Book Log 2009 #25: Tsar by Ted Bell

This is apparently the fifth book featuring master spy Alexander Hawke, a Brit who does all the expected spy things while saving the world. He's like James Bond, but prefers rum to martinis and rides a motorcycle rather than drive an Aston Martin. I assume he has a thing for the ladies, too, but in this book he's monogamous (making this the analogue to On Her Majesty's Secret Service, I suppose).

Anyway, it's a perfectly servicable spy thriller about a Russian inventor who wants to revive the monarchy and become the new tsar (I'm also assuming that Bell likes one word titles that are a little on the nose). It's the sort of book you'd read while commuting or on a plane or on vacation, engrossing enough to pass the time. I don't feel particularly compelled to go back and read the previous entries in the series.

Bell is a former ad exec, which may explain why the brand for pretty much every item mentioned is given in the text. That's a little off-putting.