Reader reviews for “Tricks Gone Bad,” available in paperback or ebook:
At first, this book seem like a series of unrelated vignettes based on the author’s life over several decades. But as the reader goes along there is a common theme of the issue of risk taking. The book begins with and ends with a sex related murder of an American businessman in Mexico. The author links that event to his life and describes the risks involved for gays to meet other gays back in the 1980s and the general risks involved in the gay life back then. Gays now have an unprecedented (but not universal) level of acceptance now so it is easy to forget that it was not always that way. Being outed could be a traumatic event and was something to be avoided at all cost. The book is short and very readable. It is easy to read it all at one sitting but I would recommend that it be read a section at a time over several days so that the reader can think about what he or she has read and how it fits into the theme of risk taking. Very unique book.
— Daniel155
“This book got to me for a lot of reasons. First, it’s got a hard-boiled reporter writing about gritty crimes. It’s got a main character on a journey to come to grips with who he really is. But perhaps what I liked most about it is that it brought me back to the 1980s and made me remember what it was like for my gay friends who were struggling with coming out or even with accepting who they truly were. Life is a lot different now — the world isn’t free of discrimination by any means — but it’s a world where gay marriage is becoming increasingly accepted. But not so long ago, it was a world where a person could be blackmailed and have his career ruined because of his sexual orientation. In this book, a gay man is a victim of a crime but realizes that if the cops/courts/his co-workers know that he’s gay, they’ll think he brought it on himself. Pretty chilling stuff.”
— QueenV
“Tricks Gone Bad is an unselfconscious tale of the complexity of being gay and having a career. The protections of the straight world may not apply in a gay situation; liasons may involve unexpected danger short as they may be. I was struck with the loneliness experienced by gay people despite the sometimes frenetic partying and of the awareness of being the “other kind”. The writing is very flowing and evocative.”
— Mary M
Mr. Hancock’s brilliant, unblinking style distills and displays the common human struggle to gain acceptance in a world that says “you’re not OK.” We take the ride offered by a protagonist who morphs through dusty, dangerous pathways to come to grips with his fear and courage to claim his space. The novelette brutally inspires us to stand our ground in a threatening universe that pervades time, location, culture, class, and orientation. This book is addicting. Well done.
— SPed
