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)

Great! One of my favorites!

I love this series! The narrator is great also! I love that the narrator is the same for each book.

Jennifer Estep has a way of making it real!

Buy it buy it. I dare you! Great plotline as well.

Let me tell you. two words, Kick butt female lead. Gin Blanco is her name and she is assassin. Great story and performance as well. By the books you will never waste your money on this series.

I'm not rushing out to buy the next book

Originally posted at Fantasy Literature.

Web of Lies is the second book in Jennifer Estep’s ELEMENTAL ASSASSIN series about Gin Blanco, a young woman with elemental powers who was orphaned when she was a girl and was found and raised by an assassin who taught her the tricks of the trade. She’s known as The Spider — the best assassin in the city — and is now wealthy enough to retire, which she is trying to do. She spends her days running a barbeque restaurant, but trouble keeps finding her and she can’t turn her back on people who need her help… or people who need to be killed.

This time trouble is in the form of a college girl named Violet Fox whose family owns some property coveted by a man who’s trying to coerce them into selling it to him. He owns coalmines and wants to add their land to his domain. Now he’s getting ruthless and he will use any amount of force needed to get that land. It’s up to Gin to stop him but her methods are not always ethical, much to the chagrin of police detective Donovan Caine, who has the hots for her. And vice versa.

Readers who enjoyed the first ELEMENTAL ASSASSIN book, Spider’s Bite, will probably be pleased with Web of Lies, too. It’s got plenty of action, some appealing characters (especially Donovan Caine), and lots of romantic tension. A new intriguing romance and perhaps a love triangle is on the horizon, too.

The plot of Web of Lies is kind of clichéd — a greedy evil capitalist becomes murderous — and it proceeds in a rather obvious ways with several scenes that are too similar to scenes in the previous novel, making me wonder if Estep is already running out of creative ideas for this series. A similar issue is the repetitive prose — certain information and even actual phrases are repeated many times throughout the novel. If you’re a reader who gets annoyed by this, you’re certain to be pulling out your hair by the end of Web of Lies.

Despite my complaints, which should be enough to make me drop this series, I’m still interested in Gin’s personal life. I’m not sure why, but I want to see what happens between her and Donovan Caine and her new love interest. I also want to know what happened to her family. It helps that I’m enjoying the audio versions of these books, which were narrated by the wonderful Lauren Fortgang. I’m not going to rush out to buy the third audiobook, Venom, but I’ll give it a try if it happens to come my way.

Better, but......

A bit better than the first one, not much. Her writing has settled down a bit. However, there I still have no emotional attachment to any of the characters, and while there is a mild interest in how the story turns out, it's just mild.

Getting better- I like it!

I can't help it if the narrator's southern drawl sounds like home-I love it! The story is improving and I don't even mind discussing eye color anymore.

ok, not great

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The first one was surprising. This one got boring. After the first one I thought I would listen to all of them. Now I doubt I will continue. Maybe one more.

predictable and an insult

So it seems the author wants to believe that a successful assassin has reached adulthood and hasn't learned the keys to a successful relationship beyond great sex. we are also to believe that great sex or love is worth sacrificing. your self worth and integrity for. it has some good parts which is why I purchased a second book. I love the narrator. I love the fantasy themes. if the attempt at romance and annoying sex scenes had been left out this would have been a great book.

THIS SERIES JUST KEEPS GOING

KEEPS THE EXCITEMENT GOING AND KEEPS ME LONGING FOR MORE. IT IS WELL WRITEN AND VERY INTERESTING.

Awesome

the best series I have ever read (heard) and I have over 100 books in library and this series is my favorite

Web of Lies Elemental Assassin

I recommend this book. The main character, Gin finally finds the person who murder her and will eventually want to read the next book.