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The Effect

The routine involves four members of the audience (the act is designed for women, and, while not essential, it makes a lot of sense to stick with this). The performer asks three women to write the names of friends on pieces of paper. He asks the last one to write the name of a lover on a slip. Each piece is folded by the spectator, and then placed in a clear bowl.

The cards are mixed by a spectator. One by one, information is given about the people whose names are on the slips. This can be done without removing any slips from the bowl.

Cost

About £25-28. Alakazam is the cheapest of the places I have seen.

Difficulty
(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)

3 (although arguably 4, but not for sleights!)

Review

Docc describes this as three books in one. There is the 'Invisible Stranger' routine, a section on moves, and another section on marketing the act and how to boost your income when the typical audience probably does not have as big a budget as you might like!

The routine seems very good to me. It is clearly been honed over a large number of performances. Docc explains not only the methods, but also some variations he has tried over the years. He also mentions the way he originally worked this, which could be very nice for anyone who can find the supplies needed! The current version requires nothing particularly unusual. The cards, pen and bowl are all ungimmicked; they could even be borrowed.

You are pretty much given everything you need to know, including some subtleties and ideas that might also prove useful for other effects. Docc even suggests what other sorts of things might go well with this to beef it up to a full 30 minute show (although he can't resist plugging his own wares in this regard!)

You get some nice advice on switches. It's no Switchcraft, of course, but Docc has a really nice suggestion for how to do a switch with confidence. He also gets in a promotion for his follow-up book (see 'Overall' below). There idea behind the billet read is not new, but effective.

I like the routine; it is well thought out, in terms of content, effect and method. The individual bits that go to make it up are very nice. There is nothing completely jaw-dropping to any of the separate elements, but they are useful ideas nonetheless. There is one aspect of the routine that seems to be glossed over slightly. It's not that this thing isn't mentioned at all, but that it is (to my mind) skipped over, when in fact it seems to be crucial to me. Maybe it really isn’t an issue in practice. If anyone who owns the booklet wants to know, I will merely say, "Angles."

As well as the mechanics of the act, you get some cold reading tips (although I think you would be well advised to do a bit more reading and thinking on the subject before launching into the routine).

The marketing section features one of those ideas that would take a fair bit of business savvy to come up with (or maybe I'm just really daft). It's hard for me to judge just how good this bit is, but it certainly sounds highly plausible to me. I am also not convinced that the market for this routine exists in the UK in quite the same way it apparently does in the States, but of course Docc is based in the USA, and American mentalists may find his ideas extremely remunerative.

Overall

8/10

One reason I have marked it down is that, while 'The Invisible Stranger' is a great routine, it is just one routine. It has multiple stages, admittedly, but really it's all part of one trick. Many more routines using the 'Invisible Stranger' principle(s) are promised in volume 2, 'The Return of the Invisible Stranger', but that is a different book, and I am not sure if it is out yet.

In one sense, the blurb is correct, and this is three booklets in one, but the ones on moves and marketing would be pretty thin!

Docc is correct when he says that the individual components are good in their own right. I suspect that more people who buy this book will end up using some of the components elsewhere than the complete routine. It is probably what I will do.

I might be marking this a little harshly because I am unlikely to find a use for the act, and suspect that is true of many people. It is a solid routine that (in the USA at least) has an identified market, some clever ideas, and a strong plot and presentation. 'The Invisible Stranger' is good, but not a mentalism must-have.