Review: White Cat by Holly Black

White Cat by Holly Black
Curse Workers #1
310 Pages
Goodreads, Amazon, Author Website

From Goodreads: 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.


Think you've already read the most interesting mafia book out there? Fuhgetaboutit! This book has combined paranormal and organized crime into a lovely little package complete with a white fluffy cat. Cassel's family members have been and currently are connected to the Zacharov crime family, they work for him using their worker abilities. In Cassel's world workers are not secret, everyone knows about them but don't know who exactly is one. There are groups who are advocating for mandatory testing at a young age and others who are advocating the right to privacy. There is a genetic aspect to it, if your parents were both a worker then you probably will be too. Everyone wears gloves at all times even while eating, workers need bare hands to work their magic. Cassel isn't a worker, but his mom (who is currently locked up) taught him the ways of a con artist, he runs ongoing bets at his private school, he's essentially a bookie. Lila was a Zacharov family member, he had been in love with her. He doesn't remember all the details only that he was standing over her dead body with a knife and a lot of blood. There are a lot of secrets in this book, Cassel's two older brothers Philip and Barron seem so untrustworthy I was just waiting to see what they were so obviously hiding. Cassel's roommate Sam seemed to be the only good guy aside from Cassel's grandfather (who is a death worker). How would it feel to not be able to trust your own family? Or worse, your own memories? I cannot wait to read the next installment, the ending to White Cat ends like a good twisty-movie, you think you have a happy ending but you don't...

I give this book 4.5 Stars!