[1] Tricked was written over a period of four years, beginning after the publication of Robinson's last graphic novel, the award-winning Box Office Poison.
Tricked has also been translated into German (Ausgetrickst), French (Dernier Rappels), Spanish (Estafados) and Polish (Wykiwani).
There are six lead characters who switch off short chapters; one will be the focus of the story for a few pages, then another, and after all six have been featured the cycle repeats.
When the novel opens, Ray Beam is mulling over the decline of his career; he's still making money from residuals, but he's unable to write new music.
The diner is well known, featured on TV travel shows, but it has a relatively small staff included a waitress named Caprice.
As she's showing her new friend around the city, Caprice takes Phoebe to a sports memorabilia store called The Dug Out to buy a gift for Boyd.
Since the signature doesn't match the rest in his (very large) collection, and since Ray drew devil horns and a beard on the photo, Steve obsesses over it.
A voice in his head helps convince him that this means the real Ray Beam has been replaced by an evil imposter.
Newly inspired he takes her to a Caribbean recording studio, then to a series of exotic locations, and asks her to marry him.
Nick arrives, bruised and bloody - he has killed the manager of the Dug Out in a brawl over the stolen money, although he doesn't tell Caprice this.