Overkill

March 19, 2018
In the prologue of bestseller Bell’s exciting, at times affecting 10th Alex Hawke novel (after 2015’s Patriot), Vladimir Putin, who’s on the run from his country’s oligarchs, parachutes out of the jet he used to escape Russia and lands somewhere in France. Meanwhile, Hawke, a former Royal Navy fighter pilot who’s now senior counterterrorist officer for MI6, and his seven-year-old son, Alexei, get trapped in a tramway gondola near a mountain top in St. Moritz, Switzerland, on Christmas Day. During the ensuing rescue, Alexei is kidnapped. Hawke’s efforts to save Alexei collide with Putin’s attempts to steal all the gold in Switzerland and fight his way back to Russia, aided by old pals Joe Stalingrad, now a Hollywood actor, and freelance warrior Col. Brett “Beau” Beauregard, plus a new ally, psychopathic cowboy Shit Smith. This entry boasts all the attributes Bell’s fans have come to love: overblown prose, outsized characters, a totally far-fetched plot, and an overall moral tone straight out of a 19th-century boys’ adventure story. Agent: Peter Lampack, Peter Lampack Agency.

April 1, 2018
Russian president Vladimir Putin is on the run, hiding from the oligarchs who want him dead but feverishly making plans for his triumphant return to the Kremlin. Meanwhile, Alexei, the young son of superspy Alex Hawke, has been kidnapped, and Hawke will do whatever it takes?really, he'll stop at nothing here?to rescue him. But soon he's distracted by something of global import: Putin's last-ditch, no-holds-barred military operation to seize control of Russia and vanquish his wealthy foes once and for all. This is a splendid entry in the Hawke series. As with its predecessors, the book is tightly plotted and energetically written (Bell has an idiosyncratic prose style quite unlike anyone else's); but here, finally, we get to see Bell's fictionalized version of Putin take his final steps into full-blown insanity, and, not incidentally, we get to see just how dangerous and reckless Hawke can be when the life of someone he loves is on the line. Overkill is a wonderfully apt title, not for the writing but for the mind-set of both hero and villain. A propulsive, high-concept thriller.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)