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Ted Bell's first ever e-Book exclusive short story finds Counterspy Alex Hawke in hostile foreign waters, flying at nearly the speed of sound, at an altitude no sane man would dare, piloting an F-16 Viper on a highly covert mission.

His task is simple: enter another nation's airspace undetected, meet a secret contact, and find a way to avert a global war. It will take every skill at his command—but there are few as shrewd and savvy as Alex Hawke. When his plane is discovered by enemy radar, he is forced to improvise—or die trying.

Alex Hawke. Saving the world one bullet at a time.

Includes a 98-page sneak preview from Phantom, the exhilarating, new novel in the Alex Hawke series.

ebook

First published March 6, 2012

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About the author

Ted Bell

51 books868 followers
Ted Bell was the author of 12 consecutive New York Times best sellers and a former advertising executive. He began his advertising career in the 1970’s as a junior copywriter at Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB), New York. At the age of 25, he sold his first screenplay to Hollywood, as well as became the youngest vice-president in the storied history of DDB. He then joined Leo Burnett Co., Chicago, as a creative director and four years later, he was named President, Chicago Creative Officer where he was credited with developing numerous innovative and award-winning advertising campaigns. In 1982, Bell joined Young & Rubicam, London, and in 1991 he became the Vice Chairman and Worldwide Creative Director. Ted won every award the advertising industry offers, including numerous Clios and Cannes Gold Lions, and while at Young & Rubicam, the Grand Prix at the Cannes Festival. In 2001, Ted retired to write full time. He has 10 New York Times Bestsellers to his credit: The Alex Hawke series of spy thrillers published by HarperCollins and the young adult targeted time travel adventure series, Nick of Time and The Time Pirate published by St. Martins Press.

A native Floridian, Bell graduated from Randolph-Macon College in Virginia and was a former member of the college’s Board of Trustees. He held an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Kendall College in Michigan. Bell was also an Adjunct Professor of English Literature at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida. He was a member of the Defense Orientation Conference Association (DOCA), a program run by the Department of Defense in support of America’s military. He served on the Advisory Board at George Washington’s Home at Mount Vernon, a group chaired by former Secretary of the Army, Togo West. He also served for a time as an advisor to the Undersecretary for Domestic Relations at the U.S. Department of State.

For the 2011-2012 Academic Year, Sir Richard Dearlove, Former Chief of MI6, British Intelligence, sponsored Ted to become a Visiting Scholar at Cambridge University (UK). In addition, he was named Writer-in-Residence at Sydney-Sussex College, Cambridge and studied at the University’s Department of Political Science and International Studies (POLIS) under the tutelage of Sir Dearlove, who was the Master of Pembroke College.

In May 2018, Ted published OVERKILL, the 10th book in the popular Alex Hawke spy thriller series.

In January 2019, Ted and Jon Adler of Jon Adler Films formed El Dorado Entertainment, a feature film and television production company based in New York.

In July 2019, Ted signed a two-book deal with Random House.

In July 2020, the 11th Alex Hawke thriller, DRAGONFIRE, was published.

On December 7, 2021, the 12th Alex Hawke thriller, SEA HAWKE was published.

Ted appeared on numerous television and radio programs and was a featured speaker at associations, clubs, libraries and organizations across the country.

Ted traveled the world and lived in Italy, London, France, Palm Beach, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Maine. He last lived in a beloved 19th century farmhouse in Connecticut.

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5 stars
147 (28%)
4 stars
139 (26%)
3 stars
142 (27%)
2 stars
56 (10%)
1 star
33 (6%)
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
Profile Image for Ted.
23 reviews732 followers
September 18, 2013
This was never intended to be a complete story and I'm sorry people got that impression. What it is is the opening scene of the new Alex Hawke novel WARRIORS. It will be on sale
April 1st, 2014.
Profile Image for Jeanne.
1,079 reviews4 followers
July 31, 2017
This was intended as a segway between Warlord and Phantom, but I was reading it after the fact, having read both of these stories. It seems some of the "filler" of this story was part of Phantom, but still provided some of the missing pieces. Just an OK read for me -- 4 out 0f 10.
Profile Image for Travis Jackson.
Author 1 book12 followers
December 16, 2017
Decent enough for a short story. Reads like an ten minute synopsis of 24, with Jack Bauer’s luck too. No way this would happen in real life.
6 reviews
August 24, 2018
Waste of Time and Money

Doesn't even qualify as a short story. A few pages of the authors thoughts, followed by three times the number of pages devoted to previewing another book.
1 review1 follower
July 29, 2020
Crash drive

Ted bell at his finest. Good for a short story, I like the full novels better though. Onto the next in series
Profile Image for Eric Nisbet.
65 reviews
March 5, 2017
Confusing ebook. Title story only 18 pages long and rest an excerpt from a full novel?
Profile Image for Randy.
87 reviews13 followers
Read
October 24, 2015

Ted Bell's first ever e-Book exclusive short story finds Counterspy Alex Hawke in hostile foreign waters, flying at nearly the speed of sound, at an altitude no sane man would dare, piloting an F-16 Viper on a highly covert mission.

His task is simple: enter another nation's airspace undetected, meet a secret contact, and find a way to avert a global war. It will take every skill at his command—but there are few as shrewd and savvy as Alex Hawke. When his plane is discovered by enemy radar, he is forced to improvise—or die trying.

Alex Hawke. Saving the world one bullet at a time.

Includes a 98-page sneak preview from Phantom, the exhilarating, new novel in the Alex Hawke series.

Profile Image for Matt.
5,017 reviews13.1k followers
July 23, 2012
A quick read that leaves no time for Hawke to be his hoity-toity self, but also did little to bridge between books or really move any character forward. Almost as though Bell sought to make a little cash with another publication. I found little plot or action, other than main character Alex Hawke trying to stay alive on some covert op.

Nice 20 min read, but don't spend money on it... unless you have some to burn.
Profile Image for Jeff Curtis.
90 reviews2 followers
August 7, 2012
Didn't like this book. I believe it was more of an attempt at a marketing plan for his newest book, Phantom. The original story in Crash Dive goes no where. Although it starts out as another great story line from Bell...it quickly deteriorates into a sample of Phantom. In fact, there is more of Phantom in this book then the original story line.
Profile Image for Anna.
1,061 reviews39 followers
July 15, 2015
fragment ... preview of "Phantom"

it's the prologue and opening chapters of the full novel.
personally, I would have dropped the prologue and would have limited the story to the episodes in Russia ... but, that's just me.

It would have been nice to have a bridge story between "Warlord" and "Phantom".
Profile Image for Bob Wasserman.
334 reviews2 followers
August 2, 2012
Are you kidding me? This doesn't even qualify as a short story.
It's more of an anecdote...."Alex woke up, did this - the end".
There's 10 times more content in the Phantom preview ----but I already have The Phantom.
Next time, save the effort.
Profile Image for See.
673 reviews4 followers
February 9, 2023
A strange book with parts of other books inside.

This book has several parts of Alexander Hawkes adventures. There is no one complete story in any of them. It makes for difficult reading
Profile Image for Dan Smith.
1,841 reviews17 followers
Read
March 24, 2016
Very short story of Hawkes encounter with the Chinese...
Profile Image for Volkmar.
1 review
September 4, 2016
Very short, it ended before it even started. Seems to be a marketing stunt.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews