"Triangle" booklet by Patrick G. Redford
Suggested Retail USD$40.00
Available from your favorite dealer
In a Blink: 10 Out of 10

"Triangle", a booklet by Patrick G. Redford, is a collection of three mental effects that are very strong, very clever, and take old methods and themes and turn them on their ear, making them as unique as the booklet itself is.

I'm going to put on my other hat for a minute and then tip it to Redford. I've been into comics books since I was five (for those in the know, DC's "World's Finest" cost me a whopping 15¢, Superman's first wife was a witch, and Sue Storm was an emotional wreck... all the time). So now here I am, reviewing a book of mentalism effects, done in "comic book" (read that anymore, I guess, as "graphic novel") format and I'm as much taken with the book itself as the effects. The artwork is very good and is used to tell the story of the effect. Each effect has two pages of the comic book art that works beautifully. The rest of the pages are devoted to plain text descriptions of the workings, with some more comic-style artwork to explain the working further. Man, I have to say, this whole format made this a solid blast to read.

So, Mr, Redford, I tip my comic-book-collector's hat to ya. You done good here and I, one of many I'm sure, will appreciate the imagination you have that came up with this idea.

Now, to the effects.

There are three, as you could expect given the title of this book. All three can be performed impromptu, though two of the routines can get an extra boost from the "less-impromptu" methods. All of them are essentially feats of mentalism. All of them are outstanding, each in their own way.

The first effect up is "Divine Number". This is touted as a "very hands off" serial number divination, and it is. It's also one that benefits greatly from a tiny bit of set-up (and I do mean "tiny"). It begins with any number of spectators taking out a US dollar bill, looking at the letter in the seal of the bill, then folding the bill to hide the letter. The performer then goes from person to person revealing that thought-of letter. With one person, the performer misses the letter but then recites the complete serial number of the bill and, yes, it matches perfectly. I can't rave enough about this one -- and I knew all the mechanics involved. As you read a few times before I'm done, it's not so much the method or the principles involved with Redford's work; it's that extremely clever presentation that makes it all work. Now, this one only works with US bills and Euros (and, for my money, can be made into an even stronger routine with the Euros than the bills), but other currency may work, at least for a shortened version of the routine. Sorry to be so ambiguous, but secrecy and all that...

"Rain King" is next and I knew I was going to hate this one going into it. I hate, loathe, detest, and despise memorization routines. They simply aren't that entertaining without a solid -- and I do mean "solid" -- presentation in front of 'em. Well, here comes Redford with another grand presentation. Explaining he can memorize a deck of cards in sixty seconds, the performer looks through a deck while the spectator times him. Time's up, the spectator names any number and the performer names a card. The spectator counts through the deck to the number, turns over the card, and gosh-almighty-whodda-thunk-it it's the card the performer named. Okay, so that's pretty normal by our definition of normal anyway. But now Redford goes to work and this whole thing gets good quick. The performer now coaches the spectator on how to memorize the deck and the spectator is able to duplicate the feat. As Redford points out, the spectator can go home and probably still duplicate it, without your being anywhere around. This is what we call a "hook" and, boy, is it a great one. The working is simple if you've got some experience with card technique (there are some sleights here that are a wee bit advanced), but even if you're not you'll have it down with a little practice; it's "advanced", not "impossible". As for the particulars... borrowed deck, no set-up, very slight memory work, and the spectator will be floored you actually showed him something he can do without you. Put this one in the "price of the book" category if you're a worker.

The last routine is "A Sound Change". This is essentially "Jackpot Coins" (or "The Trick That Fooled Einstein") but, again, Redford's handling and presentation make this a powerhouse of an effect. A spectator picks up an amount of coins from a table, shakes it next to the performer's ear, and the performer is able to tell what coins the spectator is holding. For a killer finish, the performer holds the coins and the spectator names the correct amount. This is another winner: it's solid, entertaining, quick, and makes the spectator a star for a while. This is delightfully impromptu: all you need are the coins and a spectator. There's no set-up, no reset, and, no, the spectator is not stooged in any way. This is one great routine, Now it's not easy -- you'll need to have mastered a few coin sleights to pull this one off -- and you'll be practicing this one for a long while to get the moves and the delivery down, but if you do, you've got a minor miracle here.

So there you have the routines and, once again, I'm tipping my hat to Redford; he's done some great work here. True enough, some of the principles and workings have been around for a while but that really doesn't matter here: Redford's presentations and structures are what make these so good and worth every penny to the serious mentalist-type that's looking for something powerful and different who doesn't mind putting in some extra work to make the most of these minor miracles.

From the ad copy, "Triangle" is the first in a series of such books by Redford and if they are even half as good as this one, they'll genuinely be neo-classics in more ways than one.

"Triangle" booklet by Patrick Redford
In a Blink: 10 Out of 10

Material: 10
Three effects, pretty much impromptu, with killer presentations that take old themes and methods and turn them into near-miracle class work... That sums up what you're getting here. For the serious worker that doesn't mind doing a bit of practice, these are perfect routines to have available for pretty much any situation.

Quality: 10
Redford gets a huge thumbs-up from me for the sheer creativity of the booklet, let alone the effects. The instructions are clean and thorough and the use of comic-book-style paneling for the performance piece of this is brilliant. You'll not only have no problem learning the material, you're likely to enjoy it more than you have any other book of mentalism effects in a while.

Illustrations: 10
The illustrations are beautiful, cover to cover. I should make this one an 11.

Presentation: 10
And now we're to the meat of things. Redford's presentations are gorgeously done, full of cleanliness, directness, and with a level of spectator involvement that is at times staggering. These make this booklet worth the price, hands down.


Shane

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