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Paul Carnazzo: Carnage Review

One book, ten effects/ideas and $55 bucks. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay tuned to find out.

Effect/Method

Another book from Paul Carnazzo packed with not-your-mama's mentalism. This is a mix of effects and principles/concepts to boost your skills, readiness and repertoire as a mentalist. The concepts in this book are all meant for close up mentalism and all use sound and solid principles to accomplish the effects. Here's an overview of the effects, methods and any "issues" or "considerations" regarding each of them.

Salt

This is an interesting combination of equivoque and multiple outs that combine to make a very strong prediction of what coin is in your hand and whether it's heads or tails side up. Also, the equivoque is a slightly different from most equivocal procedures and thus the method is extremely well masked.

Memory Blank

While not an actual effect, this ruse is very smart and a very clever way to present a prediction effect. There's a real possibility that your spectators will wonder if you actually modified their memory. Yet this same ploy can also play more comically and as a fun frame work to present an effect.

Magic Tree House

This is an excellent warm up exercise to do before a design dup effect. However, it's the kind of thing that "hits" more often than not, and when it does, you have a complete design dup where the spectator never draws the picture at all. It's only in their mind.

Hard Seven

In this effect, you rely on subtle verbal influence to hopefully get the spectator to name the correct card. This kind of stuff is stuff that I've never successfully been able to accomplish. However, in this case, the structure is such that when it doesn't "hit," the outs/explanation that make the miss less "painful." And the worst case scenario is that it was a "warm up" for something else. This type of method has never been one that I felt was very effective, but Paul gives a few pointers on how to increase the odds of a hit, so it may be worthy of consideration.

The White Dot Lesson

This is not an effect. Rather, it's a concept that fills in the gaps in a common mentalism effect — the spectator reads your mind. Generally speaking when having a spectator "read your mind" they are simply told to "concentrate" or to "try and receive my thoughts" or something of this nature. It's a weak request at best. With The White Dot Lesson, however, a very clear and "realistic" method for reading your mind is taught to the spectator.

This is the kind of thing that takes your mentalism to that all to coveted proverbial next level. Keep in mind that you'll not be taught a trick here. You're not shown how to make sure the spectator is able to know what you're thinking. That's the kind of thing that Paul assumes you can already do. This "lesson" provides a beautiful and clear framework and visualization exercise for the spectator that really gives them the feeling that they really did read your mind.

Duplication

This is a simple method for peeking information that's been written on a business card. All you need is a stack of business cards and nothing else. There's no gimmick involved. It's just your stack of business cards. It's very simple, bold and smart. If you need a way to peek an item and you left your peek wallet at home, then this is an excellent solution.

Serendipity

A deck of Tarot cards is used for this. The effect is that you write a prediction (without showing them what it is) of what Tarot card is the spectator's "perfect" card. While they're cutting the cards to find a card, they are also thinking about a special someone and a related special date. When they've "chosen" their card, you open the prediction to show that the card you thought was their perfect card matches the card they picked.

However, when they turn over that perfect card, it has the name of the special someone written on the back along with the special date. Finally, the rest of the Tarot cards are turned over to show that they all have names and dates on them, but only one matched her special name and date.

The method is simple and combines a couple of common principles into a very impossible feeling effect. Paul also explains a few other ways to apply this concept with a deck of regular cards as well.

The Covert-Overt Wallet Peek

This will require you to buy a thirty dollar something that is readily available at Target, ebay, Amazon, etc. Once you have this "something," you have a very cool peek wallet that will be the absolute clearest peek you'll ever get when peeking secret info. It's a clever use of a relatively well-known item.

Telpathic Psychometry

This is a clever method for a simple divination trick: two blank business cards are given to the spectator. She is asked to write something on one of the cards then mix them face down so that she doesn't know which is which. The cards are placed face down on the table. You then divine which one has the writing — let's say you declare the writing is on the card on your left. You prove your claim by picking up the other card — the one on the right in this case — to show that it's blank thus proving that the other one has writing on it. You take it further by divining what word was written on the other card.

The method is very good, but has one potential flaw: the original card that they wrote the word on is no longer available. You won't be able to show it them if they want to see it or reach for it. However, the structure of the routine prevents the reaching for it. It's only going to be a problem if they ask for the card which I think is a bit unlikely. The last consideration is that it requires a special kind of pen that you can get at a craft store. I've not purchased or tested this pen to see if it works as described in the instructions. Assuming the pen does what is described in the book, then you have a solid method.

Dementia

This is a smart way, using only a single card, to show 2 or 3 or even 4 different people the same card, yet they all see a different word written on the card. The method is solid, and the concept has been used in many different ways in the past. It's a clever idea with real potential for a solid presentation about perception.

Ad Copy Integrity

The ad copy is solid, and any place where I felt clarity was needed is already covered in the above effect/method section.

Product Quality

The book is well put together, does a great job at covering credits, inspiration and history. The explanations are taught well and in depth. There are quite a few typos, but none of them impact the learning experience.

Final Thoughts

The majority of the vast majority of the material is solid, well thought out and uses a very reliable and clever method. Knowing that the material (i.e., the methods and concepts) is solid, then the only question you need to answer is whether or not $55 is worth it to add some of this material to your repertoire.

Final Verdict:
4 Stars with a Stone Status of Gem.