Red Glove

Starred review from February 14, 2011
In this smart and well-executed sequel to White Cat, 17-year-old Cassel Sharpe is still getting used to the idea that he's a transformation worker, the rarest and most powerful type of curse worker, able to transmute people and objects into whatever he wishes. Growing up in a crime family, he's always been on the wrong side of the law, but now everyone wants a piece of Cassel, including a mob boss, who sees him as an untraceable hit man, and U.S. agents, who want him to replace his recently murdered brother as an informant. Also, Cassel's mother has put a love curse on Lila, the mob boss's daughter, and Cassel's plan to avoid her until it wears off ("Lila's desire for me is a perversion of love. A mockery") dissolves when Lila enrolls at his prep school. As Cassel's grandfather warns him, "Magic gives you a lot of choices.... Most of them are bad." Black again delivers complex characters and a nicely developed alternate universe where magic workers are social pariahs. This powerful, edgy dark fantasy won't disappoint Black's fans. Ages 14–up.

March 1, 2011

Deep philosophical questions about identity and responsibility hide in the heart of this second volume of magical conmen and gangsters. Engaging, unreliable Cassel Sharpe is haunted by his past. His family has always existed within the shadow and power of the Zacharov crime family, and even with their official connections severed, the links remain. Now Cassel's oldest brother has been killed, and his emotionally unstable mother is out of prison and up to her old tricks. Possibly worst of all, Lila Zacharov—best friend, victim, conspirator and cursed to love Cassel—has enrolled in his school. Despite the cons and adventures (and there are plenty), this is really about family and destiny. Cassel was born into a crime family, he lives in a world where his innate magical talent makes him a lawbreaker even if he never does anything wrong and the Feds breathing down his neck mean that he has to face up to the murders he committed although he doesn't remember them. But Cassel also wants to do the right thing, and the struggle between his nature and his nurture truly propels the plot. The plot thickens, and the set up for book three is a zinger, but familiarity with the first book, White Cat (2010), is crucial. Dark, disturbing fare, crafted by a master; readers of the trilogy's first will be supremely satisfied. (Crime fantasy. 14 & up)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

May 1, 2011

Gr 10 Up-Cassel Sharpe spent his summer in Atlantic City with a string of blond girls, trying to forget Lila. After all, he turned her into a cat, and once she regained her human form, his mother cursed her to love him. Cassel knows he should avoid her. However, when he returns to school, he discovers that she has also enrolled in order to be near him. Soon, keeping his distance from Lila becomes the least of his worries; Cassel's older brother Philip is murdered, and the Feds want his help to solve the crime. Working with agents will put him in danger from two sources: If Lila's father, crime lord Zacharov, discovers that Cassel has turned informant, he will face the same fate as Philip. And if the Feds learn that Cassel is a transformation worker, they will find a reason to lock him up and throw away the key. In the midst of all the organized crime and romantic angst, Cassel also must navigate a high school where curse workers are regarded with suspicion and even hatred. While the mystery of who killed Philip isn't the most compelling part of the book, the drama caused by the relationships and the depiction of supernatural organized crime keep the plot moving along. All of the characters from White Cat (S & S, 2010) have matured, and their development is adequately depicted in this book. Part X-Men and part Sopranos, Red Glove will appeal to teens looking for a thrilling read.-Heather M. Campbell, formerly at Philip S. Miller Library, Castle Rock, CO

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2011
Grades 7-10 In the much-anticipated sequel to White Cat (2010), curse-worker Cassel has to deal with Lila, who has been cursed to love him, while he tries to solve his brothers murder and entertain his options for the future: join the Zacharov Mob family or become an informant for the feds. Secondary characters continue to get fleshed out, creating avenues for future plot development, and a cliff-hanger ending will leave readers anticipating Cassels and Lilas next steps, both individually and as a couple. The Curse Workers series continues to offer a sleek and stylish blend of urban fantasy and crime noir.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)