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)

Gin is awesome!

Lets go through Ashley's awesome books checklist:

- Awesome MC- CHECK
- Unique Supes- CHECK
- Boys?- CHECK
- Potential for more books?- CHECK
- WANT to read more books?- CHECK

Gin Blanco is, by far, my favorite assassin in all of fiction land. She kicks so much booty. So much. Please or please let me read more about her.

comic book level fun ... but those adjectives

These are entertaining, if rather shallow, popcorn urban fantasy books. The villains are comically evil. Bad men, from the guy at the top to the lowliest of henchmen, routinely leer and paw at women. Two books in a row and the use of men attacking women for perversion seems to be the unfortunate go-to conflict that allows Gin to be the justified killer. Hopefully book three will branch out to other kinds of mystery plots.

I think I'd like these better if a ruthless editor cut out all the repetition. I only have the audio version, but if I could run a word count, there'd be over a hundred times where we're told about her life altering event 17 years ago (how many years? 17 when did she lose her family? 17 years ago when she become an assassin? 17). And yet, for all the repetition, there's a failure to fill out other aspects; it took me until halfway thru this book to figure out Gin was 13 when she lost her family and became an assassin and is 30 years old in books 1 and 2.

Instead of "I stabbed him with my knife" it's "I stabbed him with my silverstone knife." What kind of knife was it? Silverstone. How many knives did she have hidden on her? Not five, but "five silverstone knives." Nobody says "I stabbed him with my steel knife and then threw my iron hammer."

Or the one that gives me the biggest eye-tic: eye-color. Nobody says "I closed my grey eyes;" everyone simply says "I closed my eyes." All the characters are identified first and foremost by their eye color, from Gin's grey to Donovan's hazel to Owen's violet... even to random henchman's black eyes. Might make sense if there was a connection between eye color and magic. But no, it's just this weird thing the author can't stop doing.

Despite the annoying hang-up on unnecessary adjectives, I will continue to move on with the series.

An exciting new entry

Gin is back after retiring as an assassin, she returns after a hold-up hat her BBQ restaurant. She gets embroiled with protecting her property, herself and someone looking for help from Fletcher. This is a solid follow-up to Spider's Bite. It's got the right amount of action, sexy times, plot and fun. I will say that Gin isn't a great assassin and that things get messy when she tries to whack a mark. Some good insights and world building that definitely tease the upcoming books. I'm still interested enough to continue. Lauren Fortgang does a fine job with her southern charm voices. They work and they're a lot of fun to listen to.

No spoilers

This is a first time read/listen by this author and narrator. The story and writing wasn't bad but not great like some reviews stated. I did skip the first book. I normally don't do that but per reviews on this book stated that MS Estep will retell a short version of main parts of last book and honestly it worked out fine I wasn't lost at all and I'm glad I did first book had only an over all 4 star review. Like I said not bad I really like Gin for me she was very likable and bad a** to the bone but she was also very caring, sassy, loyal and a bit dumb at time but I think that's why she pulled me to her NO ONE is perfect. I also have to say MS Fortgang was super good loved her voice and the southern draw she brought not only Gin to life but all the characters in the book to life. I have Listen to book 3 in the series and must say it's SO SO good. Got to listen to this one before next lol. Also I highly recommend the Audible version over reading this series MS Fortgang really dose being the books to life. Each book is getting better and better. Happy reading.

Top Notch Follow Up

This is even better than the first book. The stakes are higher and the events of the first book still resonate. It was a lot more tense, and also a little easier to follow. The story didn't seem quite as convoluted as the first book. The unnecessary fascination with eye color is still there, but doesn't seem quite a prevalent as before, perhaps because it is diffused among more characters.

Fortgang seems to have gotten better as Gin since the last book, having dropped whatever weird pronunciation that had bothered me last time.

excellent audiobook!

really good sequel!
The combination of Jennifer Estep's writing and Lauren Fortgang's narration was fabulous!,

too fast

I enjoyed the book but seemed to be over before it started. I would have liked to see it be more in depth.

Great series, well written and entertaining

excellent series. interesting characters and story lines. if you enjou fantasy and romance you show read this series

Book 2 Great continuance

Where does Web of Lies rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

The book flowed and left me wanted more from Gin Blanco.

What did you like best about this story?

It was an exciting continuance to the Gin Blanco Saga. The story flowed and kept me occupied. I have whispersync with tthe Kindle version and once I stopped listening, more than once I picked up my Kindle and continued reading. Very good. Can't wait to see what happens in book 3.

Gin in a white hat with a red band.

What's not to like about an Estep story? I admit Jennifer Estep is one of my favorite authors and I'm way behind on this series. Gin Blanco, aka, The Spider, is one of Ashland's deadliest assassins, retired or otherwise, so when the big fire-throwing elemental steps into her Pork Pit to make trouble, she puts it out right away. Then the cops show and explain who the guy's daddy is. Big time lawyer for none other than Mab Monroe.

When someone puts a bullet through the window at her the next day, Gin knows exactly who's responsible. However, when she tracks down the window the shot was fired from, she has second, then third thoughts regarding that assumption and the light goes on. It wasn't her they were shooting at, but the young woman standing next to her at the cash register. The one asking about Tin Man.

I'm loving this character and I did hope the love angle would work out, but apparently not. His loss. There are more hot guys waiting. Ones that aren't afraid to look at the hard underbelly of Ashland. Gin may have retired from the assassination business, but she's a long way from out of the game, picking up where the Tin Man left off. Can't wait to pick up book three.