Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Locker Nine #4

Blood Bought: Book Four in The Locker Nine Series

Rate this book
In the fourth installment in The Locker Nine Series:

Robert Hardwick's presence at a friend's compound in northern Georgia has put him on the radar of a corrupt congressman whose only bug-out plan is to take the property of someone better prepared than himself.  When the congressman's effort to take the Georgia compound fails he has to come up with another way to save his followers and their families. 

He decides to track down the writer from Virginia, a man he suspects has outfitted his home to survive the apocalypse he describes in his books.  In a last ditch effort to save his mission, the congressman bets everything on taking the Hardwick farm for his people.

Finally within reach of his family in Damascus, Virginia, Robert is prepared to fight him off with everything he has.  If the congressman intends to take what belongs to Robert, he'll pay in blood.

A non-stop thrill ride of action and suspense.

274 pages, Paperback

Published August 9, 2019

330 people are currently reading
116 people want to read

About the author

Franklin Horton

57 books369 followers
Franklin Horton lives and writes in the mountains of southwestern Virginia. He attended Virginia Intermont College and Virginia Commonwealth University. In his spare time he pursues outdoor adventures with his wife and two children. His interests include camping, kayaking, backpacking, mountain biking, and shooting.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
774 (64%)
4 stars
338 (28%)
3 stars
85 (7%)
2 stars
8 (<1%)
1 star
0 (0%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
Profile Image for Rachael Ashak-Benson.
358 reviews20 followers
October 26, 2022
Robert cries, confuses his daughter w/ his “wife,”..

….& other men fight his battles. Well - old men & girls do as well.
Wsshheeewww!
I finally completed this really pretty good series - with the exception of the chronically cringy & annoying character, Robert Hardwick.
I have certainly written enough complaints about him in my previous reviews.
Yet … somehow, author Horton found a way to make Robert even more of a pathetic & very odd man in the concluding chapter of this tale in Blood Bought: Book 4.
Robert would speak to ONLY Grace, his daughter, about his inner feelings. As well as her own. About the happenings of the world.
Not his perfectly available wife. Nope, not her.
It provoked such an “ick” factor.
Especially in that Robert wouldn’t just, “get some dirt in his eye,” or actually, “shed a tear,” occasionally when speaking with his daughter. No, he would end up wrapped around the girl & “sobbing.”
Just …. eeeeww.
It is too much.
And his poor daughter, who is his SOLE emotional support person. His psychological support person. Etc…… He does EVERYTHING with Grace.
Robert’s wife, meanwhile, despite successfully single-handedly defending their home in his absence despite her recent surgery in Book 1. Once he returns home - all her role becomes is the silent cook/worried, fretful mother. Period. ???
Grace, the daughter, fills all Robert’s needs for a partner. And it’s so weird & gross.
Grace also is the fighter in the family.
As well as others who have offered to help the Hardwick’s.
Example situation.
Something occurs where defense is needed.
Everyone is sent to their defensive areas of operation. Grace’s is furthest from the home.
People (all others are male) are placed elsewhere.
Her new boyfriend Tom, using a motorized standing wheelchair type device (that could, you never know break, be destroyed, etc etc at any time, leaving him stranded & vulnerable….) is stationed at the end of their very long driveway. This is VERY far from any “safety.”
Even an old man neighbor is in the fight, out there, taking risks.
Now. Where has Robert placed himself? I’m actually feeling EMBARRASSED to share it.
At his home.
Yup.
Right there, at his house itself.
I mean - SOMEONE has to guard the house after all, right??
(Certainly not the extremely capable wife. No. She’s been relegated to hide away in the locked safe room. With their young, BUT already previously trained weapons trained son.)
pppfttttt
Waste of apocalyptic manpower right there, if I’ve ever seen it, yk? Esp as Robert’s manpower is in short supply.
Anyway. I just can’t think about, talk about, or review, whiney, big cry baby, selfish, self centered, so incredibly ugly inside Robert Hardwick any longer.
(Oh! I MUST mention how, when he was dropping off an elderly woman & child that had become family to the Hardwick’s. And he knew this decision would bring doom, pain, & certain slow death to the pair … his thoughts to himself included the knowledge of the former, but also, “now at least his food stores will last longer without the 2 of them.”
And how he always knew he was one who could make the hard choices necessary to survive- even turning away someone like a child in need. That he can’t help everyone who has a familiar face.
Ummmm. No. There’s a BIG difference between telling neighbors you cannot help them. People who randomly come knocking. Etc.
And those YOU have invited into your home yourself. Those who have already broken bread with your family. That YOU have given the invitation to stay…..
Once again .. just so frustrating with a character like Robert. SOOOO unlikable.
Due to his talking out both sides of his mouth, in this situation.)
Ok! So - am I happy I read The Locker Nine Series?
Yes. Because I am such a huge fan of Franklin Horton! And everything else I’ve read by him has been absolutely phenomenal!
I mean The Mad Mick - come on. GENIUS!!!!
I’d like to say at the end of the day, “I’ve read everything Horton’s ever written…”
So there’s that.
But there is something to be said for a character who other characters think is an a**hole, & even that same character owns that part of themselves. As in one of the leads of The Borrowed World series.
It can be … quirky. Create interest. Can add humor, sarcasm, or an edge. Basically- IMPROVE on what would otherwise be just another basic male character.
This is the first time I’ve ever read where a character, not “a bad guy,” but a main character I’m guessing we’re supposed to like?? …. Who refers to himself as an a**hole - truly is one. In every sense of the word.
If this story were reality? The only friends or family Robert would have, would be ones he’d create in his fiction.
Last word…..
Read Locker Nine IF you can stomach Robert/are a big Franklin Horton fan.
Otherwise, just skip it 1000% & read anything else by Horton & ENJOY the masterful writing/reading experience!
Profile Image for Shawn Fahy.
178 reviews2 followers
October 18, 2024
I finished “Blood Bought” by Franklin Horton (2019), the fourth and final (?) book in the Locker Nine series. In this book, Robert is reunited with his family as well as Tom and Sonyea back at his home. Not all is rosy, however, as the band of brigands that was laying siege to the compound where Robert and Sonyea were in the last book has now decided to set their sights on Robert’s home for their bug out location instead.

This story was a fast and easy read, but I felt like it lacked some of the suspense of the earlier books. The good guys seemed to all be in a position of strength and the bad guys seemed divided, incompetent, and ever weaker with every bad decision they made. This didn’t make the story bad or uninteresting, but it made the outcome easier to predict.

There were some new characters introduced in this book and existing characters were developed. The ending seemed to set the series up for sequels but, at the time I read this one, there have been no more books written in this series for five years. Perhaps this series got rolled into one of Horton’s other series, like The Mad Mick or Borrowed World. I am in the midst of reading those other books right now, so I guess I’ll find out sooner or later.

I’m enjoying Horton’s writing style and so I’ll move on to the Mad Mick series (I’ve already read book 1 of that series) and read through those until I’ve caught up to the point in the Borrowed World series where I left off.
Profile Image for Chessy The Cat.
340 reviews28 followers
April 26, 2020
Robert Hardwick is finally on his way home. Once there his family will finally be all together again. In this new post-apocalyptic world, they must work harder than ever to stay together and to stay alive. Some would do anything to take away everything.

Horton’s fourth book in The Locker Nine series, Blood Bought is a contrast in emotions. There is the joy Robert and his family experience once they are reunited. Then there is the grim reality of the outside threats they continue to face. They can never let their guard down as if things were back to normal.

Congressman Honaker failed in his attempt to overtake the compound he had scoped out for years in northern Georgia. He believes that since Robert is friends with the owner and writes post-apocalyptic novels for a living, that Robert must have a similar compound in Virginia. Never one to be denied, the congressman sets his caravan off to confront the Hardwicks.

Reminiscent of the David and Goliath story, Honaker is confident that he has the numbers on his side. Robert and his family know they will be overwhelmed if they don’t place some outlying deterrents in hopes of buying them time and element of surprise.

I read this book in one sitting on a Friday afternoon/early evening. It’s a fast read, enjoyable read.

5 out of 5 stars.
Profile Image for Daniel Lewis.
480 reviews3 followers
November 22, 2022
This book made me incredibly depressed. Not because of the story but because it was the last book in this shared universe that I have enjoyed every single chapter of. I love finding large book series that I can get lost in but always then feel a since of loss when they are over. I do think there might be more coming, I hope there is more coming!

On to the book. In this book the scumbag drug addicted daughter is not done causing mayhem for the family. There were a few interactions in this one that I thought felt forced. The lady he hired to watch over his wife decides to leave and I just felt like the peoples reactions to that and her reactions were more to further the plot than normal reactions. It stuck out because most of the time people act in what seems like a natural way. The corrupt congressman acted in pretty much the way you expect him to to most events. It was good to see the end of that story line. Great book, great series and great shared universe. If you are thinking of getting your first Franklin Horton book and are reading reviews, do it. You wont be disappointed. I would start with this series then pick up the Mad Mick series, and interlace books from the borrowed world series until they converge into a set of stories that are very very good.

#postapocalypse
#lockernine
#franklinhorton
Profile Image for James Maxon.
Author 9 books43 followers
January 3, 2022
Great ending to this series. While not as much time following Grace as I hoped, there was a decent balance of time with her, Robert, and several other important characters. Most interesting was getting into the druggie daughter's head and seeing things from her perspective. Franklin Horton did a great job thinking from her self-serving, narcissistic point of view. While the ending is about what I expected, how it got there was anything but. Lots of twists and turns I didn't see coming. New characters added that made a large impact. I liked this book just as much as the first in the series. Great way to end it. My only complaint is that, like the previous book, there were no cameo appearances from characters in his other series. I was mainly hoping for more of a tie-in to The Borrowed World. Regardless, I thought Locker Nine was a good story that carried its own weight. If you like the one, you're bound to like the other.
3 reviews
December 24, 2021
Sad for it to end

Enjoyed this book. I like the survival genre, especially in this day and age. I had no clue it had preceded the mad mick series, which I have also read and enjoyed. I would recommend these books to people that want to get an idea on how to prep for any type of future emergency. i know I've implemented a few more "preppy" things because of them. No zombies or aliens... A much more dangerous adversary; other men and rogue governments. It doesn't hurt that most of these series also take place around the areas I live in, in Virginia. Entertaining and I learned a few things. It also jibes with a lot I know from my 36 years combined in the military and as a contractor in the DC area. Good reads.
Profile Image for Fred Barnes.
316 reviews42 followers
October 9, 2023
WHAT A GREAT CONCLUSION TO THE LOCKER NINE SERIES

Franklin Horton has done it again. Book number 4, "Blood Bought," the final book in the post-apocalyptic series LOCKER NINE brings the story to an end of a small group of people who fight to keep each other alive as well as therselves and to protect what they have worked to build and put in place to survive. This book, as well as the whole series, is well written, filled with action, and suspense throughout. You'll be hooked from the first page of the first book to the final page in the fourth book.
1,477 reviews25 followers
March 25, 2021
Blood Bought. Franklin Horfon

Robert his family and close friends have endured against unimaginable hardship in a world in disarray. Everyone is on their own to survive. Alliances are formed. A rogue politician has his sights on Roberts homestead, his supplies, food and are willing to do whatever it takes to get them. Non stop action. Unfortunately the final book in this excellent series. My highest recommendation!!! Enjoyed immensely!!
Profile Image for Frank Dupree.
322 reviews3 followers
April 4, 2022
Community - Team

If there’s one thing I can take away from this great series is that it takes a community/ Team to make it when the SHTF. This was a great series! I liked the characters and the action. I learned a lot for all the SHTF tips throughout the series too. Definitely recommend Franklin’s work to everyone who like apocalyptic writing!
Profile Image for Andrea Payne.
709 reviews5 followers
April 10, 2024
Awesome ending

Blood Bought: Book Four is the final book in The Locker Nine Series. It should absolutely be read in order.

Mr. Horton has a way of filling the pages with drama and action at the same time. His unique manor of storytelling leaves me guessing as his characters have laughing and crying.

I defend recommend this book, series and author! On to Mad Mick!
292 reviews1 follower
September 8, 2020
Locker nine locks it down

Justice is bought with blood. Once again facilitated by an unexpected source. The author says this is the final book in this series but I caught glimpses of possible loose threads. What say you Franklin Horton?
117 reviews3 followers
November 20, 2020
Timely

Good time to back up your preps and be ready for the coming life to be a little more precarious. This book has a number of best practices to incorporate in your routine, keeping you comfortably alive
145 reviews3 followers
September 9, 2021
Gripping

This Locker Nine Series, was gripping, tense and insightful of each and every character.
With all the human strength and faults they have. Tense times, stretching love, families and loyalties to the limit. a must read.
Profile Image for Angie Anderson.
584 reviews7 followers
August 16, 2022
What a book!

Franklin Horton is an amazing apocalyptic writer. His characters are well written and the storyline flows smoothly. He is able to write in characters from other series and make them work wonders together.
Profile Image for Ami.
2,390 reviews14 followers
October 16, 2023
Great apocalyptic series!

The Hardwick family and friends have become of great interest to me and I’ve enjoyed following along with their ordeals and drama. I’m looking forward to reading book 5!

Read via Kindle Unlimited
43 reviews2 followers
October 29, 2024
Excellent Wrap Up

Book four in the Locker Nine Series wraps up the series with nice tight, though hard fought, bow. It isn’t a stand-alone novel. You really need to start at the beginning. But, Oh what a ride you will have. Loved it.
Profile Image for Peggy Pancherz.
1,173 reviews6 followers
March 4, 2020
Good book

Read all of the books in order to really enjoy. Storyline continues to grow and develop. Characters are realistic and get better and better.
Profile Image for Tyler.
101 reviews
March 22, 2020
Amazing Book!!!

The fourth book in the locker nine series is an amazing read and continues to entertain the whole way through.
Profile Image for Mark.
428 reviews2 followers
May 18, 2020
Another fast paced adventure from Horton. Even the antagonists are engaging characters. Good stuff.
200 reviews1 follower
October 1, 2020
Great ending

It was worth the time to read all the books in this series. I look forward to reading more by this author now that I read Grace under fire. Well worth the read.😊
Profile Image for mia.
777 reviews
October 4, 2020
A fantastic conclusion to an attention grabbing series, it kept me on the edge of my seat, and glued to my tablet! I received this book in exchange for my honest review.
29 reviews2 followers
January 15, 2021
Good end

But there should be more about the characters on this story in the future. What will.hsppen to grace and tom
1 review
March 23, 2024
Boy Scout novel.......always be prepared

I enjoy the " what if" the world goes to the stone ages type of novels . Good story line.
102 reviews2 followers
June 2, 2025
Good Book; Good Ending

This was a very good book and it had a good ending, which I liked. Unexpected twists and turns in the plot kept me going right up to the very last page.
Profile Image for Matt Egan.
621 reviews5 followers
June 3, 2025
An excellent installment in the Locker 9 series, hopefully not the last, the Holloway family has lots of adventures left in the storyline...
2 reviews
July 12, 2025
Excellent

Great series, well written and great appearance by The Mad Mic. Riveting, wish there were another 10 books in the series
Profile Image for Raine McLeod.
1,154 reviews68 followers
July 19, 2025
3.5 for sure
It’s very satisfying
Enough happens there are stakes and there’s a good tie up at the end
13 reviews
September 5, 2025
one of the best

Great series, thought I would move on to a different series. But I think I’m going to look for more of Frank HORTONS BOOKS
Profile Image for Archiegitdog.
251 reviews
October 18, 2025
I enjoyed the whole series, well written and good survival series. Time for something different now though
Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.