Pirates & Privateers: Ted Bell's Books

Soon after Alexander Hawke’s seventh birthday, modern-day pirates board the family yacht intent on securing a map to treasure stolen centuries before from their ancestor. Alex’s father entrusts the map to his son just before he stows Alex where the pirates won’t find him.

As an adult Lord Alexander Hawke has no memory of witnessing the brutal slayings of his parents. He utilizes his wealth and military training to defeat villains, especially those encountered by his government (Great Britain) and the Americans. One such mission -- to locate and destroy a missing Soviet stealth submarine -- returns Alex to the Caribbean waters where his parents’ murders occurred. Panic attacks and snatches of memory resurface. He finally shares the tale of the pirate treasure and his legendary ancestor, the English pirate Blackhawke, with his close friend, Ambrose Congreve, a retired criminal investigator of New Scotland Yard. While Ambrose aids in the quest for the missing sub, he also strives to find the barbarians who slew Hawke’s parents and to locate the missing treasure.

Ted Bell combines piracy and arms dealing with bio-terrorism, a coup d’état to overthrow Castro, romance, and Special Forces’ missions to create a spine-tingling, edge-of-your-seat adventure. Anyone familiar with pirates of yore will recognize the real pirate on whom Blackhawke is based (Captain William Kidd). Bell intricately weaves a tantalizing jigsaw puzzle. The reader slowly ponders the pieces, inserting and then moving them, until each one fits consummately together to create a memorable swashbuckling tale.

Meet the author

Pirate
by Ted Bell
Atria Books, 2005, ISBN 978-0-7432-7507-1, US $25.00 / CAN $34.50

The secrets in Harry Brock’s head necessitate his abduction by the Chinese. Lord Alexander Hawke, descended from an infamous 18th-century pirate, rescues the American spy from the Star of Shanghai, which is docked in France. This is no coincidence, for these two nations have allied with each other to put into motion a plot to forever change the world. First, a rising star in French politics must gain the presidency, but not through ordinary means. He hatches a diabolical scheme with the aid of General Sun-yat Moon’s top assassin to rule as his ancestor, Napoleon Bonaparte, once did.

Stokely Jones, a former SEAL and trusted friend of Hawke’s, explores a hidden castle in the Bavarian Alps with Jet Moon, a beautiful actress and ex-spy for her father, to learn the dark secret of Leviathan. The first stunning clues lead him to an underground airbase built by the Nazis, then to General Moon’s inner sanctum in Hong Kong. At the same time, Chief Inspector Ambrose Congreve (another of Alex’s friends) digs into Luca Bonaparte’s past while someone, possibly Ambrose’s own nephew, is out to kill him.

This is the third Alex Hawke adventure, but each book stands alone. Although slow to start, Pirate builds to a mind-jarring conclusion that promises to haunt readers long after they finish reading. From Marrakech to Cannes to London to Oman to Paris to Hong Kong and Coney Island, this novel is a whirlwind of diabolical intrigues and appalling machinations that pit nation against nation and threaten to unleash World War III. There is little piracy in this thriller, but the premise explores a parallel to modern piracy: maritime terrorism. Ted Bell’s deftly woven chess match pits two nations with nuclear capabilities against each other in a struggle over oil, the world’s most precious commodity.

Meet the author

Ted Bell and me
at Dallas, Texas book signing

Ted Bell & Cindy Vallar at Dallas, Texas book signing

Read Ted Bell's books for pirate apprentices