When Cassel Sharpe awakens on the dorm roof, inches from
falling to his death, with vague memories of a white cat
haunting his dreams, he suspects there's more than simple
sleepwalking behind his late night adventure. He's always
been a loner, since the unfortunate night he murdered his
childhood friend, Lila. With possible expulsion looming and
his past coming back to haunt him, Cassel is forced to
trust not only himself, but his friends. It is only when he
learns everything he has believed has been one big con
perpetrated by someone he's trusted that Cassel decides to
act and set in motion his own con game that will have far-
reaching effects on everyone.
WHITE CAT by Holly Black is a riveting journey into
the world of Curse Workers, paranormal beings with the
power to influence with a touch. Cassel is an intriguing
hero, one the teen audience will identify with as he
struggles with a painful past and betrayal to take charge
of his life and be more than the outlaw his birth makes
him. The whole curse worker premise is intriguing and opens
the door for future stories. Cassel's friends and family
are an entertaining blend of good and evil and the reader
is kept on edge as the characters play off one another in
one con after another. Holly Black has a winner in
the Curse Workers series!
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.