Spider’s Bite Blog Tour

Spider’s Bite: An Elemental Assassin Book by Jennifer Estep
Review copy provided by Pocket Books

Author’s Website

PJVs Quickie POV:  A frenzied riot of violence, revenge and raunch all wrapped up in a fancy Urban Fantasy bow, Spider’s Bite, has it all.  First there is the tough as nails heroine who would rather kill first and ask questions later.  Then there is the boy-scout detective who sees everything in perfect black and white.  Next, you add a few vamps, and a whole lot of magic.  Spice it up with a bit of sexual tension, a great supporting character cast, and a plot that races by faster than you can turn pages. Spider’s Bite is a must read for Urban Fantasy fans, you can’t go wrong with this one.

Review:  Gin is an assassin, known to the darker side of society as The Spider. Cold as ice, Gin kills without guilt or remorse. She does her job, takes the money and never looks back.

Fletcher, her handler, and the man she treats like her father, has a last minute job for her.  The client is willing to pay her double her usual fee. This is a job she can’t pass up.  But, nothing comes without a price, and Gin quickly finds out that there is more to her assassination attempt than what she was led to believe. By the end of the night, Gin has been set-up and people close to her are killed. The police also have a composite sketch of her, something that has never happened before.  In order to clear her name, get the monkey off her back that is trying to kill her and take revenge for her loved-ones, Gin must find out who is pulling the strings behind the conspiracy.

Teaming up with Finnegan Lane, her handler’s son, and Detective Caine, a man who would like to see her dead, Gin tears through the city, searching for the “bad guy.”  Like all good intrigue novels, problems arise as Gin discovers more and more about the plot that she fell face first into.  Not to mention she now is getting all warm and tingly every time she gets close to the Detective. The Detective who can’t stand her, thinks she’s the scum of the Earth and just found out that, yes, she was the assassin that took out his partner. Fun times for Gin and the makings of a great novel.

An exciting, blood-bath of a book.  Gin is a no-nonsense killer that probably took down half the city within the pages of this book.  Not for the squeamish reader.  If you like butterflies and love stories, this is not the novel for you. 

The only things I found wrong with the book were few tiny plot-holes that aren’t that evident.  I also thought the “mole” reveal was a little too convenient, even though it was apparent to everyone but Caine who the dirty cop was.  But, then coincidental and happenstance findings are usually how investigations work.  A lot is luck.  That is all in the way of problems.  Nothing much at all.  The book was great, fast-paced, full of wonderful characters, even the big baddies were rich and laid-out well.  The back stories were excellently done and the world Estep created was very believable.  I liked her unique perceptive regarding the elemental magic. The gritty city of Ashland she also created, made my teeth hurt as she describe the crooked cops, the scummy streets and the opulence of the rich. I couldn’t set this book down.  I read this for Mardi Gras…and you know it was good if my fingers itched to pick up the book while the party was going on around me.

I will be reading Web of Lies, the second book in the series.

 Recommendations: Fans of Urban Fantasy – read this!  Not for younger readers, though.  You name it, this book has it, sex, violence, cursing, prostitution… and best of all a bit of murder and mayhem.