THE DOUBLE by Helena Newbury-a review

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk / Amazon.au /

Don’t own a Kindle? Download the FREE Amazon Kindle App for your mobile device or pc

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date January 11, 2019

He’s not a criminal, he’s the criminal. Ruthless and gorgeous, he rules half of New York. Everyone knows his name: Konstantin. I’m the exact opposite. As an FBI surveillance specialist, my job is to be invisible and that suits me just fine. I spend my life watching Konstantin, and he’s never once seen the shy girl taking photos from across the street.

But when Konstantin’s beautiful but evil “companion,” Christina, is injured in a car crash, we get a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Plastic surgery can make me look just like her: I can take her place at Konstantin’s side and learn every secret he’s got. I must learn to mimic her exactly, from the way she walks to the sounds she makes in bed. Because if he suspects for one instant that I’m not her…he’ll kill me.

I soon discover that there’s more to Konstantin than anyone knows. That cold exterior hides a lifetime of pain and a deep, scorching need that takes my breath away. As our feelings spin out of control and my loyalties are tested, I need to know: is he falling for me…or the woman I’m impersonating? I was sent to destroy him but I might be the only one who can save him. And the love I was told to fake might just be real.

••••••••••

REVIEW: THE DOUBLE by Helena Newbury is a stand alone, contemporary, adult, Russian Mafia romance story line focusing on Russian mobster Konstantin Gulyev and FBI photographer Hailey Akers. Konstantin first appeared as a minor character in the author’s Kissing My Killer. THE DOUBLE can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story line(s) is revealed where necessary.

NOTE: THE DOUBLE contains scenes of light bondage and discipline, that may not be suitable for all readers.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Konstantin and Hailey) THE DOUBLE follows FBI photographer Hailey Akers as she willingly goes under cover, and under the knife to take down Russian mobster Konstantin Gulyev. With the mobster’s girlfriend Christina Rogan currently in custody, following a motor vehicle accident overseas, Hailey, having previously met our hero while on a stake out at a Boston hotel, agrees to plastic surgery in an effort to resemble the mobster’s live in love. What ensues is the building relationship and romance between Konstantin and Hailey aka Christina, as Hailey searches for information and proof of Konstantin’s crimes, and the potential fall-out as Konstantin is double crossed by more than the woman with whom he is falling in love.

Hailey Akers has lusted after Konstantin Gulyev since she first spotted our hero through the lens of her camera. Believing herself capable, our heroine offers herself up as Christina’s double in an effort take down a man the FBI believes is evil and bad. Konstantin Gulyev doesn’t do serious relationships but something about ‘Christina’ has changed since the recent accident, a change wherein Konstantin reconsiders his future with the woman with whom he is falling in love. When a Bratva rival is determined to destroy Konstantin Gulyev, Hailey, in the guise of Christina, becomes fodder in a war with the Russian mob.

The relationship between Hailey and Konstantin begins as a ruse. Hailey is undercover as the mobster’s high-society girlfriend, a role Hailey discovers may be harder than first revealed. Konstantin likes a little kink in his sex life including a ‘dungeon’ that the original Christina loved more than our story line heroine. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate, without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

We are introduced to FBI head Carrie Blake, and Hailey’s agency partner Sam Calahan, as well as Christina Rogan, Konstantin’s right hand man Grigory, and rival mobster Dmitri Ralavich.

THE DOUBLE is a story of secrets and lies; betrayal and trust; love and loss. The premise is entertaining and captivating; the romance is sexy and seductive; the characters are colourful and animated.

On the flip side, the reader will have to suspend belief and reality with regards to our heroine’s transformation. Five days out of surgery, for a complete facial reconstruction, and laser eye surgery to change not only her sight but her eye colour as well,Hailey is completely healed and ready to go undercover and start a new life with her Russian mobster, a man who barely notices the physical differences between Christina and the imposter. There are also a few issues of grammar that should have been caught by a decent editor.

Own a copy

Reviewed by Sandy