Brendan's book The Violin Conspiracy was one of my favourite books of 2022 and I've been looking forward to a new book since then. Although I have just found out he wrote another book called Symphony of Secrets between that one and this one, so I'm definitely going to check that out too!

You can tell he has a love and passion for music, you don't just get that same love out of research alone.

There are 55 chapters, which might seem like a lot, but that's only an average of about 6-7 pages a chapter, some are much shorter and some longer, but it's a nice balance.

His words just glide off the page, making for an easy, effortless read, and before you know it you'll be halfway through.

It's not always an easy book to read topic wise, especially near the beginning, it can get quite uncomfortable. But it's a great juxtaposition, this idea of beautiful classical music living side by side with crime.

The plot, at times, felt a little hard to believe, especially near the end but I didn't mind so much. Because whilst the plot is key, for me I was fixated on the characters of our main three players - Zippy, Curtis and Larissa. And the surrounding characters. It's fairly split between goodies and baddies, but everyone has a bit of a grey area about them. And whilst there are some big baddies, I still liked them because they're so well formed.

I definitely preferred the first half where it focussed more on the music and family. Once it went into witness protection and whatnot, whilst I still thoroughly enjoyed it, I found it a little harder to get into.

Brendan went onto my list of authors to always read after The Violin Conspiracy, and even though this wasn't 100% to my taste, he still keeps his spot on that list. His storytelling, his characterisation, his ability to write such emotion, is very impressive.

I always read the acknowledgements of a book but I know some don't, but I definitely think you should with this one. It gives some context to the story and I think it adds an extra layer of understanding to the story.

For me, it didn't hit the heights of The Violin Conspiracy, but I think that's because I thought The Violin Conspiracy was exceptional and it was always going to be a difficult task to reach those heights. But it is still an incredibly great book. Great characters, interesting plot, there's romance and thrill, and it's very human. It has such depth, especially regarding the intersection of music and emotion, to get that on the page is wonderful.

I had read Brendan Slocumb's first novel, The Violin Conspiracy. It was a great book. This book is different than the first book. Curtis Wilson is a cello prodigy with a drug dealer for a father. Larissa, his father's girlfriend, claws his way out of challenging circumstances to unimaginable heights in the classical music world. His father, Zippy, turns state evidence, sharing his extraordinary music with the world. This is a propulsive ad moving story about sacrifice, loyalty and indomitable human spirit. If you like characters who must create new identities and draw on their unique talents, then you would love this book. Highly recommended!

I haven't read any of Slocumb's other works but I'm more than willing to after reading this. I really like Slocumb's writing style and the idea of blending classical music and superheroes into a thriller was super unique. The story does require a complete suspension of belief and honestly, I didn't enjoy the superhero parts as much as I had hoped to. The author's note does a lot of lifting for my understanding of the narrative shift at the end, and I wish I had loved this more because of that understanding.

I continue to be smitten with Mr. Slocumb’s stories. They are so imaginative and The Dark Maestro is no exception. What a book. It is, at times, heart wrenching, joyous, suspenseful, and always riveting. With Mr. Slocumb’s background in classical violin and his interest in comic books, this is a story that is original and well crafted.

Curtis is a young cello prodigy, “full of energy and promise and hope’. But “if you’re born poor and Black in the projects, people can only see you one way…” His family life is complicated, with a father, Zippy, whose life is one of crime and aspiration to rise in that realm. But he and his girlfriend, Larirssa, only want the best for his son and when opportunities arise for Curtis, it’s with reluctance that Zippy allows him to pursue his dreams. Then everything comes crashing down. The highs and lows of this journey make for compelling reading and sharing any more will detract from the enjoyment.

If you are interested in a well-paced, clever story, mark your calendars for the release of The Dark Maestro on May 13. And, when you read it, please make sure you read the Author’s Note. A big thanks to NetGalley for the advance review copy.

I was invited by the publisher to review this book. Curtis is a prodigy in classical music. Born into a family in inner-city DC, he used his skill and talent to work his way out of the city and into the upper echelons of the classical music society. His family, however, is still stuck in the trappings of inner-city life. His father deals drugs, but he does have a mother figure in his father's girlfriend. One day, his father gets into trouble with those higher up in the drug cartel, and they all must enter the witness protection program. The government struggles to bring down the cartel, and that is when Curtis and his family know the only way they will find peace is to handle the cartel on their own.

This book starts out very strong, which is typical of this author's writing. It is propulsive and gritty where it needs to be. If you are a reader that wants to take books seriously, you may struggle with the other half of the book in which Curtis and his family take on the drug cartel that the FBI couldn't - that is not so believable, but then fiction is fiction. Reading the author's note is helpful for this aspect.

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

5 HUGE stars for the latest Brendan Slocumb book. More review later as I still sit and revel in this gorgeous story!

I have loved this authors two other books but this one just really didn’t work for me. I loved the beginning with Curtis and being a prodigy but once we went into witness protection I had a really hard time staying engaged. I wanted to love this and only liked it.

While different than this author's other books, The Dark Maestro is still a very enjoyable and entertaining read. It evoked a lot of emotion for Curtis and the sacrifices he has to make because of his father's poor decisions. In the end, his dad does his best to make things right and in my opinion that helped to redeem his character. Curtis's family is dysfunctional, but yet I still enjoyed the characters. This book is a love letter to comics while exposing the lengths some people will go through to make money. The Author's note is honest and transparent about his inspiration for this book- and may be helpful to read at the beginning (although it contains a mild spoiler).

Thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday Books | Doubleday for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Having read the other books by this author I was looking forward to reading The Dark Maestro. This book is somewhat far fetched. It doesn't seem to be a real story.
This is the story of a cello prodigy, his father and step mother all living in the worst part of Washington D.C. It goes on as how the father screws up everyone's lives and they have to join the Witness Protection Program. The characters are vividly portrayed and well written.
I liked the core of the story with Curtis, the cello prodigy, the black market organ selling and kidnapping but the rest of the story took a dark turn and was just too weird. This story is divided into 5 parts with the first part being the most believable and enjoyable. The middle parts just get too bogged down and slow. The last part is the part that is just not very believable with all the comic book characters and how Zippy, Curtis and Larissa take matters into their own hands.
Read the author's first two books before reading this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for the ARC. Brendan Slocumb is an automatic read author for me. This is his third book and it did not disappoint. This wasn’t typical from his last books but I enjoyed every minute of it. If you haven’t read any of his previous books put them on your list now!!!

The Violin Conspiracy and Symphony of Secrets are two of my all-time favorites, and I recommend them to everyone who will listen, so I was really excited to get my hands on this one.

It honestly pains me to say this, but this one just didn’t land for me. I appreciated the core of the story and understood the events as they unfolded, but it didn’t feel very engaging. I had a hard time getting through it and never really connected with the characters enough to feel invested in what happened to them. I kept reading because I love the author’s previous work and was hoping it would pick up again, especially since I really enjoyed the beginning—but unfortunately, it never quite got back to that feeling for me.

I’m a superhero fan, so I didn’t mind that element in theory, but it went a bit deeper into that world than I expected. I understood why it mattered to the character, it just didn’t totally work for me in execution. That said, the writing itself is still great—it just came down to the plot not being a fit for my taste. I’d still recommend it to readers who are more into that genre.

I also really appreciated the honesty and transparency in the Author’s Note. It’s worth the read and honestly might have been helpful to include before the prologue, just to give returning readers some added context beforehand.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this upcoming book! I absolutely love everything I've read from this author. I love how well he writes musical elements intertwined with a fascinating storylines. This one, though still very enjoyable wasn't my favorite of his. I loved the beginning and the ending of the book but the middle dragged for me. I don't want to say too much about it due to spoilers but the plot was a little bit stagnate in the middle third. Though the author used the comic book storyline to amp things up a little bit I found the comic book plots to be a little dull. I feel like the book either needed full on comic book depictions during this part or to do less about writing out the comic book plots in general. I really enjoyed the action at the end third of the book. All things considered it was still an enjoyable read with lots of memorable moments and characters.

I loved this book! The characters were well-written, and I could really picture the action and settings as they were happening. I loved the way the story followed the plot line of a superhero comic. It was so suspenseful and fun to read!

Thank you to #NetGalley and #Doubleday for the DRC of #TheDarkMaestro. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

With his debut novel "The Violin Conspiracy", Brenda Slocumb created the genre mash-up of musical arts/thriller/mystery. The Dark Maestro stretches it into new territory.

Curtis is a cello prodigy, being raised by his drug-dealing dad in the projects of DC. When Curtis is on the brink of stardom, his family is taken into protective custody so his dad can help the FBI break up a blackmarket organ harvesting operation. When the FBI fails to capture the kingpin behind the whole operation, the Dark Maestro emerges as Curtis and his family take matters into their own hands.

The back half of this story felt was a little far-fetched, but I was already in love with the characters so I went along for the ride. Not my favorite of Slocumb's novels, but still an enjoyable read.

I am a huge fan of Brendan Slocumb and his new novel lives up to the hype! This has everything I come to look for in a Slocumb work - a main character we love to root for, a mystery I can't solve, and a way of teaching empathy that I rarely come across with other authors.

The Dark Maestro follows Curtis through a tumultuous childhood and into an even less stable adulthood as he navigates his passion and talent for music. Though we love Curtis as soon as we meet him, I also greatly enjoyed experiencing the book through Larissa's POV - we get to learn a lot from her, and I had a great time moving through the story with her quick wit.

My only wish for this book would be to experience a tiny bit more of the music from Curtis himself. In his previous two novels, I feel like we really got to experience the main character actually creating and performing a lot of music, and the entire story felt music-centric. When Curtis is ripped away from his life, the reader is also a bit separated from a musical plot line. The rest of the story really lacks any connection to music and Curtis's cello, especially in comparison to The Violin Conspiracy and Symphony of Secrets. This was only slightly resolved by the sub-plot of the Dark Maestro comic.

Big thanks to Brendan Slocumb, Doubleday, and NetGalley for a copy of this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was a big fan of Brendan Slocumb's first two books. This one, not so much. Dark Maestro starts strong. Curtis is making his debut solo appearance with the New York Philharmonic. A young black man, raised in the DC projects, with a criminal father, he defied all expectations. But at the end of the performance, the FBI whisks him away into hiding. His father has been involved with a major criminal organization and when caught, provided evidence requiring the family to enter WITSEC as the major kingpins were never caught. Slocum does a great job painting the whole WITSEC process and the way it destroys Curtis’s planned life. Larissa, his dad’s girlfriend, enlists Curtis’s help to start creating YouTube comics and that takes off but puts them at risk. It started going off the rails for me when the three of them decided they could find the kingpins the FBI had failed to find. One’s enjoyment of this book will depend on your desire to have the plot be at all believable. I’m one who wants my stories somewhat mired in the possible. Fans of thrillers, willing to totally suspend belief, will probably enjoy this more.
I did find the three main characters all well done and believable. They were easy to envision.
The Author’s Note is an intricate part of the story and should not be missed.
My thanks to Netgalley and Doubleday Books for an advance copy of this book.

Curtis Wilson is growing up in Washington, D.C. His father, Zippy, deals drugs, and his mother is absent from his life. He has been raised primarily by Larissa, his father's on-and-off girlfriend. Curtis loves reading comic books and playing the cello. Despite everything working against him, he is a true musical prodigy. Just as things start looking promising for Curtis, his father's illegal activities put his future in jeopardy. After deciding to cooperate with the FBI, the family has to go on the run from a group of merciless criminals. Can a Black cello virtuoso remain unnoticed? And how can Curtis integrate his passion for comic books during his time in hiding? It's time to create The Dark Maestro. 

Author Brendan Slocumb is also a violinist and educator. In The Dark Maestro, he combines his musical expertise and interest in comic books into a fast-paced thriller that follows a family's quest to reclaim their lives. Curtis is a great character. While some parts of the plot require a suspension of disbelief, it doesn't detract from the enjoyment of this creative story.

I was a big fan of Slocumb's first two novels and was very excited to read this one.

I was so excited to read this because I absolutely loved both The Violin Conspiracy and Symphony of Secrets! This was quite a departure from Brendan Slocumb's first two books though, and the shift didn't quite work for me.

The book is split into five parts, and the first was my favorite. I loved following Curtis's journey to becoming a young comic book-loving cello prodigy with the backdrop of his father Zippy and his father's girlfriend Larissa's hustle and grind lifestyles. The subsequent parts built up the tension as Zippy's work caught up to him and the family had to enter witness protection. Unfortunately, the last two parts took the story in a hard-right turn which verged on unbelievable and absurd at times.

Still, I appreciate the idea and loved that the author tried to marry his two lifelong passions, music and comic books, into one story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Fans of Brendan Slocumb will not be disappointed with The Dark Maestro. While it has a slightly different feel than his other books, I think he wrote the book he really wanted to write, and his author’s note helps that all make sense! We still get plenty of music and I loved that the focus was on the main character’s relationship with his father. It releases next month so be on the look out for The Dark Maestro!
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for my review.

Curtis Wilson, his father Zippy, and surrogate mother Larissa live in the Washington DC projects. Curtis receives a cello through a charitable organization when he is 5 years old, and it changes his life. He immerses himself into practicing his cello, attends Julliard, and his goal is to become a cello soloist with major orchestras. He is so close to achieving his goal when his family's life comes crashing down due to his father's drug dealing. His life is forever changed and his family is on the run.

I have read both of Brendan Slocumb's other books and love how they are infused with classical music and musicians, a theme which is continued in this book. In addition, this novel brings in superheros, comics and animated videos, juxtaposing them with both classical music and rap. The chapters alternate between the three main characters - Curtis, Zippy and Larissa - each bringing their own point of view and enhancing the development of each character. The themes of class struggle, the importance of family, commitment, haves and have-nots, goals and success are all addressed. Overall, quite a page-turner!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday for an advanced reader copy to review in exchange for an honest opinion. This book will be published May 13, 2025.

Read more of my reviews at https://thegoodreader13.blogspot.com/.