Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb – Audio
ARC from PRH Audio and Netgalley for an honest review
Book Blurb:
Bern Hendricks has just received the call of a lifetime. As one of the world’s preeminent experts on the famed twentieth-century composer Frederick Delaney, Bern knows everything there is to know about the man behind the music. When Mallory Roberts, a board member of the distinguished Delaney Foundation and direct descendant of the man himself, asks for Bern’s help authenticating a newly discovered piece, which may be his famous lost opera, RED, he jumps at the chance. With the help of his tech-savvy acquaintance Eboni, Bern soon discovers that the truth is far more complicated than history would have them believe. In 1920s Manhattan, Josephine Reed is living on the streets and frequenting jazz clubs when she meets the struggling musician Fred Delaney. But where young Delaney struggles, Josephine soars. She’s a natural prodigy who hears beautiful music in the sounds of the world around her. With Josephine as his silent partner, Delaney’s career takes off—but who is the real genius here?
In the present day, Bern and Eboni begin to uncover more clues that indicate Delaney may have had help in composing his most successful work. Armed with more questions than answers and caught in the crosshairs of a powerful organization who will stop at nothing to keep their secret hidden, Bern and Eboni will move heaven and earth in their dogged quest to right history’s wrongs.
My Review: 4 stars
Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb was a deep dive into race relations and neurodiversity told through the harmonious lens of music composition. It’s amazing how much we can learn from books, in this case the misogyny of a White male who is stealing a Black woman’s musical compositions.
The book was told in two timelines, both current day and in the 1920s. I usually like the historical timeline better but, in this case, they were both equally enticing. Each had substance, suspense and purpose.The current day was more research to unfold the mystery, while the historical time was the telling of the actual events. I loved the levity brought on by the pizza recommendations as the two investigated the best pizza pie in NYC. It was a good palette cleanser within the storyline.
Having a Black, female, neurodiverse character as a composer was a brilliant idea, especially when someone is using his name on her work. Fred was calculating and became worse as the book went on. I found that Josephine’s neurodiversity worked in her favor because it was the sounds around her, sirens, hammering, honking horns, steps in a stairwell that inspired her work.
This is Slocumb’s second book, his first, The Violin Conspiracy, was a huge book club hit. No doubt this will be too. I look forward to book three! Note: The audio was brilliantly narrated.
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