontinental. Then Bell has what he tries to make into a larger-than-life character named Hawke who is single handedly going to penetrate a Soviet installation on an emergency basis to steal information about a sophisticsated system. Utterly unbelievable in every respect.
But the best part is when a sniper - presumably a Soviet agent - takes a shot at Hawke, misses of course, and then sprays the area blindly. Hawke tskes him out with one shot. After all, he was carrying only one bullet. The entire five pages are just ridiculous - and that's just the beginning of the book. It gets progressively worse.
There are others who can pull of this kind of thing. Clive Cussler is one of them. Cussler's plots are elaborate fantasies, his characters outrageously incredible - but Cussler can pull it off. Bell cannot.
Next we are introduced to the son of the aforementioned spy who, of course, is described in great physical detail and is, as you might expect, more resplendent than any god of antiquity - and, er, better endowed, if you get my drift. That's important, because we are introduced to him as he lies nude on a secluded Bermuda beach. Of course, the most beautiful woman in the world - bare breasted of course - appears unexpectedly from the water, obviously a passenger from the luxurious yacht just offshore. Yes, yes, this is the world of the perfectly formed spy meeting the perfectly formed woman who just happens to be the daughter of the most evil man in the world, the Kremlin's mysterious new "Tsar".
By page 42, I had had it with the ridiculous plot, the silly characters and the hackneyed writing. Generally, I am open to the possibility others will enjoy novels I don't like or might be forced into reading something because they are snowed in at the airport. If that happens to you and this is the only reading material available - don't do it. Attempting to read this nonsense will only make you feel more pity for yourself.
Jerry
Interesting and fast-paced September 3, 2008
19 out of 28 found this review helpful
I had never read any of Ted Bell's books before, so I didn't really know who the main hero, Hawke, was supposed to be. It didn't take long to figure out though. We have here a James Bond type hero who regularly interacts with pretty ladies and shady characters. This story goes over two generations, that of Hawke and his father (also a spy decades earlier). It's a pretty good novel with a villainous dictator who isn't too over the top but still manages to be menacing, a sultry female character who may or may not be what she seems, and of course, a hero who always seems to know exactly what to do to escape the situations he finds himself in. If you're a fan of James Bond stories, you'll love this.
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