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296th out of 525 books
—
310 voters
Phantom (Alexander Hawke #7)
by
Ted Bell (Goodreads Author)
Counterspy Alex Hawke must catch a villainous megalomaniac--a man obsessed with horrifying experiments in cyberwarfare--in this mesmerizing new espionage thriller in Ted Bell's New York Times bestselling series
The first and most bizarre event nearly becomes a monumental catastrophe when something goes awry at an American theme park, wreaking havoc on visitors looking for n...more
The first and most bizarre event nearly becomes a monumental catastrophe when something goes awry at an American theme park, wreaking havoc on visitors looking for n...more
Hardcover, 496 pages
Published
March 20th 2012
by HarperCollins Canada / Fiction
(first published 2011)
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This was a fairly interesting story... I think it makes a difference that I'm jumping into a series without having read the first six books. That being said, it was pretty well written and, for the most part, kept my attention. I was pleased with the character development, knowing that I was jumping into a series I knew nothing about. My only complaint, really, is that the ending kind of went on and on without being very interesting (to me). It built up to the end really well--the climax was gre...more
Oh, the issues I have with this book. It was my first (and only) Alex Hawke novel so perhaps I started with a weak entry in the series?
First off, it's difficult to relate to a character that's completely flawless. Not only is Hawke a suave secret agent... but a celebrity businessman, a billionaire with the world's most expensive yacht, a "Lord" who's friends with the Queen, etc. etc. Why not make him able to fly while you're at it? Flemming's Bond was larger than life but he was also an obsessi...more
First off, it's difficult to relate to a character that's completely flawless. Not only is Hawke a suave secret agent... but a celebrity businessman, a billionaire with the world's most expensive yacht, a "Lord" who's friends with the Queen, etc. etc. Why not make him able to fly while you're at it? Flemming's Bond was larger than life but he was also an obsessi...more
#7 in the Alex Hawke series. Weighing in at 480 pages, this espionage thriller could be two books and, indeed, the plot contains two completely distinct story lines.
In a prologue, U.S. Marine amputee Sgt. Chris Marley takes his family to Disney World. When the rides go haywire and cause injuries and panic, Sgt Marley acts heroically to save his family and hep others. We won't hear any more of Sgt Marley and the related plot line will not reappear until page 92.
First, Alex follows a rumor that h...more
In a prologue, U.S. Marine amputee Sgt. Chris Marley takes his family to Disney World. When the rides go haywire and cause injuries and panic, Sgt Marley acts heroically to save his family and hep others. We won't hear any more of Sgt Marley and the related plot line will not reappear until page 92.
First, Alex follows a rumor that h...more
Seems every new book is a NY Times best seller. Doesn't say much for the readers that buy/borrow those books. I quit after pages of prose containing the likes of "...waiting for him, her cheeks aglow in the frosted air, golden ringlets peeking from beneath the white mink cowl that framed her lovely face.." golden ringlets? Well, I went a bit farther and came across this "...his friend Ambrose Congreave, the famous Scotland Yard criminalist, had..." After a few more of those, I quit. Bleah.
There are many things that I'm thankful my father has shared with me. An interest in politics, my love of sailing, and my love of the Hawke series, just to name a few. Ted Bell's newest book in the Hawke series, Phantom, is a fine addition that includes all of these things.
The difficult balance in any "spy thriller" is to create a story that walks the fine line of believability and outlandish. The story must be just slightly beyond what is something you would expect to hear in the news, but not...more
The difficult balance in any "spy thriller" is to create a story that walks the fine line of believability and outlandish. The story must be just slightly beyond what is something you would expect to hear in the news, but not...more
I am a big fan of Bell's previous Hawke books, notably Tsar, but I found this book difficult to take seriously. The aspects of Hawke's family struggles were interesting if a bit derivative, but they drove the narrative into a strange nebulous region where Hawke is protecting his family more than himself. Given how much I enjoyed the previous installments of one-man-vs-the-world, I had trouble enjoying this companionship-protection theme.
But, the real reason I dropped my score for this book is th...more
But, the real reason I dropped my score for this book is th...more
Downloaded from Audible.com
Narrated by John Shea
Seventh in the Alex Hawke series, Phantom, like its predecessors, is a fast-paced, action/adventure novel. To understand the main character, the previous novels should be read (in order) so that when this book starts out, previous events will have been covered and no explanation is necessary. Previous books also explain the roles that the other mentioned characters play and their importance to Alex.
Because I am a technology, engineering and compute...more
Narrated by John Shea
Seventh in the Alex Hawke series, Phantom, like its predecessors, is a fast-paced, action/adventure novel. To understand the main character, the previous novels should be read (in order) so that when this book starts out, previous events will have been covered and no explanation is necessary. Previous books also explain the roles that the other mentioned characters play and their importance to Alex.
Because I am a technology, engineering and compute...more
Alex Hawke salis again! Ted Bell's Alex Hawke series is nothing if not a study in how to write an excellent and believable thriller. Yes, Hawke is a larger than life, English billionaire who loves nothing better than going into battle under catastrophic odds. He's a statesman, a lover, a warrior, a black ops guru, and in this book a newly discovered son adds father to Hawke's list of personas. And he does everything else very well, but he finds the father role a much harder role to assume. This...more
I believe this is book number 7 in the Alex Hawke series. I have not read any of the others so I was a little concerned when I picked this one up that I might get lost, but the author did a great job with giving enough background on the characters that I never felt confused. He didn't overdo it with too much information either. For me this book did just fine as a stand alone without having read the others in the series. Great character development and descriptiveness. I never felt disconnected f...more
Mar 19, 2012
Landon
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
People who like action, spy novels, and have an interest in ships.
Shelves:
first-reads
I was lucky enough to win an advanced copy through the Goodreads Giveaways. Just as a background, I was one that has not heard of or read any previous Ted Bell books (this being part of the Alex Hawke series). I was very curious to see if I would be lost or not since this is the seventh book in that series. I am glad to announce that this is a book that stands alone quite nicely. I'm not sure how the other books are written, but if they are similar to this book, I would say that you could pick u...more
A very enjoyable read but a couple of things keep it from being a 5-star.
After the first chapter the book starts a second storyline that looks to be a continuation of a previous book (I haven't read his previous stuff yet) and pretty much has nothing to do with the main storyline. I'm not saying that it's bad (although I still don't understand why she did what she did and he sure seemed to move on rather quickly afterwards) but it seemed to lessen the main story.
The battle with the "force" at th...more
After the first chapter the book starts a second storyline that looks to be a continuation of a previous book (I haven't read his previous stuff yet) and pretty much has nothing to do with the main storyline. I'm not saying that it's bad (although I still don't understand why she did what she did and he sure seemed to move on rather quickly afterwards) but it seemed to lessen the main story.
The battle with the "force" at th...more
Another great book by one of my favorite authors.
This had a magically sweet beginning...until things started going wrong, kinda like life. There were great 'highs' and extreme 'lows'. George Patton said, "The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other bastard die for his." The beginning was too melodramatic for a book by Bell. Yet I cried.
Cyber weapons, that convert electronic firewalls and computer viruses into killers were the central theme of the story. A little bit o...more
This had a magically sweet beginning...until things started going wrong, kinda like life. There were great 'highs' and extreme 'lows'. George Patton said, "The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other bastard die for his." The beginning was too melodramatic for a book by Bell. Yet I cried.
Cyber weapons, that convert electronic firewalls and computer viruses into killers were the central theme of the story. A little bit o...more
I received a free copy of this book for review through Goodreads.
For the most part I enjoyed this book. This is the first book I've read by Ted Bell and it's apparent that he's a good writer albeit bombastic. Unfortunately the first hundred pages of Phantom had a lot of plot holes and inaccuracies that made it very difficult for me to enjoy the book. The last 300 pages were a lot better but I still can't recommend the book. The oddest thing is that the first part of the book really isn't necessa...more
For the most part I enjoyed this book. This is the first book I've read by Ted Bell and it's apparent that he's a good writer albeit bombastic. Unfortunately the first hundred pages of Phantom had a lot of plot holes and inaccuracies that made it very difficult for me to enjoy the book. The last 300 pages were a lot better but I still can't recommend the book. The oddest thing is that the first part of the book really isn't necessa...more
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I'm not very familiar with Ted Bell's books, but this one seems to have derived its story from every other mundane adventure novel I've ever read. Even the worst scrapes the annoying good guy Alex Hawke gets into are terribly predictable. Bell had a chance to make it new and interesting as the main bad guy is an unremarkable scientist who gets his hands on a futuristic quantum computer that can out think any human; yet it seems to constantly fail to do so without any reasoning on how it failed.
T...more
T...more
I haven't read a Ted Bell book for awhile so it has been nice to read another adventure of Alex Hawke. This is a great book. Bell is one of my favorite authors and Alex Hawke a great hero. Some surprises in this book, but a great story line. The information in this book about a "super computer" that is becoming an "intelligent" as man is pretty scary. The authors explanation at the end of the book about the development of AI (artificial intelligence) is also pretty interesting and revealing. If...more
Well I have to admit that I am not usually such a big fan of these James Bond style books. The type where the hero is rich, and terribly handsome, and somehow manages to extricate himself from all kinds of terrible situations with his state of the art cars and boats.
So I came into this latest Lord Alex Hawke (he's the hero) with some misgivings. I read all the James Bond books in my youth, so I very much felt "been there, done that".
Much to my surprise, I found myself really enjoying Phantom. Te...more
So I came into this latest Lord Alex Hawke (he's the hero) with some misgivings. I read all the James Bond books in my youth, so I very much felt "been there, done that".
Much to my surprise, I found myself really enjoying Phantom. Te...more
First sentences, after the Prologue and the 'dream sequence' - "Hawke gasped for air as he came fully awake, sitting bolt upright in his lice-infested berth, his face drenched in cold sweat, the fear still real, even as reality swept the lingering remnants of terror from his brain. Another nightmare! Gazing out the train’s window at the white tundra and the solid black forests beyond, he knew why he’d had the dream, of course .. . because it was no dream."
Bell, Ted (2012-03-20). Phantom: An Alex...more
Bell, Ted (2012-03-20). Phantom: An Alex...more
I've been a longtime fan Ted Bell's "Hawke" series. The most simple way to describe the series is a somewhat odd hybrid of John LeCarre ghostwriting for Clive Cussler. The protag, Lord Alex Hawke, is an English action hero. Requisite sidekicks, globe-threatening perils, nifty martial technology and other meticulously researched details make this a very entertaining series.
At times his work does take on a sort Wodehouse kinda feel, but I personally think it is very entertaining. This entire seri...more
At times his work does take on a sort Wodehouse kinda feel, but I personally think it is very entertaining. This entire seri...more
This Alex Hawke book is fast paced, and, once again has Hawke involved in several politically charged events at one time. The main character of the book, other than Hawke, is a supercomputer possessing singularity, an ability to surpass human intelligence. Ted Bell has a section at the end of the book cautioning the reader about the possibility of such supercomputers. Obviously, whoever has a computer that has achieved singularity would have immense power and the world would never be the same. T...more
(IN PROGRESS and very RANDOM...I may not come back and complete this review)
Disappointing and a little bit irritating. The elements on the book jacket probably are worth 3 stars, as the story on the jacket is right up my alley. The actual story, plot and characters get the two that I actually graded it. Maybe it is because I didn't start this series at the beginning, but I had made up my mind to read them all in order if I liked this book. I won't be reading any more of this series.
I don't know...more
Disappointing and a little bit irritating. The elements on the book jacket probably are worth 3 stars, as the story on the jacket is right up my alley. The actual story, plot and characters get the two that I actually graded it. Maybe it is because I didn't start this series at the beginning, but I had made up my mind to read them all in order if I liked this book. I won't be reading any more of this series.
I don't know...more
After reading a couple of spy books that I had hoped to be intelligent works but ended up being stupidly plotted and unbelievable, I opted for one that wasn't trying to be anything other than what it was - entertaining. This was my first Alex Hawke book (No. 7 in the series) and it read like a combination of James Bond meets Tom Clancy. Alex Hawke is a British Lord and "secret" agent who has unlimited wealth and access to world leaders (Queen Elizabeth, Vladimir Putin). He works with both MI6 an...more
PHANTOM by TED BELL
Bell is an elegant writer, and I've followed his Alex Hawke series of thrillers from the start. Always solid, realistic plots. But I have to admit my first impression of this one was "he's run out of credible plots." I felt like I was getting into the unreality of sci-fi, which I do not read, because Bell was leading us into something called The Singularity.
But I finished the book just because it's Ted Bell, and I love his useage of the King's English (literally).
The I read hi...more
Bell is an elegant writer, and I've followed his Alex Hawke series of thrillers from the start. Always solid, realistic plots. But I have to admit my first impression of this one was "he's run out of credible plots." I felt like I was getting into the unreality of sci-fi, which I do not read, because Bell was leading us into something called The Singularity.
But I finished the book just because it's Ted Bell, and I love his useage of the King's English (literally).
The I read hi...more
What a ride!
I receive a copy of Phantom as a giveaway through Goodreads as a 'first read'. Sadly, it took me a long time to read, but it was NOT because the book was not good! On the contrary, I GREATLY enjoyed it.
The main plot of the story surrounds strange goings on around the world. It starts in an amusement park where rides seemingly develop minds of their own and go out of control. Then, everyone on board a Russian submarine loses control of all systems while doing training runs, and the bo...more
I receive a copy of Phantom as a giveaway through Goodreads as a 'first read'. Sadly, it took me a long time to read, but it was NOT because the book was not good! On the contrary, I GREATLY enjoyed it.
The main plot of the story surrounds strange goings on around the world. It starts in an amusement park where rides seemingly develop minds of their own and go out of control. Then, everyone on board a Russian submarine loses control of all systems while doing training runs, and the bo...more
In the seventh book of the Alexander Hawke series, Ted Bell ventures into the world of science fiction to create a new villain to drive the plot forward. I thought that Bell did a good job explaining the science behind the plot in the Author's note at the end of the book. It reminded me of the late Michael Crichton's affinity for starting a book with non-fiction and leading the reader into a journey of fiction based on science taken to a plausible extreme. I ended the book far more interested in...more
Another interesting read by Ted Bell, with some great adventure and thriller aspects. That said, it does get a tad far-fetched at times and even silly at others. I realise that fiction is a means whereby you suspend reality and go for the gusto. Still, Bell's character being a 33 year old Bond with a personal friendship with Putin and QEII is a little too silly for my liking.
I enjoyed the story and its connection with artificial intelligence. I felt that Bell tackled this will ease and made sens...more
I enjoyed the story and its connection with artificial intelligence. I felt that Bell tackled this will ease and made sens...more
I won Phantom through the Goodreads First Read Giveaway on 03/13/2012 and received it on 05/30/2012.
** SPOILER ALERT ** YOU'VE BEEN WARNED! **
Ted Bell put out another awesome book in the Alexander Hawke series. Bell's books are so well written that I really don't have any complaints. Usually. I do have one this time ... and it's about a very small part of the book.
So here it is ... Alexi ... is three years old ... and talks like he's an old man. That kinda threw things off for me. I'm a mother o...more
** SPOILER ALERT ** YOU'VE BEEN WARNED! **
Ted Bell put out another awesome book in the Alexander Hawke series. Bell's books are so well written that I really don't have any complaints. Usually. I do have one this time ... and it's about a very small part of the book.
So here it is ... Alexi ... is three years old ... and talks like he's an old man. That kinda threw things off for me. I'm a mother o...more
I keep reading this series because I am a bit ocd and can't *not* read a series I have started. That being said, this is not one I would recommend to my friends. Plot holes and inconsistencies from page to page make it a bit annoying as far as stories go. I can forgive the over the top characters for literary licence, but when things are (literally) inconsistent from one page to another, I can't really let it go. I'm not sure what Mr. Bell's editor does, but it's apparently a job that requires n...more
I won an advance copy of this book from Good Reads. It was the first book I had read by Ted Bell. I enjoyed it and will probably read him again. However, I felt like there were two competing stories going on at one time. The story of the super computer and the story of Alexei. I felt like this division kept both stories from being as developed as they could be. All in all, it was a good book, but not as exciting a plot as I normally read.
I got this book for free through Goodreads First Reads
This was the first book I read from Ted Bell. I enjoyed the story and the character Alex Hawke. As mentioned by another reader, the beginning of the book was not that great and a bit slow on the plot line. For someone who never read a Hawke story, it felt like something was missing.
Towards the middle to tail end of the book, the story picked up and it felt like I didn't want to put the book down, so I could know how it ended.
The battle with t...more
This was the first book I read from Ted Bell. I enjoyed the story and the character Alex Hawke. As mentioned by another reader, the beginning of the book was not that great and a bit slow on the plot line. For someone who never read a Hawke story, it felt like something was missing.
Towards the middle to tail end of the book, the story picked up and it felt like I didn't want to put the book down, so I could know how it ended.
The battle with t...more
Mar 29, 2012
Jill
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
alex hawk series, ted bell, and mystery/thriller
This series can be a hit or miss for me. This was a miss for me this time. I still liked the continuation of the plotline from the past couple of books where he searches for his missing son. Every once in a while, Ted Bell throws in a really out there element. He includes that in this book which made it a little unrealistic for me. But overall it is an okay book.
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| Twists & Turns | 1 | 9 | Feb 22, 2012 03:49am | |
| Twists & Turns | 1 | 2 | Feb 22, 2012 03:49am |
Ted Bell, now Visiting Scholar at Cambridge University and Writer-In-Residence at Sydney-Sussex College, is a full-time writer. He is the author of 9 consecutive New York Times Bestsellers. His novels include the Alex Hawke series of spy thrillers published by Harper & Collins. And the Nick McIver Time Travel Adventures published by St. Martins. His books are international bestsellers, publish...more
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