Poison Promise

May 19, 2014
Estep’s solid 11th Elemental Assassin urban fantasy (after The Spider) boasts a quick-moving plot and characters that jump off the page. After assassin Gin Blanco, aka “the Spider,” takes down legendary crime boss Mab Monroe, murder attempts become a daily occurrence, a definite nuisance given her daytime life as a BBQ restaurant owner. When one of Gin’s waitresses witnesses a killing by Beauregard Benson, “the drug-dealing vampire king of Southtown,” he also targets Gin and her detective sister. Gin is reluctant to take on Benson alone, but when he captures Gin and forces her to take an experimental drug, Gin realizes she will have to rely on herself, leading to a showdown that will determine the new balance of power on the streets of the fictional southern U.S. city of Ashland. Estep finely balances a confident tough-edged personality with an inner life filled with doubts and emotions, making Gin a surprisingly down-to-earth heroine whom readers will root for.

May 15, 2014
It is surprisingly easy to slip into the eleventh novel in Estep's (The Spider, 2013) Elemental Assassin series without reading the previous books. Gin Blancorestaurateur, elemental magic wielder, and assassingets into plenty of fights in Ashland, where she runs the Pork Pit and looks out for her family, friends, and employees. Ever since she killed Queen Mab, various villains have been vying for control of the city's underworld. A violent encounter in a parking garage introduces white-clad vampire Beau Benson, the current drug kingpin. One of Gin's employees witnesses this and goes to Gin's sister, Bria, a cop, placing them all in danger. Lots of vividly depicted battles, a high body-count, and high-octane escapes worthy of a James Bond movie keep the pages turning as knife-master Gin slices and dices her way through the conflict with Benson, uses stone and ice elemental magic, and discovers a new threat. Estep's latest action-adventure urban fantasy is a knockout.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)