This series continues to be one of my favorites and this installment doesn't disappoint. I'lladmit, I didn't know where the story could go after book five Spider's Revengewhere Jennifer Estep ended a major story arc. Now the books (at least the two released since Spider's Revenge) seem to be focusing on what happens next since Mab. Where does Gin's life go now that the thing she's been working toward for so long is done? How will she finally get to the point where she can leave her assassin life behind? 
 In By a Thread we got Gin trying to take a vaction and work through things with Bria and unfinshed business with Donovan Caine. 
 In Widow's Web, Owen and Gin's relationship is at the foreground. Former Ashland resident Salina Dubois has come back to town. Her motivations are unknown but one thing she make perfectly clear is she is more than ready to pick back up with her ex-love Owen. We get a big helping of Owen's past in this book and that is fine by me. I've always liked Owen. Usually I dislike it when authors will change the love interest a few books into a series, but with Owen I welcomed it. While I didn't particularly find anything too shocking or out-of-nowhere, I liked seeing the characters reactions to the past. 
 A surprising character was Phillip Kincaid. If you read the short e-story Thread of Death we get a hint at the past that is fully revealed here in Widow's Web. Phillip Kincaid is part of Ashland underworld. So how / why is he connected to Owen? We find out all in this book. Even though he's supposed to be a "bad guy", one of those who may be gunning for Gin now that she's known as the Spider, we get to see that there are things that he cares about. Just another way that Jennifer Estep is showing us that nothing is ever just black and white in this world. There are definitely shades of gray. I look forward to seeing how Kincaid will be incorporated into the series. 
 Gin and Owen's relationship is really put to the test. Jennifer Estep really writes this book with a lot of care. Many may not like the direction the book was taken and I can see that side, but overall I do feel like, given the circumstances of the book, what happened had to happen. If Jennifer Estep would have glossed over it I think the book / series would have lost that emotional connection that I really love about it. I think the end result of the series will be better. 
 I wish I could have read the book slower, but in true Elemental Assassin form I just couldn't put it down. The next book in the series Deadly Sting will not be out until next spring. Until Then!