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4.32 AVERAGE
4.32 AVERAGE
This was an excellent listen - the story itself drew me in right away, the characters, especially Josephine, are fleshed out well, and I just could not wait to get to listen to more throughout my day. Well-narrated by Chanté McCormick.
Historical musical mystery which took me a little while to warm to but then became totally engrossing. In the present day Bern Hendricks is a music professor in NYC who is an avid fan and scholar of Frederic Delaney, America’s most renowned and prolific composer of the early 20thC. Out of the blue, Bern is contacted by the prestigious Fred Delaney Foundation with a proposal to work for them on a seminal piece of Delaney’s music, considered lost for the past century. It’s an opportunity too important to decline, despite all the secrecy surrounding the assignment. Because of the sheer enormity of the task, he enlists his tech-savvy and world-wise friend to assist. Between the two of them they begin to uncover clues about Delaney’s legacy that puts their lives at risk. Alternate chapters take the reader back to the New York music scene of the 1920s where Freddy Delaney is a struggling musician trying hard to catch a break. That is, until he meets a homeless, coloured woman who hangs out in jazz clubs and bars. Josephine Reed is a terrific character with nothing going for her except her extraordinary musicality. In fact, she’s a musical genius. So a partnership of sorts is formed, forging mutual benefits to both. Immense success ensues. But inevitably, greed and arrogance destroy the relationship, along with the abhorrent racial discrimination and gender inequality of the time.
I read this in two days, losing sleep because I couldn’t put it down. Slocumb really outdid himself on his second book. Absolutely gripping.
This book was fantastic! Stakes, tensions and characters kept me turning the pages quickly. I even enjoyed the historical sections of the book. Brendan Slocumb has cemented himself on my "must read" list!
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Brendan Slocumb has done it again! Another great book highlighting the elitism and racism within the classical music world. The end broke my heart. Definitely cried and hollered throughout this one.
I was so into this I was about to boycott the fictional Delaney Foundation.
The book jacket gives away the entire plot of this book. Yes, you explore the story more deeply within, but you know right away what is going to happen, and that isn't much fun. It unfolds exactly as expected. At one point I thought it might not, but then the book would have had a sad ending and cant let that happen, so justice came thru after all and this book remained predictable. Fun to read, just not as much of a thriller as promised.
took me a while to read cause that’s just cause I was in a slump a solidly good book would be excited to read another one of his works