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"Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind."

William Shakespeare, Hamlet

Buy it direct from MLR Press or from our Amazon.com store - Tricks  

Reed first gives us Arliss, "...young, handsome, and vital." Pierced ears, tattooed, eyes that stab and entrance with blue ice, and outfitted in "...a costume that would make the construction worker from the Village People look demure." Yes, Reed gives us this "...perfect fantasy specimen of pornographic machismo." And the allure of this package, of this boy, of this embodiment of sensuality is not lost on the patrons of the bar, Tricks. Tricks draws older men mostly, whose appreciation and generosity is meted out in dollar bills, fives, tens and twenties, as Arliss climbs upon the  bar to gyrate and smile, squatting here and there to allow those greedy fingers to stuff those greenbacks into the jockstrap pouch in front, or between and up into the naked cheeks behind. Arliss does not mind the attention, the gropes, the come-ons, the hungry eyes of these men. No, this is his job; the fantasy he provides to others in order to live.

Then we meet Sean, a "thirty-something" somewhat nerdish, somewhat cynical presence that finds himself in Tricks after discovering his present boyfriend's commitment to him colored with feeble clichés: "I need my space. I'm feeling suffocated. ...it's not you, it's me." So, Sean steps into Tricks in need of oblivion, in need of forgetting about Jerome for perhaps just one night.

Sean is enamored of Arliss, although certain that the boy's life is besotted with all the trappings of the life of a stripper: drugs, carless carousing, sleeping with anyone who offers the right price. We learn that Arliss's life has, since childhood, been lived on the edge of misery, with few opportunities to see anything of himself worthy of the interest of others, except his body. 

Arliss, as he makes his moves, struts his stuff upon the bar, notices Sean in the crowd, appearing so unlike the bar's usual clientele, and is himself, if not fascinated with Sean, at least interested, curious. But the clean-cut, thirty-something Sean leaves the bar by the time Arliss finishes his act.

Fate provides Arliss and Sean with a chance meeting on the Chicago shore of Lake Michigan, where both find themselves disposed to slough off the events of the night, and to cherish the calm of the cool breeze, and the ebb and flow of the water. It is here the plot advances: "Excuse me, mister," [Arliss says] "but is this seat there—the one next to you—taken?" It was not.

Suffice it to say, Sean and Arliss pursue their mutual attraction. Sean, being Sean, sees the worth of moving slowly. Arliss is, after all, not much more than a boy, a stripper, a beautiful presence who, alas, allows old men to stuff money up his ass. But Sean sees something else in Arliss: a young man with dreams, natural intelligence, a good heart, an insatiable urge to succeed...if only to turn his "career" toward porno films.

Arliss sees Sean as a kind presence, someone interested in more than just his body. Arliss realizes, however, his past will forever cloud any relationship he might have with Sean. "There was too much in his past that would shock the man sleeping next to him, shock him enough, Arliss was certain, to send him running in the other direction as fast as he could."

Reed provides a wholly believable journey of the eventual body and soul coupling of two men who, on the surface, are the unlikeliest of lovers. He advances the plot to the edge of Arliss's dream to be in the movies, something that Sean cannot fathom, cannot accept as something compatible within the context of their newfound love for one another. However, there is big money to be had, and Arliss cannot resist the offer to do a shoot.

Quite apart from the seediness of Tricks—the booze-breathed old men, the thick fingers rummaging over Arliss's body, the leers, the come-ons—there is a more sinister intent amongst those who would use Arliss, the beautiful Arliss, for their own gain. Yes, Arliss is the perfect specimen to appear in a video intended to be much more than the usual fare, much more than just another excursion into the earthy delights of bodies entwined in the old in/out; the suck, the fuck.

This is a love story. This is a story that explores the darkest depths of mendacity and greed that feed off the dreams of a young man yearning for a break against the hard knocks life has handed him. This is a story of two men from disparate realms of experience who, in the end, find their saving graces in the simple gift of love, of caring perhaps more for the other than they do for themselves.

Reed's prose is, as always, clean and precise. Reed's fans will not be disappointed.

This is a quick read of only 182 pages. If I have one complaint about Reed's storytelling, it is that this one ended too soon.

Reviewed by George Seaton