Liviania’s review of Web of Lies (Elemental Assassin, Book 2) by Jennifer Estep
Urban Fantasy released by Pocket 25 May 2010

Gin Blanco, assassin and restaurateur, returns in the second Elemental Assassin novel.  Based on the end of Spider’s Bite, I expected most of the book to focus on the series arc.  Instead, Web of Lies is a standalone adventure that introduces another love interest for Gin.  We do learn a little bit about Gin’s past as she helps a girl and her grandfather keep their family store from a man willing to murder them for their land.  (Jennifer Estep appears to have adapted a Western plot for an urban fantasy.  In my mind, it works.)

We don’t see much of her new love interest, Owen Grayson.  But what we do see intrigues me.  Like Gin, he also lives on the wrong side of the law.  This is a good thing since Donovan Caine and Gin’s relationship is stalled due to the fact he believes strongly in the law and Gin believes strongly in killing people.  Retirement has not softened Gin’s edges, to Donovan’s dismay.  In fact, she’s ready and willing to help Violet out after someone tries to assassinate her when she tries to hire the Tin Man.  (The Tin Man was Fletcher Lane, Gin’s deceased mentor/father figure.)

The mystery in Web of Lies is just as fun as the one in Spider’s Bite. Estep uses Mab Monroe, who probably killed Gin’s family, to good effect.  Mab is pretty cold-hearted for a fire elemental.  The coal mining tycoon threatening Violet is more of your standard mustache-twirling villain.  While Gin is a trained assassin and has access to two kinds of magic (stone and ice), she’s pretty well-matched to her villains.  She doesn’t come out of all fights unharmed, which I like.  (For one thing, it gives the healer dwarf Jo-Jo Deveraux a chance to show up.)

My favorite aspect of Gin’s character may be her cooking abilities.  She gets even more opportunity to show them off, now that she owns the Pork Pit.  It’s a practical hobby and it’s nice to see an urban fantasy character show a steady interest in something other than fighting, relationships, and revenge.  The descriptions of the Pork Pit’s barbeque also give a nice flavor to the Southern setting.

I am looking forward to Venom.  While I was fine that Web of Lies didn’t follow up on the revelation at the end of Spider’s Bite (that one of Gin’s sisters is still alive), I am eager to see how Bria turned out and what she thinks of Gin.  I’m also glad that there are going to be five books in this series instead of just three, since I like Gin’s unapologetic attitude and her core supporting cast.

Grade: B+

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, I’m beginning to wonder if I’m 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.

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in this series: