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Midnight Sessions is a technical volume aimed squarely at practicing magicians. The subject is advanced card conjuring.
I missed the boat when this book was released, so the standard edition was sold out by the time that I decided that I wanted to read it. Thus, I ended up purchasing the deluxe edition, which is a limited print run, and is (I presume) a finer production with a slipcase and better binding. But both editions are of the same layout and design, which is quite stunning and surprisingly good for a niche publication. (I will, however, lodge a complaint about the aesthetic quality of the pseudo-handwritten typeface used in some sections.)
The book's unusual conceit is that the author meets an unnamed magician who challenges him to reconstruct whatever trick they've just shown. The reader is encouraged to do so too, a unique and intriguing approach among books in this genre, which typically just "spill their secrets" without challenge or enticement. I rather enjoyed the approach, and I tried to play along as best I could.
Before buying it, I read reviews that seemed oddly proud of "discovering" that more than one unnamed magician was involved. After reading it, the multiplicity is obvious, which makes the reviewers' self‑congratulation feel a bit misplaced.
The content of the book is intricate, clever, and thought-provoking. But the focus, as you can surmise from the premise, is on so-called magician foolers. The methods are deep, complex, and damn delightful. As such, in my opinion, the book is best described as c0njuring p0rn. I picked up nice techniques that I hadn't thought of, and some that I'm eager to try, but mostly I enjoyed the spectacle and how it all fits together.
I loved this book. It engaged me like few other technical magic books have, and I suspect that when I reread it in the future, I'll like it even more.