Review: Web of Lies by Jennifer Estep

 

Web of Lies

(Elemental Assassin # 2)

by Jennifer Estep

The Spider might be retired, but that doesn’t mean the action stops in Ashland.

Gin is now manning the Pork Pit, her beloved barbeque joint. It seems that danger lurks just around the corner because one night, a young teen walks in asking for the Tin Man aka the man who taught her everything. Soon after, gunshots litter her restaurant making it resemble Swiss cheese. It is only later that Gin realized that the shooter was aiming at the girl, not her.

Curiosity gets the best of her and now Gin must find this girl named Violet Fox and figure out who is after her and what business she has with the Tin Man.

While I enjoyed the writing of this book, I still can’t find myself relating to Gin. There’s this coldness to her that is necessary for her job as an assassin. She is kickass and intelligent, however there’s this sense of detachment from everything that makes it hard for me to relate to this book.

I can appreciate the action and the worldbuilding of this book, but when I can’t relate to the protagonist, we have a problem. Gin has all the qualities of a strong heroine, but I feel like she just goes through the motions. As I read it, it felt like this: Observe, plan the next move. Attack. Insert a snarky comment and execute killing blow.

I’m not sure what I expected. Maybe I hoped for some more emotion, some more passion. It was just hard.

Another thing I noticed a lot in the first book and in this book as well was the use of the word, “Mmm.” If you’ve read this series, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. Every single time Gin mentions Donovan Caine, you can be sure an “Mmm” will follow suit. Just a tad annoying, but I can understand that sometimes an “Mmm” is the only way you can express yourself when in the presence of Officer Hottie.

However, like I said earlier, there are some great action sequences in this book. Estep knows how to pace these scenes perfectly. The world continues to get better. I’m just not sure Gin is the right match for me.

 

 

Purchase Links: Amazon