The Spider (Elemental Assassin #10) by Jennifer Estep-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date December 24, 2013

For the first time, the origins of Gin Blanco’s career as the deadly assassin “the Spider” are revealed in full. In a story that pre-dates the other nine books in the series, Gin Blanco goes through her paces to become the most feared assassin in the Ashland.

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REVIEW: THE SPIDER is the tenth full length storyline in Jennifer Estep’s Elemental Assassin series and one that focuses on ten years in the past. Jennifer takes the reader on a reflective ride following one of Gin’s biggest mistakes and regrets. When a bouquet of black roses is delivered to Gin at the Pork Pit, The Spider begins to reminisce about the past and the one time in her life she can never take back.

The Spider follows a time when Gin was too quick to jump to conclusions and in doing so hurts the very people she is trying to protect. Still training under the direction of Fletcher Lane, Gin takes control of a contract hit that was never intended to be anything other than a job. But soon Gin will find herself falling for the wrong man and with it the realization that not everyone or everything is as it seems. Knowing she has made a monumental error in judgment, Gin is forced to do the only thing she can-take out those responsible for setting her up to take the fall.

Jennifer Estep’s signature style of Gin’s first person POV brings the reader up close and personal with one of the most feared assassins in the fictional town of Ashland. Many of the Elemental Assassin’s secondary characters play a small role including Gin’s first encounter with Owen; Jo Jo and Sophia; Finn and the late Fletcher Lane; and a brief glimpse at someone Gin had long since thought dead. The storyline will go full circle from present day to a decade earlier then back to the future where Gin knows that there is never enough she can do to right the wrongs from so many years before.

THE SPIDER is a story that delves deeper into the ‘who’ and the ‘what’ that is Gin Blanco-The Spider. We watch as a young, lonely and naïve Gin falls victim to a socio-pathic killer and the results will push our heroine into a world of pain and regret and a world where she will forever be looking out for a young girl whose life was torn apart by the actions of the woman who thought she was saving the world.

Jennifer Estep pulls the reader into a storyline of betrayal and pain; love and hate; and a world of supernatural beings, who one way or another, will make their presence known-from the past to the present and beyond.

Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley.

Reviewed by Sandy

0.5 Spider’s Bargain
1 Spider’s Bite
1.5 Web of Death
2 Web of Lies
2.5 Web of Deceit
2.6 Poison
2.7 Wasted
3 Venom
3.5 Tangled Dreams
3.7 Tangled Schemes
4 Tangled Threads
4.5 Spider’s Nemesis
5 Spider’s Revenge
5.5 Thread of Death
6 By A Thread
7 Widow’s Web
8 Deadly Sting
8.1 Parlor Tricks
8.5 Kiss of Venom
9 Heart of Venom
10 The Spider (Dec 2013)