By a Thread (Elemental Assassin) by Jennifer Estep is one of the books in the Elemental Assassin Series. Before reading this review, please read Review – Success Lessons from Gin Blanco in Jennifer Estep’s Spider’s Revenge and The Dangers of Believing Your Reputation.
To get the most from this SummaReview of By a Thread, after you have read it, answer the following questions:
- Is this a book you’d like to read for yourself? Why? Why not?
- What has made an impression on you in this reading?
- Were there any kernels of wisdom in this reading?
- Is there a framework that you can use in your life and work?
- What are five takeaways from the SummaReview?
- What is one action that you can take as a result of reading this SummaReview?
Like many of the books in the Elemental Assassin Series, By a Thread (Elemental Assassin)
by Jennifer Estep teaches many leadership and success lessons, many of which were already indentified in Review – Success Lessons from Gin Blanco in Jennifer Estep’s Spider’s Revenge so I will not repeat them. However, there were some additional lessons that I thought were worth noting.
Gin Blanco, an assassin whose moniker is Spider has finally found a way to kill Mab Monroe, Queen of the Underworld. However, things have not gotten better in Ashland because now all the factions in the underworld are jockeying for power to take over Mab’s place. Each day, Gin is fighting off the bad guys as they try to eliminate her since they know they can only rule effectively if the Spider is out of the way.
Gin is a retired assassin, but once an assassin, always an assassin. The only difference with her is that now she works for free. She kills those who terrorize others. She is quite weary and her foster brother, Finnegan Lane suggests that she needs to take a vacation – Gin and her boyfriend Owen, and Finnegan with Bria, Gin’s sister.
Gin and Bria were separated for many years after Mab killed their mother and older sister, both thinking that the other is dead. Their relationship is strained because Bria is a detective and Gin is an assassin. They are trying to figure out what their new relationship will look like now that they have found each other.
Bria wants to return to Blue Marsh, an island on the Georgia-South Carolina line where she grew up, one of the reason being that her best friend, Callie Reyes got engaged. The sisters leave a day early because Owen and Finn have business they have to conclude first.
When they arrive, they learn that Callie is being terrorized by the powerful vampire Randall Dekes because he wants her land to build a resort. Dekes kills all the landowners who refuse to sell to him and Callie is now the only person holding out. Callie’s restaurant is located in the middle of Dekes’ planned resort development. Dekes is very powerful, and many are either two afraid of him or simply turn the other way, so law enforcement officers who are not dirty find that their hands are tied.
Dekes sends two of his goons to give Callie a severe warning to force her to sell, but the Spider steps in, and in no time the offenders are on the floor. Callie’s fiancée, Detective Donovan Caine, rushes to the restaurant when he learns of what happened, and comes face-to-face with Gin who he had a “thing” with when he was a detective in Ashland. He is not pleased that Gin is in Blue Marsh, and she is very surprised to see him. Donovan arrests the men, and hours later they are free because of the power that their boss, Dekes wields.
Later in the night, the two men that the Spider hurt and two additional ones goes to the hotel where the sisters are staying with the intention of raping and murdering them. Gin hasn’t gone to bed yet, and hears a sound so she goes to investigate and listens to them just outside her hotel door. When they enter, she is hidden, so they think that they are going to surprise the sisters. The fight starts, and Bria only appears at the end since she was sleeping with earphones and didn’t hear what was going on. The Spider kills three of the men and Bria one. They clean the hotel room, check-out and vacated the premises.
Bria and Gin used a hotel laundry cart to dump the four bodies into the swimming pool. Dekes had called a press conference to announce his resort development project at the hotel’s swimming pool. He changes the venue when his men are found dead there and decides to hold the press conference at his home.
An assassin has a very suspicious personality, and that has served Gin well over the years. Even though they were booked under Bria’s name at Dekes’ luxury hotel, The Blue Sands, Gin booked a beach house using one of her many aliases. Shortly after they arrive at the beach house, Gin calls Finn to alert him to the change of accommodations. Later that day, Owen and Finn arrive at the beach house. Using his extensive contacts in the business community, Finn secures invites to the press conference. He also spends time gathering intelligence on Randall Dekes, which the Spider studies. Gin doesn’t take the time to carefully plan the way she usually does.
The plan is for Gin to go as a reporter and the other three as regular guests. After the press conference, Dekes goes around talking to the guests. When he gets to Gin, she asks him for a personal interview, which he grants. Unknown to her, Dekes already knows that she isn’t a reporter. He knows that she is Gin Blanco also known as the Spider with stone and ice elemental magical powers and has a devious plan in store for her. Gin feels very uneasy, and her alarm screams at her to abort the plan, but she doesn’t listen.
When they are in Dekes’ library where the private interview is supposed to take place, the Spider realizes that she is in serious trouble. She learns that Dekes has been feeding off his wife and sister-in-law to take away their elemental powers. The sister-in-law is more dead than alive at this point because of Dekes’s cruelty. Before the Spider can act, Dekes shoot her with a tranquiller, which numbs her. He sinks his fang into her, and starts feeding on her blood, depleting Gin’s ice and stone magic power. Deekes becomes stronger, and Gin gets weaker. Gin is unusual because she has two strong elemental powers, ice and stone, when others only have one, and both magical powers are very strong. Dekes feeds off her until she comes to an inch of losing her life.
Without the ability to use any weapons, Gin has to think quickly about how to save herself. With a little access to some ice power, she lowers her body temperature, and pretends to be dead. Dekes’ body guards throw her into the surrounding swamp, where Gin has to use her willpower and what little energy she has left to escape.
After more careful planning, the Spider returns to Deke’s home to assassinate him. Her magical powers have not returned to her so she has to use other means to eliminate the vampire. Because of better preparation, and the assistance of Dekes’ wife, a fire elemental, the Spider is able to kill Dekes.
By a Thread (Elemental Assassin) by Jennifer Estep is an excellent book if you take the time to study Gin Blanco, aka the Spider. It also teaches many leadership and success lessons such as a great leader knows that she needs a team to be successful. If you haven’t done so already, please read Review – Success Lessons from Gin Blanco in Jennifer Estep’s Spider’s Revenge (Spider's Revenge (Elemental Assassin Books)
).
Lessons Leadership Lessons from Gin Blanco, the Spider
- Learn from your mistakes: Gin Blanco never makes the same mistake twice. She also learned the lesson Never Believe You Reputation which allowed her to eliminate Dekes’ reign of terror.
- It’s more than just about you: Gin learned that lesson after she stopped being an assassin for hire. Now she works to help the vulnerable.
- Prepare before taking action: Not only does Gin gather intelligence before the Spider goes out, she evaluates all the scenarios before she chooses, and she usually has a Plan B.
- Have focus: Gin has a singular focus and excels at compartmentalizing, and that’s one of the reason she is so successful. Her ability to concentrate on the task at hand is uncanny.
- Know when to let go and walk away: Most of the times, Gin aborts a mission when it isn’t safe. Her patience allows her to wait for a better opportunity.
- Listen to your instincts: Though this may sound a bit touch-feely, a good leader follows her instincts, that “inner guidance system.”
- Never believe your reputation: Self-confidence is an excellent leadership trait, overconfidence isn’t.
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