"The Hateful Page Book Test" ebook by Iain Dunford
Suggested Retail BPS£12.99
Available direct from Iain Dunford
In a Blink: 9 Out of 10

For anyone who feels dissatisfaction with gaffed, less-than-impromptu book tests, the Hateful Page marks a unique departure from the norm. What’s really interesting is that not only does The Hateful Page use a free choice of book, but also that the spectator brings it along with them to your performance. It’s a book they hate with a passion and are prepared to destroy. This alone sets the Hateful Page apart, but there’s more. To explain, here’s how it plays out:

Two volunteers, A and B, sit about 8 feet apart and A selects one of the books brought along for the experiment and the owner identifies herself in the audience.

The owner of the book then takes the book back and to rips pages out of it, letting them fall to the ground as she does so. She’s encouraged to really take out her anger by yelling at the author and saying how much she hated his work until around a dozen pages lie on the ground. She’s then to pick up one of the pages at random, fold it and place it into the book, which she hands to the performer.

Remember person B? You walk over to her and open the book to allow the folded page to fall into her hand. You dismiss A, naturally with a round of applause, and sit in her seat.

B unfolds the selected page and chooses a side. A random audience member shouts out a random number between one and about forty, and B counts down to that line on the selected side.

There’s one more choice to make. Does the audience want a whole line or a single word? Someone shouts out a choice. If it’s a single word, you have a random number shouted out (between one and about twenty), and have B count along that many words on the chosen line.

Either way, you now take a large pad and a marker pen and write either a word or an entire sentence on it. Lifting your pad for all to see, you ask B to read the word/sentence she came to. They match.

There are no stooges, forces or gaffed books used at any times. Like all good mentalism, the secret and working are simple and elegant. The choice of books on offer, the use of audience members, the ripping out of pages at random, the selection, and the fact that you never handle the folded choice make this a demonstrably strong effect. Any hated paperback, any page, any line and any word. Nice.

I know it’s become something of a hackneyed phrase, but this really is one for the budding Derren Browns out there looking to make the shift to stage shows, as well for as the experienced group performer.

On the credits page, which appears right at the very end of the manuscript, I realised I’d been name checked! I didn’t know in what capacity, but I didn’t know until I’d finished and enjoyed the manuscript itself first.

"The Hateful Page Book Test" ebook by Iain Dunford
In a Blink: 10 Out of 10

Material: 9
There’s no doubt that The Hateful Page breathes new life into a staple of the mentalist’s armoury.

Quality: 9
I was pleased with the overall quality of the work. This is clearly workable stuff.

Illustrations: n/a
There are none.

Presentation: 8
The manuscript is clear and to the point. At just 9 pages including the introduction, it’s a short read but the ideas it contains are what you’re buying it for.

Jon Thompson