UF Audio Review: Spider's Bite by Jennifer Estep

Spider's Bite 
by Jennifer Estep
Elemental Assassin Series - Book #1
Narrated by Lauren Fortgang 
Audiobook
Published September 28th 2010 by Audible Frontiers
Amazon | B&N | Audible.com
★★★★★

“My name is Gin, and I kill people.”

My name is Gin Blanco. They call me the Spider—the most feared assassin in the South (and a part-time cook at the Pork Pit BBQ joint.) As a Stone elemental, I can hear the whispers of the gravel beneath my feet and feel the vibrations of the soaring mountains above me, though I don’t use my powers on the job unless I absolutely have to. Call it professional pride.

After a ruthless Air elemental double-crossed me and killed my handler, I’m out for revenge. And I’ll exterminate anyone who gets in my way. I may look hot in a miniskirt, but I’m still one of the bad guys. Which is why I’m in trouble when irresistibly rugged Detective Donovan Caine agrees to help. The last thing a coldhearted killer needs when she’s battling a magic more powerful than her own is a sexy distraction... especially when he wants her dead just as much as the enemy. 


REVIEW:


Wow. Any book that starts with the heroine stabbing someone in the balls is a book for me!

Spider’s Bite starts with a thrill ride that you find yourself riding through out the whole book. Like all great roll coasters there are not just ups and downs but there are a few loopy-de-loops and twists and turns just like the plot of this excellent Urban Fantasy tale that Estep was crafted.

If you are a fan of the Urban Fantasy genre then you know that they can be dark and gritty, some more than others. Spider’s Bite is very dark with a high body count but it also has a little something for the smexy fans as well. Estep has done an awesome job in creating a kick ass heroine that’s dirty and not just in the hardcore kick ass way. Sure Gin gets dirty and bloody doing her job but she also knows the value of getting dirty in a broom closet by having hot monkey sex. BRAVO to Estep for knowing that a hard core chick needs her fun sweaty time too.

So when Gin’s not in broom closets having the sex, she is an assassin for hire that is known by her nick name, The Spider. All the great assassins have one and they all have meaning to them. Gin’s means that she knows how to hide in the shadows and wait for her prey to come to her before she strikes them down with her knife.

There are different types of elementals in this world; air, fire, stone, ice, etc. Gin happens to wield both stone and ice, even though stone is the stronger of the two for her. But when Gin finds herself without a knife she can make a handy ice stake for a weapon that works just as well as her knife in a pinch.

I know what you’re thinking. How can you root for an assassin? Even though Gin kills people for money, she has standards. All of her hits are on bad guys; like rapists and murders. Think of her as an exterminator, she takes out the low life and trash.

In Spider’s Bite we follow Gin, on her mission to clear her name and hand out revenge on a client that has framed her for the murder that she was hired after. But the kicker is, Gin didn't get to finish the job.

Gin has a handler named Fletcher; he’s more than a handler, he’s like a father to her. He took her off the streets after her whole family died at the hand of a fire elemental when she was just a kid. Fletcher is a retired assassin that is the owner and cook at the Pork Pit, a B-B-Q restaurant where Gin works part time when she’s not busy killing people.

While Gin is trying to find out who framed her, she gets closer to one of police detectives in town, Donovan Cane. Who just happens to be the partner of a bad cop that Gin assassinated for raping and beating a young girl. But Donovan being the good cop doesn't know that his partner was a rapist and believes that Gin assassinated him just for shits and giggles and he has been hunting her ever since his partner’s death. But once he meets her all he can think about is getting her naked.

And like most heroine, Gin has a side kick like character, Finn. Finn is Flecther’s son and like a bother to Gin, a smoking hot bother that she once slept with (when they were young and stupid, her words not mine). Finn is great for comic relief with his snarky comments. He is a solid member of Gin’s team. He is always there for her and her for him, and he is a total man whore.

I HIGHLY recommend Spider’s Bite to any Urban Fantasy fan that loves reading about a kick ass chick that has way too knives and knows how to make a mean .

Narration Note: Lauren Fortgang is now on my favorite narrator list. She does an amazing job with Gin. She has a smokey voice is great for the gritty feel of urban fantasy and she can take Gin’s voice from bad ass to 1-900 sex line worker from 0-60 when it’s needed in the plot. I feel like her male characters could be a little more deeper but she still does a good job with him.

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