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Description edit
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... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Summary edit
Cassel Sharpe struggles to find his place in a family full of Curse Workers.
Characters edit
- Cassel Sharpe: Born to a family full of Curse Workers, Cassel doesn't fit in. He has no powers; but a dark secret; a murder in his past, the details of which are fuzzy. He's left to boarding school, where he does anything but fit in properly. But things are about to get flipped and he'll find he's not as powerless as he thinks.
- Lila Zacharov: Cassel killed her when he was fourteen. She was his best friend and he loved her. Cassel's brothers found him standing over her body with blood on his hands.
- Anton Zacharov: Lila's cousin and Philip's best friend. He is in line to be the Zacharov heir.
- Barron Sharpe: Cassel's brother goes to Princeton, studying pre-law and is a compulsive liar.
- Samuel Yu: Cassel's roommate at boarding school. He takes over Cassel's "bookkeeping" for twenty-five percent when he has to leave school. He is a horror film enthusiast and hard-core science geek.
- Philip Sharpe: Cassel's brother who suggested that Cassel and he be the school's main supplier for underage booze. Hasn't looked Cassel in the eyes since the night with Lila. He's married to Maura and he's Anton's right hand man.
- Maura Sharpe: Philip's wife. Hears music when there is none.
- Daneca Wasserman: Cassel's classmate who helps him and Sam carry out plans. Daneca's family are the co-founders of HEX, an advocacy group that wants to make working legal again.
- Grandad: Enrolled Cassel into Wallingford. He's a death worker, parts of his fingers are burned off. He lives in Carney where retired workers live.
- Mr. Valerio: Hall master at Walligford.
- Audrey: Cassel's ex-girlfriend.
- Shandra Wasserman: Daneca's mother. She is an emotion worker. Has been on TV and admitted to working. She's in jail.
- Dr. Churchill: A sleep doctor
- Dean Wharton: The Dean of the school.
- Rahul Pathak: Junior-year soccer player.
- Ms. Noyes: Teacher at Wallingford.
Quotes edit
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“He's the kind of liar who totally forgets what he told you the last time, but he believes every single lie with such conviction that sometimes he can convince you of it.”
Cassel talking about Barron -
“Marks think they can get something for nothing.Marks think they can get what they don’t deserve and could never deserve.Marks are stupid and pathetic and sad.Marks think they’re going to go home one night and have the girl they’ve loved since they were a kid suddenly love them back.Marks forget that whenever something’s too good to be true, that’s because it’s a con.”
Cassel -
“My fellow students look at me like I’m a dangerous lunatic with two heads and a nasty communicable disease. I keep my head down, eat my Tater Tots at lunch, and try to look interested in my classes.All the while I’m daydreaming schemes.”
Cassel -
“Clever as the devil, and twice as pretty.”
Crooked Annie -
“Once someone's hurt you, it's harder to relax around them, harder to think of them as safe to love. But it doesn't stop you from wanting them. Sometimes I actually think it makes the wanting worse.”
Cassel Sharpe -
“You should have killed me when you had the chance.”
Lila
- Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
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Once someone’s hurt you, it’s harder to relax around them, harder to think of them as safe to love. But it doesn’t stop you from wanting them. Sometimes I actually think it makes the wanting worse.
Highlighted by 16 Kindle customers -
Marks forget that whenever something’s too good to be true, that’s because it’s a con.
Highlighted by 13 Kindle customers -
Memory is slippery. It bends to our understanding of the world, twists to accommodate our prejudices. It is unreliable.
Highlighted by 7 Kindle customers -
We are, largely, who we remember ourselves to be. That’s why habits are so hard to break. If we know ourselves to be liars, we expect not to tell the truth. If we think of ourselves as honest, we try harder.
Highlighted by 5 Kindle customers -
The third story happened to a guy Jace in my dorm. Sadly, no one had The Windflower on hand. Me and Sam and another guy on our hall took turns reading Paradise Lost through the locked door. I think it actually made him more paranoid, though.”
Highlighted by 4 Kindle customers -
“Maura, you are a goddess. I will carve your likeness in mashed potatoes so all can worship you like I do. When you leave Philip, will you marry me?”
Highlighted by 4 Kindle customers -
I’m not going anywhere. They should be afraid of me.
Highlighted by 4 Kindle customers -
“Absence diminishes little passions and increases great ones.”
Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers -
Emotion work fades over months and months, until a year later you feel silly about the stuff you did and said when you were worked, but you don’t forget what it was like to be glutted with those emotions. Those were the only times I’ve ever felt safe.
Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers -
I can’t trust the people I care about not to hurt me. And I’m not sure I can trust myself not to hurt them, either. Friendships suck.
Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers
Setting & Locations edit
New Jersey
- Wallingford: The boarding school Cassel attends
- Princeton
- New York
- Atlantic City
First Sentence edit
I wake up barefoot, standling on cold slate tiles.
Table of Contents edit
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Glossary edit
- (Curse) Worker: A person with the ability to effect others' luck, life, memory, etc. with just the touch of a hand. Contact must between bare skin. It is because of this that people in these stories wear gloves everywhere, to protect themselves from being "worked".
- Mark: The person you are trying to scam in a con.
- HBG: abbreviation for a medical term that means worker
Authors & Contributors edit
- Holly Black (Author)
Other Contributors:
- Jesse Eisenberg (Narrator) - Audiobook narrator
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Country: United States of America
Publication Date: 2010
ISBN: 978-1416963967
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Country: United States of America
Publication Date: 2010
ISBN: 978-1416963967
Page Count: 320
Notes for Parents edit
Reading Level: Young AdultsThe second book in this series opens with the sexual actions of the main character, but otherwise a good series.
Subjects edit
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