ABOUT THE AUTHOR: TED BELL has always had an itch to travel the worldâ??after graduating college and leaving a dull desk job in the family bank, he moved to Europe to become a writer and bounced around Italy and France and Rome, where he was cast as a Cinecitta cowboy in a spaghetti western that was ultimately never made. Eventually he made it back to the States, starting what would become a distinguished career in advertising, hitting his pinnacle as Vice-Chairman of the Board and World-Wide Creative Director of Young & Rubicam, one of the world's largest advertising agencies. But the call to become a writer, borne in the third grade when he was eight, never waned. He left his career, focused on writing fiction, and three years later published his debut, Hawke in 2003. Since then, eight books in the series have landed on the New York Times bestseller list. In addition, Paramount Pictures is now in production with a blockbuster feature film to be titled Hawke. The movie is based on the last Hawke thriller, Patriot and is slated for release in 2019. Executive Producer is Lorenzo Di Bonaventura and the Screenwriter is Kurt Wimmer. Ted fills his very cinematic thrillers with realistic details and infuses his characters with a panache and humor that is rarely seen in modern spy novels. Tedâ??s extensive global travels have given him a perspective that he alone can provide readers. Heâ??s been a Visiting Scholar at Cambridge University completing his studies at Cambridge Universityâ??s Department of Political Science and International Studies (POLIS) and was elected to the position of Writer-In-Residence, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridgeâ??a setting known for its connections to the Intelligence community. In addition to his time in the UK, Ted has spent much time in Russia researching his novels where, on one trip, almost â??disappearedâ?? while waiting for a flight in the first-class lounge in the Moscow airport. This is just one of the many intriguing tales that pepper Tedâ??s riveting thrillers. But setting and characterization arenâ??t the only strengths of the Hawke seriesâ??Ted does exhaustive research with the goal to provide the most realistic military details for his readers. DOCA, a Department of Defense committee, selected Ted as a civilian member of the standing group that supports the US military. He also served for a brief time as an advisor to the Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy at the U.S. State Department. Ted is a character himselfâ??and the Hawke series is a product of his larger-than-life personality.