Yes this is the one where we get to find out about Cliff Ingles and why she knocked him off. From the start of the first book you hear about him well more from Detective Donovan Caine's perspective about his partner and how he is hunting for his murderer. The only think that is a little bit irritating is how many things are repeated through each short story and each novel. Like about Gin and how she got the spider ruin in her palms or why she is an assassin and what happened to her family, I understand it would be great if it has been a while reading the last book then it would remind you but when you are reading these right after one another it gets a little bothersome and would rather get to the point of the story. I hear good things about Jennifer Estep, so I'll give her books another chance. It appears to have been a mistake to start off with this underdeveloped short story.Unfortunately, I suspect the length of this story doesn't do any favors to Estep's world. Not much is new or original. Vampire/paranormal club. Yawn. The ice bar was the most memorable thing. Yeah, the marked cop was a bastard...but we're "told" this, not shown (not shown the damage, the suffering of the people he hurt, so it all remains abstract--the words of the crime are supposed to trigger an emotional reaction from the reader that is not earned), and therefore the vengeance/murder/revenge has limited emotional impact. Also, Spider doesn't change over the course of the story. She starts out an assassin, she kills a bad guy character without much depth, and end of the story she's still an assassin who did a job on the house, which makes it all seem rather pointless to read. Pointless, because Spider doesn't even use a particularly interesting or original method to kill her mark. She dresses in a sexually alluring manner, exploits her looks to get close, then shanks the dude. The corrupt cop she kills is packing, but he doesn't pull and try and shoot her, preferring to punch her (after she's stabbed him), which isn't effective because she routinely tangles with PCP-enhanced giants and vampires and very annoyed fairys or whatever and carries her valid BadAss card in her pocket. (Okay, I embellished that a bit.)So, jerk cop gets stabbed and mutilated in a way we're supposed to see as cold, horrific, intense, and perhaps "just comeuppance", but because of the small amount of canvas used, doesn't really generate any reaction. And perhaps this story needs to be read by someone who has at least finished the first book. However, as a self-contained story arc it is lacking.
What do You think about Spider's Bargain (2011)?
I always wanted the story on how Gin killed the cop. really enjoyed this a lot.
—gingging
In this short we discover the way Gin killed Donovan Caine's partner. Great!
—mdog
It was nice to read the story that started it all for Gin in Spider's Bite.
—Elna
