Tricks was the first book I ever read by young adult fiction writer, Ellen Hopkins. Tricks converges narratives of five troubled teens who fall into prostitution for different reasons. The five characters include Eden, Seth, Whitney, Ginger, and Cody. Each character is uniquely defined by his or her different conflicts.
Eden Streit lives with her Christian family and is expected not to date until marriage and marry a Christian man. This does not matter to Eden, who has a boyfriend named Andrew. Her father finds out about Andrew and assumes she is being controlled by the devil. He sends her to Tears of Zion, where she is held captive and forced to conduct work that will “rid her of evil.” In desperation, she has sex with a worker named Jerome in exchange for food, shampoo, and other treats. In doing this, she hopes he will help her escape. She does not realize it will take more than what she is giving.
Seth Parnell lives with his father after his mother dies of cancer. Seth struggles with identifying his sexuality when he meets Loren and is catapulted into a relationship. Loren eventually moves away and leaves Seth. Seth’s father discovers he is gay and kicks him out of the house. Seth then decides to live with an older man, Carl, in Las Vegas. This does not last long, when Seth becomes attracted to man named Jared and has sex with him. Carl reveals he hired Jared to act as bait and kicks out Seth. Struggling once again, Seth goes online in search for a place to survive.
Whitney Lang lives with her mother, while her father lives in a nearby city. Whitney hooks up with a man named Lucas at one of her sister’s performances but fears commitment. Lucas leaves Whitney by dumping her after taking her virginity, so she turns to a man named Bryn for support. She gives herself to him and leaves her family to move to Vegas for his photography business. Bryn cheats on Whitney, forces her to record their sex and have sex with other people, and introduces her to drugs. Spiraling downward, Whitney begins to lose herself and questions the value of life.
Ginger Cordell lives with her siblings, grandmother, and mother. Ginger was raped at an early age keeps it secret from her family. Another girl, Alex, is Ginger’s only friend. Later in the book, Ginger is raped again by one of her mother’s boyfriends and finds out her mother pays these men to sleep with her. Angry, she steals her mothers’ money and leaves with Alex to move to Vegas with Alex’s aunt. Alex’s aunt sets up Ginger and Alex in the stripping business as a means to make money and for a place to stay, resulting in more serious consequences.
Cody Bennet lives with his step-father, Jack, and has no inclination to his biological father. Jack loses his battle to cancer, causing Cody to take on responsibility for paying the bills. He begins to gamble and drift away from his girlfriend. As Cody’s future spirals out of control, he finds himself involved with prostitution. An accident lands him in the hospital, where he begins to evaluate his life.
“You can’t walk away from someone you love, leave them drowning in your desertion. If love has no more meaning than that, you can keep it. I don’t want it now or ever again. Don’t want to hear the word or wear its scars.” Though each story is disparate, all of the characters struggle with love. Love begins to lose its value as the book continues on, this quote displays the struggle each character is facing. “I don’t belong here. I know that. But I don’t belong anywhere else, either. And that is at the heart of the black depression pressing down on me, flattening me. I have no place. No home. Sex, but no real affection. I am kept, but not cherished.” As the characters fall into prostitution, they lose hope in finding solace. They feel used, dirty, and unneeded. 
Tricks is the first book I read by Ellen Hopkins and is one of my personal favorites. Ellen has a way of writing that captivates her readers. Instead of writing her novels in paragraph form, she writes hers in poetic verse. This provides a closer connection between reader and character. Writing in poems also benefits the display of strong emotions each character is feeling. Ellen’s books do not have chapters, which is something I enjoyed. Writing with no chapters keeps the reader interested in the story by not providing an obvious stopping point; it causes readers to stay entranced. Along with no chapters and poetic verse, she ties in the intensity of each character’s emotions. These characteristics of Ellen’s writing style benefit the novel. Rumors exist of a sequel to Tricks but Ellen has not finalized them.
It is rare I find a novel that completely captivates me. Tricks is one of the few books I would present with a five star rating. I struggled in finding a place to stop. I could not put the book away once it was in my hands. Each story possesses the reader to feel the emotions with the character, which is something I discover rarely in books. I was constantly in tune with each character and his or her story. The novel is intended for teenagers, and I feel it is a novel every teenager should read. It displays the hardships of five teenagers and their struggles for survival. It opened my eyes to how thankful each person should be for never having to struggle as Eden, Seth, Whitney, Ginger, and Cody have. I was distraught as I reached the end of the novel. I can only hope Hopkins plans on writing a sequel.
The author of this review is Shelby Hill. She is a senior at El Dorado High School in the state of Kansas. She plans to major in social work and typically reads novels about teenagers, gender, psychology, and other social issues. Reading and writing are two of her favorite activities and she is engrossed by poetry. Being a writer aids in the appreciation of Ellen Hopkin’s books and she is impatient for the rest of her work.