Sometimes a cover concept blazes into my internal vision while reading the book, and I know no other will do. Even after finding the best approach, I'll spend days trying to outdo it to make sure my first instinct was correct.
So it went with the cover to Catspaw by Joan D. Vinge. The title character possesses latent psi abilities that enable him to sense other people's thoughts...provided he takes a certain seductive and addicting drug. To heighten his powers he is compelled to get hooked on the drug, which he administers to himself via a skin patch placed behind his ear.
Cat is always checking to see if the patch is there, and it occurred to me what an evocative gesture that was. It suggests his nervousness about coming down from the drug and that he's listening to other people's thoughts.
He is poised between the hot, fast-paced world of the urban underground and the cool, rarefied atmosphere of the moneyed elite—thus the split in the composition between cool and warm hues.
Additional images from CATSPAW
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Probably the first book cover that compelled me to pick up a book. CATSPAW was being displayed at my local library, and I passed it many times before I finally checked it out. And I was thrilled when I was able to identify the different components on the cover in the book.