Reviews with content warning for Murder - Symphony of Secrets

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Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb

31 reviews

momoclouds's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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emilb's review

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

I enjoyed this book and it definitely made me cry. This is the authors second book and it shows in places, when it comes to certain stylistic choices and small stumbles new authors typically make. I don't mean that in a negative way, it's completely natural.

However, the amount of love, authenticity, knowledge, research and compassion that went into this book made me not care about the occasionally clumsy writing at all. On top of that, the character voices are so well done and so distinct, that it's a joy to follow along. It made my heart bleed for Josephine as her life slowly unfolds before us. The style and voice in which the historical bits were written were especially gripping, loved every minute of it.

I enjoyed this book a lot, and I'm definitely looking forward to more by Mr. Slocumb.

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serendipitysbooks's review

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emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Symphony of Secrets is a cleverly structured, well-told, engrossing novel that explores the issues of race and gender, as well as their intersection, within the arena of classical music. In the current day Bern Hendricks, a music professor is asked to authenticate a just discovered musical score, a long-list masterpiece by Fredric Delaney, a prolific and famous modern composer. Roughly one hundred years earlier we follow Freddy Delaney, a struggling musician, and his relationship with Josephine Reed, a neurodivergent Black woman. I really enjoyed the portrayal of Josephine, her neurodivergence and her unique abilities. I was fully invested in the characters and the self-serving entitlement of Delaney and The Delaney Foundation definitely raised my blood pressure. I was not 100 % convinced by the power of the Delaney Foundation though. At times I found the present day storyline a little too over-the-top and thrillery to be credible. But boy was I 1000% cheering at Bern and Eboni, not just for taking the foundation down but for the wonderfully satisfying way in which the did so. What I was convinced by was the music. So much so that I really wanted to race to Spotify and download The Five Rings of Olympia, Bring Back the Moon and more. Alas, I must rely on my imagination. Another minor quibble is that, at times, the book it is felt a tad too-long. Having said that I’m still eagerly awaiting whatever Slocumb writes next.

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