Rating: 
Summary: Is this what Hollywood is really like?
Review: I read this funny novel in one sitting. It is a very fast paced gossipy and shrewd skewering of Hollywood types. The twist ending was fun and there a few steamy scenes that makes you want for more. I will look forward to other Ben Tyler novels. Perhaps there is a sequel there somewhere when scary Shari comes back to get revenge!
Rating: 
Summary: Dishy fluff that's more of a summer beach read.
Review: I realize that it takes alot to get a book published, so keeping that in mind why didn't Mr. Tyler make his story less predictable. Tricks is like a hardcover version of a tabloid, a guilty pleasure we all throw away once it's read.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT SUMMER READING
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I have to admit that the cover is what first attracted me to it. I read this book mostly while traveling on summer vacation and could not put it down. It has some characters that you really do care about and also some outrageous ones as well. I hope this is made into a movie and uses the same ad that is on the cover!!
Rating:
Summary: TRICKS OF THE TRADE
Review: I'm a straight gal from Sherman Oaks, but "Ben Tyler" had me laughing all the way through his easily read TOTT! I, too, know these people, having worked with them...and believe me much more can be told in a follow-up "novel," right "Ben?" "Tyler" made everyone seem human and believable! Thanks for the great, fun read!
Rating: 
Summary: Not so tricky
Review: I've tried twice to get into this bestselling book. It's clever and fun, but I can't seem to make it past page 90. It just gets so vapid so quickly, and it's nowhere as great as some of the books to which it's compared ("Sex Toys of the Gods", "California Screaming"). I've even tried skipping ahead, but all the zippy inside jokes get real thin. At least the cover will help sell it.
Rating:
Summary: Sensational Sexy Gay Roman A Clef
Review: In the tradition of Jacqueline Susann with a dash of Paul Rudnick, Joe Keenan and Gordon Merrick thrown in, this debut fiction is a scorcher and a corker! The bed-hopping will certainly get your blood pressure soaring (especially some of the kinkier aspects of S/M amateur videomaking), but the ingenius plot will keep you reading and the savage wit will keep you laughing. How delightful to find a book that has the sense to be playful and comedic while at the same time offering a riveting scenario that could be next season's QUEER AS FOLK. Ben Tyler's characters are believable (they should be, they're all based on real people in Hollywood--Tyler works within the film industry and is not afraid to name names and get down low and bitchy...revenge is sweet!) and the sexy-comic plotline is irresistable. Reminded me of MISADVENTURES IN THE 213, Michael Mann's THE MEN FROM THE BOYS, and that old classic THE BOYS IN THE MAILROOM. And....yowza! THAT COVER ILLUSTRATION!!
Rating:
Summary: Book of the year!!!
Review: Just finished the hottest book of the year. Ben Tyler's book Tricks of the Trade is so funny and so HOT, I could not put it down. It makes me want to move to HOLLYWOOD. I hope he has more in-store for us. I also found that his web-site is as HOT as the book. ...
Rating: 
Summary: The Real Trick is getting through this book!
Review: Novels about making it in Hollywood are nothing new. Hollywood has a reputation where everyone uses everyone to get what they want as fast as they can. "Tricks of the Trade" is such a novel but there's a lot more plot here, and this book is a fast, easy read full of vivid characters who know a little about back stabbing and getting their own way. There's Bart Cain, the main character, who is a publicity writer for Sterling Studios; Shari Draper, Bart's homophobic boss; Rod Dominguez, the hot Latino stud who hustles by night and writes so called brilliant scripts by day; and Jim Fallon, the All-American sit-com star whose career is in the dumps. Bart meets Rod in a chat room, and the two get together for some action. Soon Bart is instantly hooked on Rod, and after Rod talks Bart into getting his script read by the studio, he drops him like a ton of lead. Into the picture steps, Jim Fallon, who thinks Rod's script is his answer to his sagging career. This story, with more twists than you can imagine, leaves you exhausted by the end of the book, trying to keep up with it all. The fun is in seeing just how far each of these characters will go to get ahead. You will find yourself racing toward the finish line to see who comes out the winner in this fun, but busy novel. It's an enjoyable read that's well worth the time.
Joe Hanssen
Rating: 
Summary: Making It in Hollywood!
Review: Novels about making it in Hollywood are nothing new. Hollywood has a reputation where everyone uses everyone to get what they want as fast as they can. "Tricks of the Trade" is such a novel but there's a lot more plot here, and this book is a fast, easy read full of vivid characters who know a little about back stabbing and getting their own way. There's Bart Cain, the main character, who is a publicity writer for Sterling Studios; Shari Draper, Bart's homophobic boss; Rod Dominguez, the hot Latino stud who hustles by night and writes so called brilliant scripts by day; and Jim Fallon, the All-American sit-com star whose career is in the dumps. Bart meets Rod in a chat room, and the two get together for some action. Soon Bart is instantly hooked on Rod, and after Rod talks Bart into getting his script read by the studio, he drops him like a ton of lead. Into the picture steps, Jim Fallon, who thinks Rod's script is his answer to his sagging career. This story, with more twists than you can imagine, leaves you exhausted by the end of the book, trying to keep up with it all. The fun is in seeing just how far each of these characters will go to get ahead. You will find yourself racing toward the finish line to see who comes out the winner in this fun, but busy novel. It's an enjoyable read that's well worth the time.
Joe Hanssen
Rating:
Summary: Did I read a different book?
Review: Since I'm sure the author worked very hard on this novel, I hesitate to dump on it. However, I feel potential buyers deserve at least some warning about this novel's awfulness. To be fair, it actually starts out somewhat promising if rather conventional. I enjoyed Rod's character as Hispanic characters are few and far between in gay fiction. But the novel quickly disintegrates into unbelievably silly scenes, cloying dialogue (what passes for 'love' between Bart and Rusty will make you diabetic if you aren't already) and a plot that becomes plain stupid. And the novel's few 'twists' are either told outright before they happened or so foreshadowed as to be ridiculous. Do yourself a favor and read Michael Nava, Michael Cunningham, or Stephen McCauley, but do not read this.
|
