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Touch the Dark (Cassandra Palmer, Book 1) | 
 enlarge | Author: Karen Chance
Publisher: Roc
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy Used: $3.02
You Save: $4.97 (62%)
New (40) Used (29) Collectible (2) from $3.02
Avg. Customer Rating:  128 reviews
Sales Rank: 2625
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 0451460936
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780451460936
ASIN: 0451460936
Publication Date: June 6, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Nice, clean - SHIPS SAME DAY
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Product Description
Like any sensible girl, Cassie tries to avoid vampires. But when the bloodsucking Mafioso she escaped three years ago finds Cassie again with revenge in mind, she's forced to turn to the vampire Senate for protection.The undead senators won't help her for nothing, and Cassie finds herself working with one of their most powerful members, a dangerously seductive master vampire- and the price he demands may be more than Cassie is willing to pay.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 123 more reviews...
 Convoluted series October 14, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I really tried to give this book a chance. It took two tries to read and two weeks to finish. The plot is very convoluted and the chapters are way too long. I like plots like Kim Harrison's, Charlaine Harris', and Patricia Briggs', but this confused me and never became interesting. I even read the second book in the series hoping it would help me appreciate the first. However, I found the series itself, totally unappealing. I think the author could be very good tho. I will try one of her other series.
Putting vampires in your story doesn't make it a great book September 25, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Bottom Line: Loaner
I decided to check this book out because of the vampires, and ghosts in it.
I had trouble connecting with the main character, Cassie. She's supposed to be a strong character, had a really hard life, seen blood and guts and the whole deal (the character goes out of her way to repeatedly tell us how strong she is). Don't tell me how strong a character you are, what a hard life you've lived, show me by how you deal with (or not) the situations you've faced with. She just didn't interest me, wow me, or captivate my attention...she wasn't good enough. Felt like she still needed some work on character development..i.e her whole foundation.
And the whole thing of ghosts following her around, okay. But the relationship with one of the ghosts, Billy Ray, just seemed corny. And none of the vampire characters got my interest either.
The story didn't hook me, or really intrigue me in the slightest. It wasn't that it was a bad idea, it's the way it was put together and written. I even went back, several months after I had put the book down, and tried to start it again. Hoping that maybe I had missed it being a great book. Unfortunately, to no avail.
For vampires, Laurell K. Hamilton, MaryJanice Davidson, J.R. Ward are better.
And for a bunch of fantasy creatures, I'd recommend Rob Thurman, Keri Arthur (Riley series), Patricia Briggs (Mercy series).
 A great beginning to wonderful series... September 24, 2008
If you like non-stop action involving vampires, fae, black and white mages (magic), a dose of humor, and all that goes with it - you'll love this book and the series. Cassandra Palmer is a hot commodity by all. She "successfully" hides for three years until discovered and the fun begins. Her side-kick is a ghost who tasted the bottom of the ol' Mississippi after a poker game he was cheating at didn't go too well (for him). Considering this is the first major book by Ms. Chance, I am looking forward to a long reading experience with her. This is the first in a series of four books (the fourth book isn't finished yet). I highly recommend the whole series.
FRESH ANGLE ON PARANORMAL... September 23, 2008
I really liked the premise, not your typical vampire story. I like it when there are lots of other mythical creatures to a story (not just in the background)that the author can use to take the story in any number of directions. It keeps the read unpredictable. I like the authors style, with the exception of her tendency to info dump. I'm sure it will be relevant information in the future, but does it have to come in the middle of a life or death scenario, or a hot love scene?
 Fast Paced and Slightly Confusing August 14, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This was a confusing book in my opinion.
Cassandra Palmer (Cassie for short) is basically a normal human with clairvoyant abilities in a world where vampires, werewolves, fairies and ghosts coexist stealthily with humans. With her psychic abilities and the fact she can see ghosts she is very much a commodity in the vampire mafia world of Tony, a 3rd level master who killed her parents to keep her talents in his control.
Cassie escapes from Tony's clutches and three years later the book starts. A wide cast of characters is introduced including Cassie's ghost symbiot Billy Joe, several historically prominent figures (Cleopatra, Rafael, Rasputin, Jack the Ripper etc. as vampires of course), a few different ruling bodies for the magical communities (Silver Circle, European Senate, Dark Fey etc.) and some that we only really learn about in passing like Cassie's parents.
The action is quick and sometimes hard to follow especially since Cassie and Company make intuitive leaps that I might not make as a mere mortal. Still the characters and how they interact with Cassie and further the plot are interesting. I enjoyed seeing the historical characters come to life (well as vampires) and the little interesting snarky comments about how they became what they did. Cleopatra got the single line about how she wasn't bitten by an ASP. Rasputin got a full paragraph about how historians had been arguing about how long it took him to die and that it was hard to kill someone who was already dead. (Historical note: Rasputin was a "holy man" in Russia in the early 1900's who curried favor with the Empress Alexandra for his hypnosis healing of her hemophiliac son Alexei. Rasputin was assasinated by Russian royals who were displeased at the influence he had with the monarchy. They fed him tea and cakes that contained mass quantities of cyanide which didn't kill him immediately as it should have. So they tried clubbing him, shooting him several times and rolling his body up in a carpet and dumping it into the river. When his body was fished out several days later it was determined that he had died of pneumonia because his lungs had filled up with water.)
In the end Cassie becomes the Pythia, a job she thoroughly does not want. She is a part of but outside the jurisdiction of everyone else in the magical community and has the power to settle disputes. Among other interesting things the previous Pythia lived for over 400 years. Cassie does not necessarily look forward to all of that and still has plenty of questions to settle about her parents and the vampires that once controlled her life. I recommend reading this one and have ordered the next one.
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