Confident Deceptions is the latest hardcover release—240 pages, over 150 full-color photographs, with dustjacket. It is the stunning debut effort from Jason Ladanye, one of Darwin Ortiz’s star protégés. The material is a mixture of magic and gambling demonstrations, and in each of the eighteen routines, Ladanye demonstrates his ability to maximize the impact of an effect. Some of the effects are quite challenging, but each one looks absolutely impossible.

Ladanye studied under Darwin Ortiz (who provides a praiseworthy introduction to these pages), and Ortiz’s impact is evident in the offbeat nature of the plots and the clarity of the magic.

You will learn finesse points on moves you already know, as well as polished material ready to be inserted into your own card programs. In the magic marketplace it no longer makes financial sense to spend two years producing a comprehensive hardcover book. It’s a good thing we don’t care about that! This is a beautiful book worthy of careful study, and the book was written with the same care and precision that goes into all the great works of magic.

To really understand a performer, you need to see him perform for a live audience, and therefore, included a 20-minute performance DVD featuring some of the highlights from the book.