Red Glove (Curse Workers, #2) by Holly Black

 

Red Glove (Curse Workers, #2) by Holly Black

Hardcover, 320 pages

Published April 5th 2011 by Margaret K. McElderry

Curses and cons. Magic and the mob. In Cassel Sharpe’s world, they go together. Cassel always thought he was an ordinary guy, until he realized his memories were being manipulated by his brothers. Now he knows the truth—he’s the most powerful curse worker around. A touch of his hand can transform anything—or anyone—into something else. That was how Lila, the girl he loved, became a white cat. Cassel was tricked into thinking he killed her, when actually he tried to save her. Now that she’s human again, he should be overjoyed. Trouble is, Lila’s been cursed to love him, a little gift from his emotion worker mom. And if Lila’s love is as phony as Cassel’s made-up memories, then he can’t believe anything she says or does.
When Cassel’s oldest brother is murdered, the Feds recruit Cassel to help make sense of the only clue—crime-scene images of a woman in red gloves. But the mob is after Cassel too—they know how valuable he could be to them. Cassel is going to have to stay one step ahead of both sides just to survive. But where can he turn when he can’t trust anyone—least of all, himself?
Love is a curse and the con is the only answer in a game too dangerous to lose. – Goodreads

My Opinion: Why is it that sequels are almost never as exciting as the first in a series? This is  the sequel to White Cat and it seemed as though Cassel was was sort of whiny he loved Lila so much but that she didn’t because she was just cursed to love him. It sort of got  a little tedious and repetitive of him saying or implying it. I get that he was trying to do the right thing but it felt like a filler for when there wasn’t anything important to say.

In this novel, Cassel is more worried about figure out who he killed and how to cover it up so that the FBI don’t find out that he did as well as he has to figure out who killed his brother. I have to say that Holly Black did a good job disguising the murdered, I never even thought that the murderer would even be that person that it was possible.

I feel as though some of the characters were a little more complicated in this book. But it was only some of them, like Daneca and Sam.

But overall, it was a good mystery and it was less of a conning/mob thing than the first.

Overall: 4.25 out of 5