Nikolai
I read the previous books in this series and I was looking forward to Nikolai's story after all the build up. But, I was disappointed. I was not looking for blood and guts or anything along those lines. However, Nikolai is supposed to be a mob kingpin in Houston. I expected there to be some unpleasant things. Yes, he's trying to go legitimate, but he still runs drugs and guns. But none of that is ever dealt with where there are any details about hard decisions or bad things he has to do. It's like he's a pretend mob boss. And Vivian knows what he is and what he does, yet she's represented as a bit of a goody-goody and pretty religious. There is really no tension based around her beliefs and what Nikolai does. She just accepts what he is and what he does. Which is fine, but the religious aspect, in reality, would cause some conflict.
I just really didn't buy it. Nikolai did not seem like a hard ass at all. The way he was represented, his men would be walking all over him. I didn't really care for Vivian all that much, either. I didn't like the complaining and un-cooperativeness she displayed when she KNEW Nikolai was just trying to protect her from a very real threat.