to be pretend to be real

[Bushwhacker]

For me it's bizarre this expression: to be pretend to be real.

Found at this sentence: Why does illusionistic baroque painting always use every trick in the book to be pretend to be real?

It seems the first "to be" is not required. The sentence seems to be the same saying:
Why does illusionistic baroque painting always use every trick in the book to pretend to be real?

And, by the way, does "every trick in the book" mean something like "every thing at hand"?

Thank you for your attention. :-D:up:

 

[Anglika]

You are so right - it is a weird sentence.

to pretend to be real is of course right. Either the author made a mistake or the copy editor was not doing his/her job properly.

Yes to your second question.