Phantom

At the outset of bestseller Bell’s exciting seventh thriller featuring MI6 agent Alex Hawke (after 2010’s Warlord), Alex learns that his lost love, Anastasia Korsakova, the daughter of the present-day yet recently dead Russian czar, is still alive, held prisoner in a high-security Siberian KGB facility. While Alex fears he’s being lured into a trap, he travels to Siberia, where Anastasia gives him their son, three-year-old Alexi, for safekeeping. Back in England, Alex throws himself into fatherhood while fending off assassins from an organization of Russian hard-liners who blame Alex for the czar’s death. Meanwhile, an Iranian scientist known as Darius has built a computer dubbed Perseus that has almost attained parity with human intelligence. Alex must find Darius and Perseus in order to foil their dastardly plan for humanity. While the two distinct threats make for a sometimes disjointed plot, a terrific, final naval battle shows Alex at his fighting finest. Agent: Peter Lampack, Peter Lampack Agency. (Mar.)