The Trick is set in two separate times. The first setting is in World War 2 Germany where a Jewish boy is taken with the stage and becomes an illusionist. The second is in present-day America where a young boy, Max, desperately wants to keep his parents together. Max is taken with the hope of finding the Great Zabbatini who recorded a spell of true love on a new scratched and worthless record.

The book is wonderfully written. The characters are very realistic and easy to keep clear. I had a vivid picture of everyone in the novel. The novel starts off a bit slow. The two storylines are not connected and are vastly different at first. It was jolting to go back and forth between the two. However, less than halfway through the novel it is very apparent how they are connected, at least partially. The story has a lot of different connections throughout, including one at the ending that I really did not see coming. Looking back there was build up for it, but it could have been better without giving it away.

By the end of the book, I was completely invested in both the characters and the book. I did not want it to end and was moved when it did. I was left feeling a little jilted. It just seems like something was missing, I wouldn’t want to speculate since that would give away too much of the book. Overall, a great read. It is an interesting perspective on World War 2, however, it is more a novel about people and how people and their interactions with each other.