Venom in the Veins: Elemental Assassin, Book 17

3.75 stars--VENOM IN THE VEINS is the seventeenth full-length instalment in Jennifer Estep’s contemporary, adult ELEMENTAL ASSASSIN paranormal/ urban fantasy series focusing on Gin Blanco aka The Spider aka The Assassin –the reigning Queen of the paranormal Underworld of Ashland. VENOM IN THE VEINS can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty although I recommend reading the series in order for cohesion and backstory. SOME BACKGROUND: Years earlier, Gin lost her mother and her older sister to a deliberate fire started by a fire elemental, a fire ordered by the notorious group known only as The Circle. Fostered and mentored by Fletcher Lane, Gin would become the fiercest elemental assassin the Underworld would ever know. Told from first person point of view (Gin Blanco) using present day and memories from the past, VENOM IN THE VEINS brings together all of the familiar, and not so familiar characters in a show down between the present and the past. The Circle, a secret society of supernaturals responsible for much of the crime and corruption in Ashland, continues to haunt our story line heroine as sins from the past come full circle in the search for something Gin knows nothing about. When Ashland’s First Trust Bank owner Stuart Mosley is targeted in what appears to be a random abduction and robbery, Gin’s mind goes into overdrive as she sets out to discover the reason behind the attack against a man she has called a friend, a discovery that is laced with revenge, guilt and a familiar party. Sins from the past are revealed in the present such that Gin must face down a powerful enemy with vengeance on her mind as a high-stakes auction is only the beginning of a battle for control. Gin’s intrepid friends and family (step-brother Finn, sister Bria, officer Xavier, boyfriend and lover Owen, Gin’s assistant/ vampire Silvio, dwarves JoJo and Sophia) return to assist our heroine as she must battle not only her guilt but with a vampire avenging the death of the mother she loved. We are introduced to Alanna Eaton, a vampire whose mother Amelia was killed, years before, by our heroine in a fight to the death. A cannibal vampire like her mother, Alanna is not above using The Circle, in her need to seek vengeance against our story line heroine. Vampire Hugh Tucker and the mysterious Mason make a cameo appearance to set up the next arc in the Elemental Assassin series VENOM IN THE VEINS is a familiar story line in that Gin’s past has come back in more ways than one. Look a-likes, including mothers and daughters, are a persistent theme throughout the series, a theme that will continue with the reveal of what’s next for our story line heroine. The over-use of familiar phrases, specific to the author, are easily recognizable throughout the series. The series arcs, premises and situations in which the heroine struggles are similar in context and plot. VENOM IN THE VEINS is a dramatic and intense instalment in Jennifer Estep’s ELEMENTAL ASSASSIN urban fantasy series.