Liviania’s review of Tangled Threads (Elemental Assassin, Book 4) by Jennifer Estep
Urban Fantasy published by Pocket 26 Apr 11

I can’t decide if Jennifer Estep is spinning her wheels with Tangled Threads or not.  If it were a standalone novel, I would love it.  As it is, I feel like very few of the series threads were furthered.  The first and second books in the Elemental Assassin series had one-shot villains.  But in Venom, former assassin Gin Blanco took on one of the Big Bad’s main minions.  It seems like a step back for Gin to be focused on a new enemy.

The enemy in this case is LaFleur, an assassin who electrocutes people and kidnaps a young girl in order to convince a bartender to betray the Spider.  In addition to being hired to kill the Spider, Jonah McAllister (the remaining main minion) entices LaFleur to kill Gin.  I enjoyed the humor in Gin secretly evading her on two fronts.  Plus, all of the action scenes are excellent.  It’s a fun cat-and-cat tale.

As for the series threads, more information is revealed about the night Gin’s family died and Bria Cooper learns Gin’s secrets.  I am happy that Gin told Bria instead of Bria finding out on accident.  It does come at a good moment, too.  Tangled Threads doesn’t come to a standstill for them to discuss their past and their choices.  (Since one became an assassin and the other a cop, they view the same events fairly differently.)

The other cop in Gin’s life, her former lover, is less present in this novel as Gin continues to get over being left by Donovan Caine.  Owen Grayson, conversely, continues to earn Gin’s trust and love.  At the same time, Owen and Gin together are bland.  He fits her too perfectly.  Gin and Donovan’s relationship couldn’t last, but it had spark.  Owen is moving a little too fast for her since she just got out of a volatile relationship, but that problem is quickly resolved.  (And by his sister, rather than Gin.  Mostly.)  There are some nice domestic scenes involving the ensemble since Tangled Threads takes place during Christmas.

I like Estep’s writing and the world she has created.  I got a thrill from the big, dramatic action scenes of Tangled Threads.  But after the plot movement of Venom, it felt aimless.  Yay, Gin defeated an assassin we’ve never heard of before!  Maybe I’m just eager to see Jonah MacAllister and his boss get theirs.  (After all, if an assassin is going to be your protagonist, the antagonists need to be thoroughly awful.)  I’m definitely picking up Spider’s Revenge come October.  It’s the showdown I’ve been waiting to see.  I’m also excited about Touch of Frost, the first book in her new young adult series, which comes out this August.

Grade: B-

Summary:

I’d rather face a dozen lethal assassins any night than deal with something as tricky, convoluted, and fragile as my feelings.

But here I am. Gin Blanco, the semi-retired assassin known as the Spider. Hovering outside sexy businessman Owen Grayson’s front door like a nervous teenage girl. One thing I like about Owen: he doesn’t shy away from my past—or my present. And right now I have a bull’s-eye on my forehead. Cold-blooded Fire elemental Mab Monroe has hired one of the smartest assassins in the business to trap me.

Elektra LaFleur is skilled and efficient, with deadly electrical elemental magic as potent as my own Ice and Stone powers. Which means there’s a fifty-fifty chance one of us won’t survive this battle. I intend to kill LaFleur—or die trying—because Mab wants the assassin to take out my baby sister, Detective Bria Coolidge, too. The only problem is, Bria has no idea I’m her long-lost sibling . . . or that I’m the murderer she’s been chasing through Ashland for weeks.

And what Bria doesn’t know just might get us both dead. . . .

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in the series: