Cassel comes from a family of curse workers — people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they’re all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn’t got the magic touch, so he’s an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail — he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.
Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He’s noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he’s part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen.
Holly Black has created a gripping tale of mobsters and dark magic where a single touch can bring love — or death — and your dreams might be more real than your memories.
Okay, so sometimes it takes me a while to pick a book up. I’ve known that Holly Black was a popular YA author and I knew that there were a lot of people out there recommending her books. So, what exactly took me so long to pick up one of her books? I have absolutely no idea. What’s important here is that I finally picked up White Cat and I will soon be adding other Holly Black books to my TBR pile.
This book starts with Cassel hanging from a roof. You can’t get much more excitement out of an opening chapter than that. It definitely serves the purpose of getting the reader’s attention from the first page. The page turning moments didn’t stop after that.
There were so many twists and turns in White Cat it was impossible to even guess what would happen next. Not only that, but it’s impossible to know for certain exactly who Cassel should trust. Cassel isn’t even someone who can be trusted, but it doesn’t keep the reader from sympathizing with him. He is who he is because of the family he grew up in and the circumstances that they threw him into. He was the kind of character that brought out the mom in me. He deserved love, honesty and friendship, but he didn’t think that he did. Just when he thought he stood a chance, his world would get totally twisted out from under him.
Despite all that, White Cat isn’t a depressing read. It’s just a very intense read. Cassel’s smart and you know he’s going to survive everything that is thrown at him. That aspect keeps the reader on the edge of their seat because you literally never know exactly which turn the story or Cassel is going to take next. You just know that you are going to cheer him on regardless.
Beyond the action and mystery of the story, Holly Black’s descriptive prose and sense of humor keep the plot moving. The dialog isn’t forced and flows easily. The supporting characters are funny and each have a distinct voice and depth. it was such an easy book to read and get lost in. I really can’t wait until I get my hands on Red Glove, the next book in The Curse Workers Trilogy.
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