One of the real joys of attending an MOTM is strolling through the Mentalist's Marketplace and checking out the new products being offered by our colleagues. Many new publications were offered at this year's MOTM including some notable recent works by long-time members Richard Busch, Anton Zellman, and Allen Zingg. However, a special publication by a relatively new member to the group—Jack Kent Tillar of "Blistered" notoriety—particularly caught my eye. Mr. Tillar's nicely produced, spiral-bound book titled, TRIO Three Complete Acts for the Mentalist, was specially printed as a limited edition for the 2006 PEA MOTM. I think it warrants a look from performers in our group who are interested in adding to their present act or just want to see how another creative guy puts together a strong mentalism show.

Ever since I bought and read Annemann's Complete One Man Mental and Psychic Routine back in the early 1970s, I have been a sucker for any kind of release that details a performer's vision and construction of an act. As the title says, Tillar's TRIO contains three complete mentalism acts—each act decidedly different from the others and each offering very workable effects and clever presentations drawn from Jack's personal repertoire.

The first act of the trio is titled "The Naked Mentalist" and contains seven impromptu performance pieces carefully designed to build toward a strong climax. Notable effects include a nice memory bit, a very practical telepathy demonstration, a great take on the Hoy book test, a very strong design dupe using two spectators, and a dynamite closer. Any one effect can be used apart from the others and can be performed pretty much on the spot.

"The Intimate Mentalist" is a group of six "no cards" and "no pre-show work" effects that you can literally carry in your pocket. I particularly liked Mr. Tillar's straight-forward handling of Dr. Jak's "Triple Prediction," his own "held-back" handling of the Tea Cup Bill Divination effect originally published in Bascom Jones' Magick, his nifty "test condition" dictionary test, and his psychic ink-blot personality test. In addition to concise and to-the-point explanations, Mr. Tillar includes his basic scripting and presentation that are worthy of careful study.

The final act is my favorite of the book—"The Fund-Raising Mentalist". This is Jack Tillar's take on the Dunninger act and includes his cogent ideas concerning post-show readings and pitch book sales. IMO, this one act is worth the "price of the book"...I wish I had the advantage of its content when I first started out performing shows.

Jack Tillar is offering his limited edition TRIO for $60. I trust that you will find TRIO to be well worth your investment.

(Editor's note: Bruce Bernstein says that TRIO is one of the best mentalism books available. How's that for an endorsement!)