Difficulty:
1 to 2.1/2 or so.
(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)

Review:
Described as A Cornucopia of Mentalism Effects and Imaginations, for those with a Strong Constitution, and a Sight Unseen Wallet and that's a very accurate assessment! Piers has produced a very professional A5 sized booklet containing 17 items involving the use of Mark Strivings Sight Unseen Wallet but most of them can easily be adapted for use with other peek wallets - what you get here are suggested ways of doing various effects with the SUC so you can easily tailor them to suit your style and wallet. I have Scott Creasy's Swiss Army Wallet and had no trouble in using it for the 5 or 6 routines I tried out recently

The whole theme of the booklet is Salem Trials/Witchfinder General (there's even a short bio of Matthew Hopkins himself) and the titles of the various effects include A Witch's Tail, Pentagram, ThumbScrew, Casting the Runes and so on so you'll get the general idea quite quickly.

To be fair, a lot of the ideas are variations on a basic theme whereby something is written down divined and revealed but that's the whole point. The basic theme is only the start; the variations are what make it magic. Piers includes tips on various peeks and also a template to make the necessary gimmick for a routine called Salem's Sealed Envelope. Some routines call for other items such as a deck of Playing Cards which may or may not require being 'stacked', Tarot Cards, a Prediction Watch and so on but most involve just you, the wallet and a piece of card or paper.

Overall:
At a measly $5, you'd be daft not to have a copy of this booklet. Even if you don't get to use all the ideas, there will be at least one or two which will appeal because of their simplicity. The whole booklet is decorated with woodcut style images appertaining to Witchcraft, Demons and so on and the only downside was that there's an image on each page underneath the text which sometimes makes it a little difficult to read the text (but that's only me being picky as I had to find something slightly negative to say to balance everything else!).