Trey is a smart middle schooler. He’s been in a lot of schools, mostly private schools, and he can always fit in with the other kids. He’s confident and engaging and popular. Until he disappears.

Trey is a con man, a wingman, a way for his father to get in with rich families, so he can get them to invest in his latest schemes. His dad, Junior, has been doing this for a long time. He’s sold fake insurance, pretend peacock eggs, and shares in a show dog. And Trey has been there to help, until his dad called out their code word, “Houdini,” and Trey had to leave it all behind again.

Trey had been at Spealman School, where his dad had used a dog trained to be in commercials to be his fake show dog. And when he had sold so many shares in the dog that the parents figured out the scam, he pulled Trey out of a lacrosse game to Houdini and start all over somewhere else. After Spealman, Trey and his dad and younger sister Arianna head to an island resort to wait for things to cool down and for their dad to figure out their next venture. And when he does, Trey finds out they’re heading to Tennessee.

In Boxelder, Trey won’t be in a private school. He’ll be in a public school, as will Arianna. Which means he’ll get to live at home like a regular kid, something he hadn’t been able to do for a while. But he’s still working, so he’s supposed to keep his eyes open to what’s going on in the town and make friends with the rich kids at school. And he does. He and Arianna both start making friends immediately. They’re even the ones who give their dad the idea for his new scheme when they talk about how the other parents brag about how many miles they can go in their electric cars. And they want to be in on the game, to contribute to the family.

Their dad comes up with a prototype of a new electric car, the El Capitan, the other parents are immediately interested in it. It’s shiny and red and gets amazing mileage to a single charge. The only problem with it is that it’s not real. Their dad had a friend make up a fancy car using a Tesla as a base, but the car is fake, the company is fake, and the factory that he’s talking about putting up in the town is fake. The only thing that’s real is the investment checks that start rolling in from their neighbors.

Trey has known for many years what it was his dad did for a living. He would tell Trey it was a confidence game, and that it was okay because he was only taking money that rich people could afford to lose. But Trey’s social studies teacher has started teaching them about ethics, and Trey finds himself wondering if what his dad has said is true. Is it okay that Robin Hood stole from the rich to give to the poor? Or is all stealing wrong? As Trey make friends and gets involved in the community, he feels at home in Boxelder, Tennessee. He doesn’t want to have to walk away from all his friends again. He wants to stay and be a normal kid. But how is that possible, when he’s spent his whole life being a faker?

The latest novel from Gordon Korman is a compelling tale of a kid who was born into a family of confidence persons but who longs for the real connections that can only come from being a committed and honest friend. Faker is a charming book with genuine questions under it of what it means to be a good friend, a good brother, a good citizen. It’s both entertaining and insightful, a perfect blend for smart middle-schoolers looking for a good book to read.

I had some misgivings about a book that starred a confidence kid as the main character, but of course, Korman pulls it off with the kind of elegance that would come in handy for someone with just that job. The writing is inventive and engaging, and I couldn’t help but really like this kid. I wasn’t sure how Trey was going to get himself out of the jam he was in, but I felt strongly that he would. He’s a strong character, and his situation raises a lot of questions that could make readers really think about their daily choices in a different way. Faker is a fantastic book for boys and girls, and it will make any reader a lifelong fan of Gordon Korman.

Egalleys for Faker were provided by Scholastic Press through NetGalley, with many thanks.