Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: Honky Tonk Merry Go Round By Patsy Cline

Mr. Strange, Weird Things, etc... these are the images conjured up when I think of Andrew Mayne. You know what that means. It means I'm a fan. I own and have read quite a few of Mr. Mayne's work. For the most part I really like his stuff. This one, I'd say was above average compared to some of his other work.

For $15.00 bucks you get a 16 page 8.5 X 11 staple-bound book. The production quality is solid, although I felt it could have been done in a smaller half size booklet in about the same amount of pages . . .

Throughout the book, for comic relief, there are several photographs of Mr. Mayne that are quite funny and add a bit of levity to the product. This I like. It reminds us all not to take ourselves too seriously, and it adds entertainment value to the reading experience.

Basically, what you are getting is a combination of several different ideas into one that results in three different magazine tests. There are some clever combinations of ideas here that the mid-range to well-experienced mentalist will find valuable. Beginners could easily do this as well, but it's likely that they will not appreciate the cleverness.

One of the techniques is a method for doing it over the phone that involves an overly complicated set of number crunching. This same technique is also used as an 'out' for the face-to-face version if something 'goes wrong.' I'm not a fan of telling people to take numbers and reverse them and then add the digits, etc. Unless you've got some really solid 'reasoning' you can sell the spectator, I just don't prefer this method.

Another version in the book called 'Zine Test' is very similar to Richard Osterlind's magazine test. Both Osterlind and Mayne credit the original version as Dai Vernon's magazine test from Tarbell 5. This is a pretty decent version, and likely the one I would use the most from this book.

Mayne does offer a fair bit of advice and patter on how to properly 'sell' the effect. Although the ad copy is a little bit over-hyped, I still think it's worth the $15.00 if you do any kind of mentalism in your act.

Final Verdict:
3.5 Stars with a Stone Status of Gem