White Cat by Holly Black

Review of White Cat by Holly Black

Published: May 4, 2010

4 out of 5 smirks

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 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.”

To be honest, I was really afraid to read this book. I’ve tried reading a couple of other books by Holly Black and I cannot seem to stomach some of them. I do think Holly Black is an incredibly original author who breaks the mold of what most stories have in common. For that reason, I decided to give White Cat a chance. White Cat was not at all what I expected from Holly Black, I mean there were some parts were I felt a shock go throughout my system and my stomach became unsettled but it was good. Like many books I read, if I put the book down even once to go off and doing something else, I am not interested. I read White Cat in one sitting because it was an amazingly innovative story that made me feel.

Half the time I felt like I was the one getting coned out of a con and then back into a con again. So I really enjoyed the perspective of Cassel and everything he had to go through and put into motion. White Cat really put the reader into a mystery within a mystery inside the con of all cons. Cassel is really “too clever for his own good and twice as pretty.” I find that, Cassel, as main guy characters go didn’t make my heart beat faster but rather I wanted to learn more about him and what goes on within his mind. It was invigorating reading White Cat and waiting for the outcome of the story to be revealed. Even though I may have objected to one part of the ending, I still enjoyed the ride. 4 smirks is pretty high on my scale when I am scared to death of reading a book.

I like Holly Black and her unique story telling abilities and am looking forward to giving her other books another shot. And since White Cat is Book 1 in the Curse Workers Series, I am looking forward to the next installment and interested in seeing which POV it is from, the story, and if the series itself focuses on Cassel because I am sure there is more to explore with him.