Web of Lies

Elemental Assassin, Book 2

By: Jennifer Estep

Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang

Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

"Curiosity is definitely going to get me dead one of these days. Probably real soon. I'm Gin Blanco. You might know me as the Spider, the most feared assassin in the South. I'm retired now, but trouble still has a way of finding me. Like the other day, when two punks tried to rob my popular barbecue joint, the Pork Pit. Then there was the barrage of gunfire on the restaurant. Only, for once, those kill shots weren't aimed at me. They were meant for Violet Fox.

"Ever since I agreed to help Violet and her grandfather protect their property from an evil coalmining tycoon, Im beginning to wonder if Im really retired. So is Detective Donovan Caine. The only honest cop in Ashland is having a real hard time reconciling his attraction to me with his Boy Scout mentality. And I can barely keep my hands off his sexy body. What can I say? I'm a Stone elemental with a little Ice magic thrown in, but my heart isn't made of solid rock. Luckily, Gin Blanco always gets her man...dead or alive."

©2010 Jennifer Estep (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

“The second chapter of the first-person ‘Elemental Assassin’ series is just as hard-edged and compelling as the first. Gin Blanco is a fascinatingly pragmatic character, whose intricate layers are just beginning to unravel. Estep has truly hit the jackpot with this outstanding series!” ( Romantic Times)

I love this dook

just the right mix of sex mistory and violence to make a fabulous book the reader is great to

An Epic Story read to PERFECTION!!

Web of Lies is the second installment in Jennifer Estep’s Elemental Assassin series. You can check out my review of the first book in the series, Spider’s Bite HERE. Web of Lies continues the story of Gin Blanco aka The Spider. She might have just retired, but will she lay down while others get hurt?

Estep weaved not only a great story, but an ongoing fantastic back story for this series. The Elemental Assassin series is one that I cannot put down! No joke, the MINUTE I finished Web of Lies I went right to Audible.com and purchased the next installment, Venom. And because I believe in 100% full disclosure I will admit that I am already on chapter 20 something.

Web of Lies lets us view deeper into who the person Gin is and how she got to where she is now. I really enjoyed learning more of her back story and history. It is a dark and beautiful background to a dark and beautiful character. That being said, the overall feel Spider’s Bite and Web of Lies has not been dark. Instead it feels like a spectacular story of good vs evil. Even if the good is disguised as a sarcastic retired assassin. I fucking love it.

The sarcasm Gin emits has a slightly different tone than many strong lead female characters. I feel this has something to do with her absolute acceptance of who she is. She does not want to be a little cream puff. She is proud of who she is and what she has. Gin’s acceptance of herself is a huge defining difference between this Alpha female and many others. She truly is kick-ass and proud.

Not everything for Gin always works out (this is a huge bonus for me – it keeps me on my toes!) and if you are looking for a traditional HEA you won’t find it here. If you are looking for some adventure, action, and a great story – you will not be disappointed. I believe any Urban Fantasy lover will enjoy this series with gusto!

Audiobook Thoughts: Epic. Captivating. Fucking Awesome. ;) OK – that would be cheating if I left it at that! Lauren Fortgang just blows me away. Her pace is steady and the slight variations she forks over for each character is amazingly consistent. The combination of a great story and great narrator make this a complete masterpiece.

I rate Web of Lies (Elemental Assassin #2) 5 out of 5 Bullets!

Love It

This book was fabulous if you are looking for a great paranormal book, not a romance. This book follows the bad guys (and gal) as they chase revenge on people that are even worse than them. Great read!

diamonds are the hardest rock

wouldnt have crumbled in the fall out. other than that ok.will read more sometime soonish.

Very Good

Loved this series, got all four audio books at once and was done in 3 days, I just couldn't stop listening. Lauren Fortgang was a wonderful narrater, I loved her voice, make the book easy to listen too.
Good storyline, lots of visual words, which some don't like, but I do, it adds to the story for me.. Gin, the main girl in the book is one hard, cold ass kicking assassin, I loved her...
Hoping for book 5 sooooooon...

From beginning to end, awesome story

I loved how this one ended. In an Urban fantasy you have to have the big fight and this one gives you an end fight like you wouldn't believe, especially since it served to changed things and move the story forward. All hail Gin Blonco, wish there was actually a Pork Pitt to go to because I'd love to taste that cheese sandwich. Looking forward to the next installment.

Freaking Awesome

Wow, book two and I'm already hooked. This book has everything. Great storyline,great characters, great dialogue and fantastic narration. Bring on book three, I can't wait to dive in. Kudos to you Ms Estep.

I'm hooked!

I love a good series. I bought the 1st book when Audible had sale on many 1st books of series. I just thought I'd give it a try. Now after reading the 2nd book, I'm officially hooked. I love the way the author ends each story with something to look forward to in the next book. I'm on to book 3 now!

Solid second book

Web of Lies is book 2 in the Elemental Assassin series. This is an urban fantasy series set in Ashland, Tennessee, USA. The main character is 30-year-old Gin Blanco. She is a stone elemental and she can also control ice. Her assassin name is The Spider, but at the end of book 1, Gin retired.

This book begins 2 months after book 1, Spider’s Bite, ended. It starts with Gin’s restaurant, The Pork Pit, being held up by a teenaged Fire Elemental named Jake McCallister, and his friend. Gin stopped them from completing the robbery and hurting or killing the two teenaged girls Jake was threatening with his fire power and a knife. In embracing her retirement and not wanting to scare the girls any further, Gin didn’t kill the boys. She called the police and allowed them to come get the boys. As it turned out, Jake is the son of the most powerful lawyer in town who is also personal counsel and a lieutenant for Mab Monroe. Of course this now opens things up for a whole new host of problems.

Donovan Cain, police detective, is still the love interest in this book but I am so over him. He cannot reconcile his stick up the ass, black and white with no shades of grey, moral compass of right and wrong beliefs with Gin doing what is right by killing a bad guy and him being attracted to her. He annoyed me throughout the book. Gin deserves better. Now that someone else has expressed some interest in her, I hope she can see beyond Donovan to find someone who will like her for who she is.

We met a new character in this book who seems like he will be important moving forward. One of the girls who Gin saved in the robbery was Eva Grayson. Her older brother is Owen Grayson and he is an important person who is both rich and influential in their city. He is the caregiver for his little sister and takes her safety very seriously. He thanks Gin for saving his sister and promises her a future favor since she says she doesn’t want anything in return.

The big case to be solved for this book surrounds 19 year old Violet Fox and her grandfather Warren Fox. As it turns out, Warren and Fletcher were best friends as children before they had a falling out and were estranged. Someone is trying to kill Violet because her grandfather won’t sell his land to Tobias Dawson, a coal miner. Gin has decided to protect Violet and her grandfather at all costs. This puts her back into Mab Monroe’s orbit and Mab destroys everyone and everything in her way so we are bound to see more of her in the next book when Gin undoubtedly will face off against her.

A few things that were weird to me in this book… The fact that after only two months of retirement, Gin is out of practice and her knives don’t hit the mark right away. She shouldn’t be that rusty this quickly. Gin is both a professional assassin (albeit newly retired) and an elemental, yet she manages to get surprised twice in a row by underestimating how the magic works and what can be accomplished with magic. She should know these things, if not by her own Elemental magic knowledge, by training for her old job and knowing how to keep herself safe and anonymous. And finally, how everyone is conveniently connected. Donovan is an old family friend of Violet’s grandfather, Warren Fox. Warren an old best friend of Gin’s father figure and ex handler, Fletcher. Violet’s best friend is Eva who is the little sister of Owen. Owen is connected to Mab Monroe who is also connected to Tobias Dawson and I forgot his first name McCallister, who is the father of Jake who tried robbing the Pork Pit.

I love Gin’s little family of her pseudo brother/Fletcher’s son, Finnegan, and dwarfs Sophia and Jojo. I love everything each of these side characters brings to the story. I’m glad to see Fin getting more involved with doing handler like responsibilities for Gin and helping her get the information she needs. My favorite line from Fin in this book was another funny one surrounding his love of nice cars, “This is an Aston Martin, Gin. You don’t run over dead bodies in an Aston Martin.” Speaking of lines, if I had to hear one more time, “palmed one of my silverstone knives” my eyeballs would have gotten stuck in the back of my head. Between that and Gin’s gray eyes. Newsflash, they are still gray.

I’m enjoying this series so far. I will definitely continue on. The narration is really good. The narrator is seamless from character to character. I don’t even notice the narrator which is a good thing. Overall, I give Web of Lies 4 stars.

Wow!!!!!!

Totally 100% addicted to this series, there is never a dull moment, and I'm speed listening this series