The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Robinson, Eden. Son of a Trickster. Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2017.

Robinson's novel begins with Jared's maternal grandmother being cruel to him as a young child because she believes he is the descendant of the Trickster, which is an evil spirit of sorts. His paternal grandmother, Nana Sophia, tells him he is not a Trickster because she had a DNA test done on him, but Anita Moody, his maternal grandmother, does not believe this.

The bulk of the novel takes place while Jared is 16. Baby, Jared's dog, has just been euthanized. Baby was one of Richie's dogs; Richie is dating Jared's mother, but in the past, he had been violent toward Jared. Jared helps his neighbors, the Jakses, with their yard work. He is visited by David, an ex of his mother's who they have a restraining order against, at the mall that night. At home, Jared is terrorized by Richie.

Jared bakes weed cookies and sells them for money. One day, while baking, the house is robbed and he is knocked out. Soon after, he takes the bus to his father's place and meets his stepsister, Destiny. Jared pays for their rent. Jared's mother does not think he interacts with his father and would be livid if she found out. Back home, Richie tells Jared to hurt the people who stole from him.

A classmate named Ebony convinces Jared to give her some proceeds from his baking in exchange for the ability to use her stove to bake. He also needs to sell to Dylan, Ebony's boyfriend who Jared does not like. Dylan appears at his house begging for cookies one night, and his friends leave him there, drunk, to sleep on Jared's floor.

Later, Jared gets stuck babysitting Destiny's child for a weekend; she leaves him alone without warning for a whole night. He returns home, blacks out at a party, and wakes up to learn that George, whose nickname is Crashpad, uploaded a fight between Dylan and Jared on YouTube. Dylan punches Jared in the face upon learning this.

Jared's father tries to lie to Jared and say his disability check did not come through. Jared is disturbed by this and says he will not give him any more money. We learn that David took it upon himself to beat up Jared after a bad report card, leading his mother to nail gun him to the floor and try to get Jared to shoot him too. Then, at a party, Destiny tries to have sex with Jared.

The next morning, Jared meets Sarah, the Jakses' granddaughter. They have sex and grow closer together. After Christmas break, Jared learns that Ebony and Dylan have put up a video of Jared doing stupid things while drunk as retribution for the video of the fight. Meanwhile, Jared's mother destroys his room because she learnt that he was helping out his father with money. Jared goes around Canada watching basketball games with Dylan for awhile while things cool down. He tries to hitchhike home and a woman tries to pick him up; he sees a monster under her skin and attributes it to the drugs he took the night before. He goes back and he and Dylan drive home.

The action shifts forward to May. Jared's mom has disappeared for weeks, and he asks Sophia if he can stay with her over the summer. Jared confides to Sarah that David became sexually aroused while beating him, leading Jared to have difficulty with some sexual activities. Later, Jared stays at Crashpad's house for a weekend after his mom arrives home. She gets hooked on meth for awhile. Jared once again meets the woman who tried to pick up him hitchhiking, and she tells Jared to call her if he ever sees a ghost. Later that night, Sarah takes mushrooms and Jared starts seeing fireflies above her head.

Jared's mom kicks her meth addiction and relations improve between them. Sarah tells Jared they are moving away, and she does not reciprocate when Jared tells him he loves her. He starts seeing hallucinations of Baby and Sarah, and then he sees a pack of river otters which chase him home. He texts Sophia about this, and she immediately vows to come, despite Jared's protests. When explaining this to his mother, she tells Jared that she is a witch; she is able to banish some of Jared's hallucinations. He gets a call from Sarah that says Mrs. Jaks is not breathing, but Jared is knocked out by a mysterious man on the way over.

Jared awakens in a cave, having been tricked by a false Sarah on the phone. The otters come out and bite off one of his toes, talking about how they want to kill his mom. He eventually escapes and sees a raven, who tells him to become a raven himself. It tells him that it is Jared's real father, Wee'git. His mom eventually shows up and saves him. At the hospital, Sarah shows up and the fireflies around her tell him that they are ultra-dimensional beings. Sophia, who is not his actual grandmother, leaves him for good.

Jared's mom talks about how she tried to kill Wee'git but failed. He sees grotesque hallucinations later while having sex with Sarah and learns that Mrs. Jaks is also a witch. Sarah tries to kill herself to get closer to the spirits she sees. She recovers, and they all move out. Jared falls into a deep depression, haunted by spirits all the time. The woman who tried to pick Jared up hitchhiking reappears, and we learn that she is Wee'git's brother, Jwa'sins. She takes him to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, and he gets sober. The novel ends with Anita Moody telling him to come down any time he wants.