Book Review: Symphony of Secrets By Brendan Slocumb 4.5/5 stars!

 Imagine you're a professor of music and your specialty is a specific composer and their body of work.  Not only do you love this composer's music, you also owe your career to a foundation established by the composer's family in his memory. Indeed, most of your waking moments are connected to this long passed on composer.

Now, imagine that you discover that this composer may not be exactly who he seems to be. What does that do to your own assumptions, your identity and your space/place in the world? Who will the truth benefit? Who will the truth hurt? What might people do to preserve a myth? That is exactly what happens to Bern in Symphony of Secrets! There are a lot of layers in this action packed novel. 

With no Spoilers- (which is so hard for this novel)- Bern is a professor of music focused on a fictional Frederick Delany. Bern loves Delany's music, always discovering something different each time he replays different parts of his work. Bern is given a unique and amazing opportunity to look at and transcribe some newly unearthed compositions by Delany and he jumps at it. As he works, however, he finds that all may not be as it seems.  Slocumb takes the reader on a musical journey between the past and present as Bern unravels as much of the truth as he can discover, while dodging people who would like to keep the past buried at all costs. In the past timeline, the reader is treated to the actual true story of what happened, and for me,  it was delightful to be "in on the secret" so I could form my own thoughts and ideas about a not uncommon situation in the music world! 

  I really enjoyed this novel, but I will say it took me a very long time to read. I had to continually re-borrow it from library.  I'm not sure if it was just because it was in my dreadful month of reading (May)  or if it was because the novel is a bit hefty, but I did finally finish it.  

For me this is the PERFECT Book Club read!  It has action, suspense, a bit of a dip into the world of classical music which may be new, an opening to discuss the roles of women and people of color throughout time, and a narrative that will keep most readers reading (I think my issue wasn't with the book, just with my own May crisis) The author even has a great bunch of discussion questions on his web page. 

Let me know if you've picked this one up- the author has a NEW book out- Dark Maestro- So he's also On tour, so you could catch an event with this author if you're lucky and living in the right area! 

STATS

First Published  January 2024

Pages: 448

Available as an Audio Book : YES

Trigger Warnings:  racism, confinement, institutionalized racism, Mild domestic violence, emotional abuse, alcohol, gun violence, toxic relationship, murder, mental illness, stalking, classism, gaslighting