Double Coincidence

THE BLURB:
Mentalist tells the audience that before the show, he gave a
lady a dictionary, a red crayon and an envelope. He asked
her to secretly circle a word and to seal the dictionary in
the envelope. She was instructed to tell nobody the word,
nor let anyone tamper with the envelope. He says this
envelope is still in the audience.

When it’s time to perform this effect, the Mentalist calls
two people on stage.

The sealed envelope with dictionary is then retrieved by one
of the spectators who holds on to it in full view. The
Mentalist picks up a 300 page book and turning his head
away, riffles the pages to have one spectator select a page
from it. The book is opened at that place and given to
spectator. It’s obvious to the audience that the Mentalist
hasn’t had a chance to glimpse the pages of the open book.

NO PAGE NUMBER IS CALLED OUT AT ANY TIME.

With his back still turned, the Mentalist asks the spectator
to silently read the first few lines on the left page.
Immediately, with no fishing, the performer describes what
the person just read.

This is pretty amazing, but the Mentalist is ready for more,
much more. He asks the person to read the first sentence on
the right page. He tells the person to choose any object
from the sentence and form a picture of it in his mind. The
person has more than one choice of objects he could think
of.

The Mentalist proceeds to accurately describe the object the
person is thinking of. He even gives a description of it
(the same image the person has in their mind) even though no
description may exist in the book. Again he does this with
NO FISHING. The spectator is asked what he was thinking of
and it is seen the performer was 100% correct.

Now, for the big finale. The spectator is asked to call out
any word on that line. The sealed envelope is opened and the
other spectator (not the performer) removes the dictionary.
There is note stuck on the dictionary; that note tells which
page number has the circled word on it.

The spectator opens the dictionary to that page (and yes, he
can riffle the dictionary to check that this is the only
circled page) and shows the audience the circled word.
Before the word is read aloud, the Mentalist states wouldn't
it be a marvelous coincidence if the only circled word on
the dictionary was the word just called out by the first
person. The word is read and seen to be the same word just
called out! An unbelievable coincidence.

NO SECRET CUEING
NO FORCE OF THE WORD, ANY WORD CAN BE CALLED FROM THE LINE
NO STOOGES OR INSTANT STOOGES OF ANY KIND SPECTATORS ON
STAGE ARE COMPLETELY FOOLED NO DUPLICATE PAGES IN THE NOVEL

Comes complete with 300 Page Novel, Erasable Board, Marker,
Dictionary and secret gimmick.

"Double Coincidence is the type of quality mentalism that I
used to buy when I first started out. The effect is strong
and the method is clever and surefire. The props are top
notch! I highly recommend Double Coincidence!"
- Richard Osterlind

"Double Coincidence is a sequence of effects artfully
blended into a unique piece of theatre. Many of the
principles employed in this routine have been under explored
or overlooked... until NOW!"
- Paolo Cavalli

"This is a true show stopper! I called Devin and told him
the only 'problem' I have with his book test Double
Coincidence is that it is TOO strong and I won't be able to
follow it with anything I am currently performing!"
- Jerome Finley

MY COMMENTS:
When Devin Knight released his Chess Gambit (based on an Al
Mann idea), I thought it was a really great effect, but it
centered around chess and chess pieces. Now, there's
nothing wrong with the chess theme, but I remembered
thinking that the same principle could probably be applied
to a book test. Well, Devin has done just that and the
clever principle behind Chess Gambit (at least the one
involving finding only one circled passage in the book) is
what makes up the third, and most ingenious, phase. If
you're familiar with Bob Farmer's powerful Deja Voodoo, this
is what this phase most closely resembles, although the
methodology is totally different.

As is the case with most of Devin Knight's work, he provides
various alternative handlings for different situations
within the detailed instructions, which includes photo
illustrations and some very good general observations about
book tests. To perform the effect as described above, you
must have a large audience (probably around 50 at minimum).
There is some pre-show work, although it's not what you
think based on the blurb above. And it takes less than a
minute. Trust me. I don't like doing pre-show work and I'm
comfortable with this technique.

As I said, though, you don't have to do the routine exactly
that way. You can certainly just have the two books sitting
on the table. You can also leave out another subtle bit
which requires you to use a common mentalism gimmick (which
is not included in the package). As I wrote above, Devin
Knight discusses many different variations that you can use
to suit your performing style and venue. And there is
certainly room to add your own touches to this routine.

The two books included in the package are completely
ordinary. One book is "The Hard Road to Gettysburg" and the
other is a dictionary, both in trade paperback size. The
dictionary was selected because the page number is in the
top center and easy to see. Though it is ordinary, the
dictionary has been specially prepared. My only major gripe
here is that Devin Knight should have tipped the method used
to create the red circle in the book. He says it's not
crayon, nor a marker. I'd love to be able to create my own
set of books, especially if these books wear out. On the
other hand, a book about Gettysburg (at least, for those
performing this in the U.S.), will not go out of date
because it's about an important historical event.

Besides the two books, you also get a small whiteboard, a
whiteboard marker, something to make the effect work (which
can be found in any office supply store), and the 30-page
instruction manual (8.5." x 11", stapled). Like the
Wizard's Manual from Docc Hilford, this is very powerful.
It's one of the strongest routines that I've seen produced
from Devin Knight.