Overkill

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. [em]Agent: Peter Lampack, Peter Lampack Agency. (May) [/em]