Review: Venom

Reviewed by Jen
 

The action just keeps building in this latest installment of the Elemental Assassin series, Venom.  Demoralizing boy scout Donovan Caine has left town and has taken a piece of retired-assassin Gin’s heart along with him.  (I’m sticking pins into his voo-doo doll likeness as I write this review.)  But Gin soldiers on, despite the toll his rejection has taken upon her.  And it’s a good thing she can stay on her toes, because retired or not, someone else is in need her special brand of justice.

This time, it’s vampire-madam Rosyln Phillips. It seems crime-lord Mab Monroe’s muscle man, Elliot Slater, has been stalking her. More specifically, he is forcing her to be in a sick parody of a relationship with him, under the threat of violence.   Slater is already on Gin’s radar, since he beat the stuffing out of her for Mab’s lawyer, Jonah McAllister. The attorney was trying to figure out if Gin knew anything about his son’s death. (Of course, we know she killed him and stuffed him in Mab’s bathtub in Web of Lies, but our bad-guys don’t figure it out.) Anyway, Gin vows to kill Slater, more to protect Roslyn than anything. But it won’t be easy. Slater is a giant. He is strong and fast and is surrounded by guards of his own.

There are several other big points I can’t ignore. Bria, the little sister Gin thought was dead, shows up in Ashland… as the replacement for Caine. That’s right, she’s a detective and one who is not corrupt.  Should Gin tell her who she is? What she does?

And we’ve got Owen Grayson, Gin’s new love interest.  Finally, a man who sees her for her strengths. But will he still feel the same when he finds out she is a killer? All this, plus the added intrigue surrounding the murder of Gin’s mother and sister. She now knows who killed them, but can she do anything about it?

I love this series. I love Gin.  And I will be waiting with bells on when Tangled Threads comes out in April.  5 stars.