Intelligence officer Alex Hawke takes on power-hungry Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is wielding a terrifying new weapon, in the latest adrenaline-fueled thriller in Ted Bell’s New York Times bestselling series.
In corrupt Russia, an erratic Vladimir Putin is determined to forge his country into a formidable superpower once again. He intends to redraw the map of Europe, and will go to impossible extremes to realize his fantasies—including shooting down a civilian airliner packed with tourists bound for China. Kremlin scientists have developed a radical new weapon that could forever alter modern warfare. NATO, locked in a tense standoff over Ukraine, Poland, and Estonia, knows Putin will not hesitate to use it. But there is one man who can bring the world back from the brink: Britain’s foremost intelligence asset, Lord Alexander Hawke.
The intrepid MI6 officer’s latest challenge begins in the Gulf of Aden and soon has him searching for the link to a series of bizarre assassinations. Spies are dying all over the world—from London, Washington, D.C., and Maine, to Moscow, and even the glittering Cote d’Azur. In the murky world of counterterrorism and high-stakes intrigue, the odds have never been higher. Once again, Alex Hawke must save the world . . . one bullet at a time.
“Hawke is . . .strong, shrewd, savvy, with an aplomb not seen since James Bond.” NPR
Off the coast of Maine, an esteemed former CIA director is found dead on his sailboat, his head bashed in. Half a world away in Paris, another senior CIA officer dies of a heart attack while making love in a posh hotel room. When counterspy Alex Hawke hears the news, he believes the deaths can be tied to one source: Spider Payne, a rogue intelligence officer whose exploits got him fired by the CIA. Now the former star agent seems to have evolved into a serial killer—and MI6 officer Alex Hawke is directly in his line of fire.
In Russia, Vladimir Putin is determined to forge his country into a formidable superpower once more, and he’ll stop at nothing to realize his global fantasies. Meanwhile, Kremlin scientists are developing a radical new weapon that could forever alter modern warfare. NATO knows Putin will not hesitate to use it. But they feel powerless while they’re locked in a tense standoff as Russian Army forces are arrayed on Eastern Europe’s borders. Only one man can bring the world back from this apocalyptic brink: Alex Hawke.
"Ted Bell's PATRIOT is the ninth in his Alex Hawke series - and the only one I've read - but it felt like a perfect entry point, and I enjoyed the high-octane ride enough that I'll seek out some of the earlier installments? [It's] a polar vortex of storytelling."
