Book Review: White Cat

WHITE CAT is the first novel in The Curse Workers series by Holly Black, and it came out this past Tuesday. I bought it as soon as I could and finished it today. I loved it. I've met Holly numerous times, and a few years ago she told me she was working on this novel. She said it was based on "The White Cat" one of her favorite fairytales. I've been waiting for this novel ever since. I'm a big fan of Holly's other works as well. With some of her novels I've had a hard time getting hooked. Not because it isn't good, because I love her stories. But I've had trouble identifying with the main characters. This book, however, sucked me in from page one.

First of all, it's very different from any other novel I've read. The idea is very unique. Secondly, it's written from Cassel's POV, a male POV, something we don't get a lot of. And third, there were so many twists and turns that just when you think you have it figured out, you find out you're wrong. I hate when you figure out the ending in the beginning, and that was definitely not the case with this one. You don't know who to like or who's doing what. And even Cassel, our narrator, keeps things from us.

I can't wait until book two comes out. Unfortunately, it's probably at least a year away.


Synopsis:

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 hi best friend, Lila, three years ago.

Eer since, Cassel has carefully built up a facade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his facade 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 out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen.