This new 125 Page book by Geoffrey Cheminot and Studio52 is a beautiful work inside and out. Studio52 has a way of producing magic books that feel genuinely mysterious and mystical. They have an aura about them that oozes importance and really grabs hold of the reader as if to say, “this is about to change your life.” I really don’t even know how to describe it. It feels rich. It’s the quality of material, the photographs, the formatting, and the writing style that come together to produce luxury. It’s an impressive feat, and it’s one of the reasons Studio52 books live on my top shelf in my bookcase (a shelf I reserve for only the best books in my collection.)

The book begins with A Foreword by Nic Tarasewicz and Another Foreword by Ben Earl. These essentially set up the idea that this book was born from Geoffrey sharing his work in The Family jam sessions. Nic and Ben were impressed by his thoughts, and ultimately, Ben told him he needs to put these ideas in a book.

Next, we get a Prologue from Geoffrey that explains his inspiration from Ben Earl and how this whole project went from an idea thrown out by Ben to a complete product. Next we get the essay titled, The Triangle. It is a framework for creating powerful magic that teaches you how to craft routines that resonate deeply with your participants. Geoffrey’s model is the foundation for every routine in this book. These elements exist at all times in every routine, but in Geoffrey’s opinion, if you don’t put concentrated thought on each of the elements, you aren’t creating the strongest magic that you can.

This leads us into the routines themselves. For each of them I will provide the description that is found on the website as well as the first line of the routine that is used as the “hook” to draw your spectators in. I don’t want to spend too much time on the presentation, but I think by reading this hook in Geoffrey’s own words, you’ll get a good sense for the style and feeling that these routines produce.

Paradox: A surreal reimagining of the card-to-pocket plot, where time and space no longer play by the rules. This routine creates a thrilling conflict between what participants see, feel, and believe.

Hook - “Most people think magic is all about secrets. But here is the paradox: knowing the secret doesn’t make it less magical. That is because magic is all about the mystery.”

This routine is a combination of the Mystery Card plot, the Card to Pocket plot, and a one card translocation. This is the first routine Geoffrey created with The Triangle in mind. It’s very simple to do. In fact, there’s only two moves in the entire routine. It’s the presentation that really makes it shine. It’s also a card trick that doesn’t involve a selected card. It easily could have been a selected card, but by doing away with that, Geoffrey gets straight to the magic without sacrificing the time it takes to have a card selected and lose sight of the real important thing which is the magic itself. As written, the routine does have you holding a double in a particularly precarious way, but it’s easy enough to change that if you don’t feel comfortable with it. Personally, I can't get my double to stay together when I hold it as he suggests, but with a small tweak, this becomes a non issue for me. It’s a fun routine that is quick and to the point.

Ghost: Pay tribute to magic’s past with a routine that connects your audience to John Scarne through an astonishing display of control and a touch of the supernatural. With nothing but a shuffled deck, participants locate the four Aces themselves.

Hook - “Do you believe in ghosts? I don’t mean in a supernatural way… I like to think that the souls of people from the past still live within us through what they left us and what we learned from them. Even if we never knew them. If it’s OK, I want to share one of my ghosts with you tonight.”

This is a really simple Ace Cutting routine. It is so simple that it’s almost silly. The routine relies on a discrepancy to give the effect of the spectator cutting to the four Aces from a shuffled deck. Geoffrey swears the spectators don’t notice the discrepancy, and that’s probably true since they don’t even know what the effect is when the discrepancy is used, but I think it will take some guts to try it the first time. It’s entirely self-working so there’s no need to have to think about sleight of hand during the performance. Instead you can focus fully on the spectator and the story being told.

A Switching Lesson: An interactive routine where your audience “learns” sleight of hand, only to discover magic transcends technique. This routine culminates in a stunning revelation that happens in their own hands.

Hook - “If you really want to know how magic works, you need to know that there is a trade-off. Knowing how to deceive people is not without consequences…it can affect you in more ways than you think… Do you still want to know? Yes? Okay. Magic relies on a mixture of both sleight of hand and psychology. For example, let’s play a game where we need to switch some cards to get a better hand.”

In this routine Chad Long’s Shuffling Lesson meets an Ace Assembly. This is my favorite routine in the book. It’s another dead easy trick to do where everything is over before it even begins. The presentation and the structure of the routine make it feel much bigger than it really is. It’s very interactive and fun for the participants to follow along, and they have a moment where they fool themselves which is a very cool way to frame it. It breaks the traditional layout and look of an Ace Assembly, and I think the spectators will never see the ending coming. I will be using this one for sure. I love routines like this where the person helping is a participant rather than a spectator. They take an active role in routine, and that undoubtedly leads to a greater investment in the routine which in turn leads to them remembering the routine for years to come.

Tempus: A time-traveling journey with a single coin that rewrites the rules. This narrative routine merges mystery and impossibility as time itself unravels.

Hook - “I have a time machine in my pocket. I know this sounds like something I made up, but it’s true. Let me show you. Here is a 2 dollar coin from Canada. Coins are like a snapshot of the past, you can look at the date… 2005… and this specific coin takes me back to Montreal almost two decades ago. I am sure you too have your own time machines!”

Using a few classic moves in coin magic makes a coin travel through space in a strange way, then the date on the coin changes to a date further in the past, and it ends with a vanish as you go back in time to before the trick even began. The back in time theme makes a fun through line that stitches the various phases together in a satisfying way. It’s a quick routine that lasts less than a minute, but a lot of magic is packed into that time. But unlike most coin routines, each phase feels very different from the other two. You get a levitation effect, a change, and a vanish all with “one” coin. (Obviously two are used, but their perception is of only one coin.) I’m not a big coin guy so I personally won’t be using this, but if you like to sprinkle in some simple coin magic, this is an effective and strong routine to use that won’t feel like the typical flurry of coin vanishes and reappearances.

The Invisible Transposition: A masterclass in clarity and structure, where two cards invisibly switch places in the most impossible way. The routine’s precision ensures your audience will never look at cards—or you—the same way again.

Hook - “There is a subtle but significant difference between something you can’t see and something that is invisible. Let me try to show you…”

It’s about this point in the book where I noticed that Geoffrey has a keen ability to get all of the methods out of the way so early in the trick that no one is even watching for dirty moves yet. This is the case with literally all of the routines above, and this is no exception. All of the dirty work in this routine is done before they even know what the premise is. By the time they know what to expect, the dirty work is done and the deck is in the box. It’s wild. This is another one of my favorites from the book. It’s a simple two card transposition, but there’s something really satisfying about the way he accomplishes the switch.

Synesthesia: A torn-and-restored card routine that questions the very nature of perception, a restoration that you can hear! This effect blends sight, sound, and touch into a deeply artful moment.

Hook - “I want to try something that plays with your senses. Do you know that sensation when you hear an image that has no sound? Or that moment you smell something and immediately picture a very clear image in your mind? This confusion of senses is called synaesthesia. I want to share something with you along those lines.”

This is a Torn and Restored card effect that is audible rather than visual. It is a restoration that they see in their mind instead of with their eyes. It is very easy to do and it takes only two moves to make it happen. The spectators can literally hear the sound of the pieces coming back together. It’s a very different approach to a TNR and I think the simplicity of it makes it worth consideration as a borrowed deck TNR. I don’t know if it’s the most impressive TNR in the world, but it is a unique take.

Spiral: The hit routine that introduced Geoffrey Cheminot to the magic world, now in its definitive form. This torn-and-restored card effect combines flawless handling with unmatched psychological depth, with additional bonus touches.

Hook - “I want to try something strange with you. There is nothing to worry about, but I want you to know that it is something quite unusual. I will even give you a memento of the moment. Are you in? Perfect.”

This hook shows you how bare this presentation is compared to some others in the book. He really just lets the magic speak for itself here. The routine is performed in silence. This routine was previously released with Studio52 as a stand alone item in video format. It’s clear that this is one of Geoffrey’s proudest creations. Personally, I don’t get as excited by this as some of the other material in the book. To me, there are far better piece by piece restorations that require an almost identical set up to this one (a folded duplicate card.) Daniel Garcia’s Torn has been my go to choice for TNR for over a decade and it requires an almost identical set up as what is seen here with the benefit that with Torn, it is a card signed by the spectator and the restorations are much more visual. I think this trick is fun as a thought experiment, but I personally feel the results aren’t ideal.

The book ends with an Epilogue, Thanks, and An Afterword in poem form by Nicolas Nargeot.

Overall, I am impressed by the book, and I’m quite fond of many of the routines. I won’t be using every trick in the book, but there is one or two that I’ll be testing in the real world. The simplicity is the beauty in Geoffrey’s magic. Pair that simplicity of method with his thoughtful presentations, and you truly get something special.

Clair Obscur can by purchased here:

https://studio52magic.com/en-us/products/clair-obscur-by-geoffrey-cheminot