The Spider by Jennifer Estep

The relationship that made Gin the person she is today…

Estep has taken us back to the roots.A sort of prequel or story in between.
The beginning of what makes Gin who she is as a person. Not the traumatic childhood, but rather the defining moments as a young adult, especially the emotional ones.

The Gin the readers have come to know is the wary, cynical and colder Gin, as opposed to the spontaneous emotion driven girl she was. This book explains just how Gin got so jaded.

I really liked this tenth book in the series, because the author not only wrote Gin with the passion she had in the beginning, she also used the story-line to make a point. A very important one about abuse.

We tend to hear the stories about the victims who are weaker physically or emotionally. The stronger personas who fall into the trap of abuse tend not to speak about it.

In that sense I think Estep has done a brilliant job of presenting the scenario of the indestructible, dominant and strong persona falling prey to the behaviour of a controlling, manipulative, dangerous and abusive person. Sometimes you can’t see the forest for all the trees.

There is also a subtle introduction of Owen, Bria and the mysterious M.Monroe, albeit it very short.
It was a really great read with plenty of Ginesque moments, as only she can have and a healthy dose of Finn the Charmer.
I received a copy of this book courtesy of Edelweiss and the publisher.

Read more about Gin in Estep's Elemental Assassin series here: Spider's Trap, Poison Promise, The Cold Burn of Magic, The Black Widow, Deadly Sting and Heart of Venom.