Warriors

In Bell’s latest international thriller, China seeks world domination by sending minions to America to kidnap Bill Chase, the scientist responsible for every recent weapon of war that has kept the U.S. in control of land, sea, and air. Five years later, the Chinese military kill the sitting U.S. president and begin to display the fruits of Chase’s new designs, among them a humongous armed drone that nearly takes out the new president. Enter handsome, dashing Lord Alex Hawk, an upper class clubman-spy with “pirate’s blood in his veins” and James Bond’s fire in his loins. He is unwittingly seduced by the main villainess, China Moon, a stunningly beautiful but cold-hearted assassin. There is a very thin line separating Bell’s old-school thriller prose and new wave satire, and narrator Shea’s energetic, if not entirely successful, attempt at accents, ranging from British Etonian to American ebonics, comes bloody well close to erasing that line. A William Morrow hardcover. (Apr.)