ABOUT THE BOOK

I am Number Nine, and I serve at the pleasure of those who come knocking at my door.

Once upon a time…
I was locked in a skyscraper in New York City with eight other girls.

I can’t belong to no single man because I’ve belonged to all. No identity, no friends, and no life outside the gilded door of this tower. When I’m not working, I paint the wall every day, the outside sun I’ve imagined that I’ve never felt on my skin.

One day, the Bratva Brotherhood comes for me.
Sociopath. Barbaric. Inhuman. The merciless man, Dimitri Nikhaelov wears no smile on his face as he barges into my room. No greetings. No words of assurance.

Imagine my surprise when he says, “You’re being delivered.”

Now I’m on a road trip across the country with the deadly Russian man to my final assignment. I thought he was my prince charming, that he might be my savior, but I was so wrong. I didn’t know my freedom would come at a high price.

Welcome to New York’s Underworld.

MY REVIEW

I think I have read every one of Ms. Khan’s books since her debut novel The Name of Red and I plan to keep reading them as fast as she writes them.  A Lock of Death is the second book in the Black Widow Series which is Dimitri Nikolaev’s story. The first book, A Kiss of Venom, is about Dimitri’s older brother Alexander. They can both be read as standalones.

The world needs monsters, so it creates them.

Dimitri Nikolaev is Second in Command in the Bratva Brotherhood. His job is to protect his brother the Pakhan Alexander Nikolaev no matter what it takes. Dimitri is an unfeeling sociopath with no conscience who is on an unusual job from Zander to deliver a special assignment. Her name is Nine and she has been a drug mule for his brother who stays in a tower in Manhattan.  Zander saved her from a life worse than death and he promised to protect her and keep her safe if she worked for him. But it was too good to be true. Nine is being sold to a slimy businessman named Boris Fedorov and the tall man with vacant eyes is delivering her.

What I love about Beena Khan’s characters are their shocking and incredible layers. As the story slowly unfolds their violent and monstrous pasts the more I became glued to the pages. Will he deliver her? Will her kill her? Dimitri and Nine’s relationship is volatile and frightening. They are both bat shit crazy which makes them work so well together. The whole balcony and hotel incidents are unbelievably dark and disturbing and one sees how far each of them will go to get what they want. Their relationship is extraordinarily erotic in a dark and deadly way. Nine is a strong and resilient woman who can hold her own with a man who has many opportunities to kill her. I have to admit I was rooting for Nine more than Dimitri because I thought he was a lost cause, but he finally comes through and makes a memorable confession. 

This is an exceptional and deeply disturbing romance full of page-turning suspense. Superb!

Thank you to Ms. Khan once again for giving me the opportunity to read this book with no expectation of a positive review.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Beena Khan writes literary fiction and edgy, contemporary romance. She 27 years old and lives in New York. She’s from Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, an immigrant who moved to New York when she was five years old. She currently holds a Masters Degree in Developmental Psychology. She enjoys reading, writing, and netflixing. The Name of Red is her debut novel published at the age of 26. All of her books are on Kindle Unlimited + Free Novella!

Follow Beena on her website, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Goodreads.