Tangled Threads (Elemental Assassin, Book 4) [Mass Market Paperback]

Jennifer Estep (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 26, 2011

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. . . .

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It’s assassin vs. assassin in the fourth chapter of Estep’s outstanding Elemental Assassin series. Gin Blanco is one the most intriguing heroines on the scene today. As the action heats up, Estep thoughtfully reveals additional aspects of Gin’s character, showcasing her evolution. If you have not gotten on the Gin bandwagon yet, do so today!"

- Romantic Times, Top Pick! (4 1/2 stars)

“Estep has truly hit the jackpot with this outstanding series!” —Romantic Times

“Gin is an assassin to die for.” —Adrian Phoenix, author of Etched in Bone

About the Author

Jennifer Estep is a New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author prowling the streets of her imagination in search of her next fantasy idea. Spider’s Bite, Web of Lies, Venom, Tangled Threads, Spider’s Revenge, “Thread of Death,” By a Thread, Widow’s Web, Deadly Sting, and "Parlor Tricks" (in the Carniepunk anthology) are the other titles in her Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series for Pocket Books. She also writes the Mythos Academy young adult urban fantasy series. For more on Jennifer and her books, visit her at JenniferEstep.com and @Jennifer_Estep.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books (April 26, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439192634
• ISBN-13: 978-1439192634
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (75 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #192,197 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jennifer Estep is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, prowling the streets of her imagination in search of her next fantasy idea.

Jennifer writes the Elemental Assassin adult urban fantasy series for Pocket. Books in the series are SPIDER'S BITE, WEB OF LIES, VENOM, TANGLED THREADS, SPIDER'S REVENGE, BY A THREAD, and WIDOW'S WEB. THREAD OF DEATH, an e-novella, is also available.

HAINTS AND HOBWEBS: AN ELEMENTAL ASSASSIN SHORT STORY can be found in THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF GHOST ROMANCE.

DEADLY STING, the eighth book, is set to be released on March 26, 2013.

Jennifer also writes the Mythos Academy young adult urban fantasy series for Kensington.

Books in the series are TOUCH OF FROST, KISS OF FROST, and DARK FROST. CRIMSON FROST, the fourth book, is set to be released on Dec. 24, 2012.

FIRST FROST, a prequel e-story to the series, is available as a download. HALLOWEEN FROST, an e-short story, is available in the ENTANGLED e-anthology.

Jennifer is also the author of the Bigtime paranormal romance series. Books in the superhero-themed series are KARMA GIRL, HOT MAMA, JINX, and NIGHTINGALE. A KARMA GIRL CHRISTMAS, an e-story, is also available.

Excerpts, free short stories, and more information on Jennifer's books can be found at http://www.jenniferestep.com.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#51 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy

#76 in Books > Romance > Fantasy & Futuristic

#87 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Fantasy

#93 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy

#51 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy

#76 in Books > Romance > Fantasy & Futuristic

#87 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Fantasy

#93 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 52 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars 90% filler April 27, 2011

By Yasen Nedkov

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I find myself a bit at a loss how to start this review. There are two ways to approach this book after reading it - glass half full or glass half empty. I'll give you both and you can decide for yourself which fits you best (that was my intention starting the review, didn't work out quite like that. Sorry).

The book is pretty straightforward - the cast is formed by our plucky neighbourhood assassin Gin, her cadre of sidekicks, a classic villain and a damsel in distress. Those combine in the predictable way to ensue a pinch of chaos, action and drama. After some (but not too much) ado the heroine is triumphant, the villain is defeated and even the damsel is still a damsel and in considerably less distress. All good and proper, exactly as expected. Yep. The only problem is that brief outline of the plot I just made is not a brief outline. It is the plot. In its entirety. Mostly the same things form the plots of any similar book but authors are constantly looking for new ways to mix the old ingredients so as to make their books if almost never innovative, then at least sometimes exciting. Introducing such things as a twist to a character or two, a wrinkle in the plot, some mystery as to the outcome or at least a bit of humour to brighten the narrative. Not here. The plot is so wrinkle free you can golf on it. There is nothing to surprise or excite you in the plot of this book. All that is going to happen is made obvious from the start and doesn't deviate from its set course one bit during the book.

As for the characters - we can separate them in two distinct sets - old and new ones. The new ones are just two and one is the villainous villain LaFleur. She is sufficiently villainously villainous to be a cardboard cut-out of any Bond villain (even has a french name so she can sound ominously ominous). Or comics villains for that matter. See, she doesn't really have any purpose or goal beside being villainous towards our heroes (and possibly ending the world, but she never admits to it). For that matter neither does she have any character or personality. She is sufficiently villainous to enjoy having superpowers and torturing good decent godfearing folk with said superpowers but that's just her stereotypical villainous villainy. Well, even if the villain is too cliché to be real at least we have the other new character to carry the book, right? The damsel? Yep, but the damsel is a kid that has 2 lines in the book. No, you say? The real damsel is the kid's father, the kid is just a damselly sidekick! Mkey, but the father also has two lines. There goes that idea. So basically the only new character in the book is the villain and she is about as exciting as watching paint dry. I suppose that at this point you are wondering who carries the book? I mean if its not the plot, nor the new characters, then who?

Obvious answer is the old characters. Gin, Owen, Bria - their development is the only thing that can make up for the otherwise unconvincing book. Well, too bad they have none. Gin started the series as a distinct, layered and complicated character. In this book she is none of these things. In fact she loses almost any credibility as a character that she had. She is this mysterious shadowy assassin with magical powers, but is seems that by the end of the book the only person who doesn't know that is her arch nemesis Monroe. For a shadowy assassin she doesn't do overly much to protect her secret. In fact, thinking back even counting the first three books Monroe is the only person Gin didn't directly tell "I'm the super shadowy mysterious assassin the Spider! Mhawawaahahahwahha" (she probably has it on her name tag in the restaurant). And why even introduce her as an assassin? Or claim that she has magic? Any fight in the book is handled in a way more reminiscent of Conan the Barbarian rather than Gin the Assassin. Whenever she fights someone Gin prances in and starts chopping at them with her knife like a demented jilted wife rather than a professional assassin. And as if that is not enough she even ALWAYS throws some thrash talk before the fight starts. In this book she approaches three thugs from the back but instead of dispatching the quickly and quietly before they know what hit them (like if she were an assassin or something like that) she has to stop, call out and trash-talk them like an MTV rapper before she can fight them. At least after killing them she didn't go "Yo! U been served! Yo!" or something like that (though I can swear I could hear Estep's keyboard itching to add some more trash-talk. Just to up the badassedness).

Ah, well. That wasn't what I'd planned to write but I suppose I had some issues to vent after reading the book. If it was only the aforementioned (the thesaurus suggested it, don't get your panties in a twist) things I'd probably give the book a solid two stars (not good, but not toilet paper) and hope that book 5 coming in the fall/winter will be better. The one redeeming factor of the book was the whole situation with Bria. Reading the book you get the distinct impression that it was never meant to be about the plot or the characters, but about the two sisters coming together. That this was the central idea of the book and everything else was thrown in just to add the expected stuff, almost as a afterthought. I believe that was the idea of the book and in a way that explains many of the shortcomings I mentioned before. Problem is that the aforementioned reunion takes place 30 pages before the end of the book. I can see the book being focused on the two sisters finally reuniting if that had happened 30 pages from the start, not from the finish. You really can't have the whole point of the book briefly mentioned in the last pages and have only filler before that. The pencil outlines of plot and characters would have been acceptable if we had the emotional drama of the reunion as a recurring theme throughout the book but not this way.

Estep meant this book to be about her heroine's tangled emotional threads. About Gin's love for Grayson, love she finally accepts and about her estranged sister and the difficult but hopeful reunion between the two siblings. Unfortunately, she ended up getting tangled in her own writing and creating a book that is the proverbial "neither here, nor there". While the reunion was nicely done as a whole it happened 200 pages too late to save the book. Despite all that I can't say that I hated the book. I didn't find it terribly interesting or exciting but I read it easily enough. It annoyed me because it could have been much more. And because it is the weakest in an otherwise solid and intriguing series. On the plus side the excerpt from book 5 had more excitement in its 5 pages than this book in its entirety so hope does live on.

To the fans of the series I can say to read the book without expecting anything noteworthy. To be honest I was even willing to give it 4 stars after reading it and before stopping for 2 minutes to think about what I had just read. The way to enjoy this book is to shoot up quickly, satisfy your craving and not give yourself the time to actually think about what you are doing. To those who are yet to read the series... well go effin read it. Even if this book is disappointing, its still better than 90+% of the crap out there.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars so repetitive May 3, 2011

By Ellyn Beale

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Half the book is rehashing old information! I like the characters but, good grief, enough of going over everything again and again. I will not be buying the next book.

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Get Caught in the Spider's Web April 24, 2011

By anne-marie

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Your friendly neighborhood assassin is back. But unfortunately for the Spider, there's a new hired hand on Mab's payroll. Renowned assassin LaFleur has come to Ashland, and her number one priority is Gin.

Gin Blanco, humble restaurateur by day, semi retired killer by night, has declared war on Ashland's reining mobster, Mab Monroe. Gin aka the Spider has been systematically taking out low level minions in Mab's organization working her way up to the queen bee. Gin's constant challenge of Mab's authority has the finest sharks in Ashland smelling blood in the water. Frustrated and trying to maintain her hold on the city's underworld, Mab's next move is crucial. Enter Elektra LaFleur. An extremely efficient assassin, and electric elemental, dead set on eliminating the now notorious Spider.

Oh, what Tangled Threads are weaved, but not just on the war front. Estep is taking things a bit further in Gin's love life. Sexy Owen Grayson is making his presence known and quickly finding a place in not only Gin's heart but the readers with his understanding, and determination to stick. No matter how hard Gin tries to shake him. Gone are the days of Detective Caine, but the scars he imposed remain, making Gin all the more skittish. Add in Blanco's tentative relationship with her long lost baby sister Bria, and Gin might make that child size crack in the wall behind the Pork Pit big enough for her adult self to crawl into.

But the Spider's going to have to come out of hiding because LaFleur has added a couple of names to her death list: Spider, Detective Bria Coolidge, and Gin Blanco. With her duel identities in jeopardy Gin might not have the luxury of keeping her secret alter ego intact. She's going to have to come out to Bria sooner or later the question is will her feelings air on the side of her predecessor the loved and loathed Caine or the excepting Grayson. One thing is for sure, this is one fight Gin can't afford lose, because if the truth gets out more lives than her sister's will be at stake. LaFleur is more than Gin's equal in ability and the trade. The Spiders has met her match and it's going to take all her strength and cunning to survive.

Tangled Threads, Estep's fourth volume in the Elemental Assassins Series starts off with a bang and keeps the pace going. I like how she integrates the action, story lines, background information, and personal life of our heroine without creating a lull. Everything is balanced well to maintain the readers attention. Gin's progression in her elemental abilities with each book are starting to come together. What I didn't like about Tangled Threads was all of the recapping from the previous books Estep was including. I know it's necessary, but I felt like there was too much of it especially in the beginning of the book. Some of it also seemed redundant.

Overall I loved this book, and highly recommend this series. Tangled Threads will wrap you up so you won't want to put it down.