Ellen Hopkins has done it again, with her newest book Tricks, creating yet another outstanding verse-written book.
All of Hopkins books deal with various issues that numerous teens have to deal with in America today. Her latest book, Tricks, deals with first-times, drugs, sexual identities and prostitution along the main characters’ road to finding themselves.
Tricks is broken up into five sections; one section for each of the main characters. The main characters include Eden, Seth, Whitney, Ginger and Cody, all of which are various ages and have different sexual preferences, different religious views, as well as different goals in life.
The first character we meet is Eden, a down to Earth, well-behaved Christian. Eden is around 15-16 years old, and has always been religious. She has never had the thought of having sex, let alone going against God, until she meets Andrew. After Andrew, Eden’s life goes from being normal to beyond abnormal.
Next we are introduced to Seth, a farm town high school senior from Indiana. Seth is also Christian, but after his mother’s death, he finally begins to come out of the closet, and be open about being homosexual.
Following Seth we meet Whitney, she is around 17, and is the black sheep in her family living under her sister Kyra’s shadow.
Whitney is just trying to get her mother to accept her, as well as find her way in life. Although guys like Lucas and Bryn are probably not the answers to her problems.
Next we encounter Ginger, a young freshman in high school forced to grow up far too fast. Ginger’s mother is a prostitute, and leaves Ginger alone almost all day to watch her siblings and help her grandmother around the house.
Ginger eventually finds an outlet for her pain as well as a way to get the love she misses from her mother. In some cases it is just better to hold your pain in rather than let it out.
Finally we meet Cody, a high school student from Nevada, just trying to deal with his hormones and keep his family together. After a death in the family and an involvement in drugs, Cody turns to gambling to try and make ends meet. Soon though gambling takes over his life and even his girlfriend Ronnie might not be able to save him.
By the end of the book all of the characters lives have become intertwined in the darkest corners of Los Angeles, Calif. At this point all of the characters have dealt with traumas, drugs, gambling and even prostitution.
The things they have been through all become intertwined, as these five teens struggle to survive, growing up a little too fast.
Hopkins will keep you reading and guessing until the end, trying to figure out how these people’s lives will become one, as well as what consequences these characters will face or suffer through.
Overall Tricks is yet another amazing addition to Hopkins’s poetic, teen-angst novels. This is a definite recommended must read, and if you like this book than you can also check out her other books titled Crank, Glass, Burned, Impulse and Identical.