Tricks

Tricks

Written by: Ellen Hopkins

Intended Audience: Ages 14 and up

Reviewed by: Jordyn Norwood

Tricks is a gripping novel about how far people will go to survive. This book centers around  5 different teenagers explaining the tricks they fall into and the tricks they must play. They are all very different, but all searching for the same thing: safety, community, family, and love. But when those three words everyone craves to hear are said for all the wrong reasons no one will expect how far the outcomes will go. Eden Strait lives with her mother, father, and younger sister Eve. Being the daughter of the town pastor has its expectations, such as no dating or sexual relations until marriage. But when she meets the love of her life, Andrew, those rules no longer matter for Eden. The only problem is trying to keep her relationship a secret from her parents. The second character, Seth Parnel, lives with his father after his mother dies from cancer a year and a half ago. Seth struggles with identifying his sexuality and how he truly feels. He meets Loren and is catapulted into a new kind of relationship. Cody Bennet, who never knew his biological father, was raised by his step-dad Jack. When Jack gets sick, he begins to drink, gamble, and dabble in drugs. The fourth character, Whitney Lang, lives with her mother, while her father works and lives in another city nearby and her sister, Kyra, attends college. Whitney is disconnected with her mother and likes when her dad is home since she sees him as her hero. When she is hit on by an older man, Bryn, at a mall she is drawn to him. The fifth character, Ginger Cordell, encounters rape from an early childhood and deals with keeping these secrets from her family. Ginger’s only friend is Alex, and she has begun questioning how she feels about her.

As the novel continues the plot thickens the characters begin to be face with the how far will they go. Edens secret relationship is exposed and her family concludes she is possessed by demons. They send her away to Tears of Zion where she must figure out how to manipulate her way back to Andrew. Loren moves away and leaves Seth, and Seth’s dad finds out he is gay, so he kicks him out of the house. Alone and desperate he goes to live with Carl, an older man he met at a bar, and moves with him to Vegas as his companion. But Carl isn’t looking for love or a relationship and Seth is just being used. Whitney begins to fall for every lie being thrown at her by Bryn. When the only man that can make her feel wanted and beautiful asks her to move with him to Vegas she has to agree. But when she realizes he wants to be more of a pimp than a boyfriend, will she find a way out or only fall deeper into the black hole he dug. Ginger is raped again by one of her mother’s boyfriends, and she finds out that Iris is charging them to have sex with her. She takes her mother’s money and leaves with her friend, Alex, and they go to stay with Alex’s dad’s ex, Lydia, in Vegas. Alex doesn’t mention that the only way they can stay with her is to work for her in her escort business. Cody’s step-father, Jack, dies from cancer, and Cody takes on the responsibility of paying for bills. He gets deep into online gambling and must find a way to get out of his and his family’s debt. When a nice girl offers him a way out in prostitution he reluctantly accepts.

This book was written to show the true realism of issues regarding the sexual activity of young adults. This book was meant to bring awareness of the tricks young people fall for while searching for themselves. When they have no one to turn to and there is no where to run, they must focus on just day to day. “When all choice is taken from you, life becomes a game of survival” – Tricks.