Warriors

China seeks to rule the world in bestseller Bell’s entertaining eighth novel featuring MI6 super-agent Alex Hawke (after 2012’s Phantom). For five years, a Chinese military unit under the command of Gen. Sun-Yat Moon, “someone capable of unspeakable cruelty,” has held Dr. William Lincoln Chase, “the legendary American scientist and Nobel laureate,” on Xinbu Island in the South China Sea. Chase is the genius behind the Centurion Submariner Project, which has produced an unmanned submersible vessel capable of launching 40 long-range nuclear missiles. To ensure Chase’s cooperation, his wife and children are held hostage in a North Korean death camp. Hawke and his team set out to rescue Chase and family, and deal with the Chinese threat. Silly prose aside (e.g., “He had it in for people who starved, tortured and murdered children”), this is a thrilling ride that even includes a cameo appearance by the current Queen of England. Agent: Peter Lampack, Peter Lampack Agency. (Apr.)