Technology has taken over the world. Quite literally.
Lord Alexander Hawke and his MI6 colleagues are fighting a
phantom enemy, one that uses the world's technology to
cause confusion and terror. But the only men who know how
to stop such a rapidly growing power are methodically being
eliminated. It is only a matter of time before this
powerful new technology will become unstoppable and Alex
and his team race to find it before it's too late.
If you're a fan of James Bond's larger than life actions,
exotic and beautiful locations not to mention the women of
the same description, and men who will thrive upon the life
and death thrill of combat, then PHANTOM by Ted Bell is for
you. If on the other hand, you like your military men more
realistic and with a complex character, then this novel
won't be the best choice for you like it wasn't for me.
Alex is very much like the vintage James Bond in that there
is very little character growth, but that's because Alex is
the man he wants to be. His confidence is what allows him
to live and thrive in the life that he's chosen, but it
also means that the physical action carries the entire plot
instead of having a combination of internal and external
conflict.
There is a lot of action and as the book is over 600 pages
long, that action suffers towards the end. The climax of
the story was well done but there's still 100 pages left to
go while Alex and his team dodge the enemy naval force and
I couldn't help but skim through it because the really
important battle had already finished.
All the men in PHANTOM are larger than life, sustaining and
even smiling through injuries that would kill lesser
mortals. Hard-core, arrogant, and always willing to risk
their life for their country, liberty and justice and not
necessarily in that order, they're extremely masculine and
thrive on the fight. On the other hand, female characters
tend to be portrayed as supportive, beautiful helpmates who
acquiesce to the male hero even if they should be equally
strong based upon their skill and training. This inequality
of characterization was frustrating for me.
PHANTOM by Ted Bell is all about pitting humanity against
the coming age of an Artificially Intelligent superpower.
It's an extremely relevant topic and one that I find
fascinating because of the various ethical and moral
questions that are brought to light, but PHANTOM focuses
mainly upon the absolute destruction such an
advanced 'being' could bring upon the world because there
is no logic for the human races existence. Again, if
you're a fan of the spy, action-packed adventures like
those of James Bond, then Ted Bell will not disappoint. If
on the other hand, you're like me and want a more humble
view of the world, then I suggest you skip this one.
Counterspy Alex Hawke must catch a villainous megalomaniac—a
man obsessed with horrifying experiments in cyberwarfare—in
this mesmerizing new espionage thriller in Ted Bell's New
York Times bestselling series
The first and most bizarre event nearly becomes a monumental
catastrophe when something goes awry at an American theme
park, wreaking havoc on visitors looking for nothing more
than a sun-splashed holiday. In a different part of the
country, a USAF F-15 pilot, escorting another jet in the
skies over the Midwest, inexplicably loses control of his
plane, endangering the lives of several people and deeply
puzzling those following his mission on the ground. Then, in
the misty calm of a coastal California evening, the world's
premier scientist on the subject of artificial intelligence
gets a strange phone call. When he hangs up, he quietly
grabs his coat and leaves for an after-dinner stroll from
which he never returns.
It's up to Hawke and the brilliant former inspector Ambrose
Congreve to find out what could possibly be happening. But
how does one identify—and fight—an enemy one can't see, a
real phantom? Even these seasoned operatives are mystified.
Is there really such a thing as an ultra-intelligent
machine, a cyberweapon that can shift the geopolitical
balance of power?
In a hunt that takes him from Palo Alto, California, to the
Russian frontier, to Cambridge University and the glistening
Mediterranean aboard his newly christened and armed super-
yacht Blackhawke, Alex Hawke is joined by the unstoppable
Stokely Jones and his ex-CIA buddy Harry Brock as he moves
closer to unmasking the scientist behind these extraordinary
events, going nose-to-nose with an enemy unlike any he's
fought before—and may never again.
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