A review by bookedupandbusy
The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb

4.0

4.5/5

‘’Music has no colour’’

Ray’s violin is stolen the night before a major competition. Who the hell took Ray’s violin???

I was interested in this book as the premise is fresh and I have not read anything focusing on a black person in the classical musical world. I learnt so much about different violins and musical pieces. For someone who is not really interested in this, it wasn’t a bore!

The book goes straight in with the theft of the violin and then has flashbacks over the year in the build up to the theft. Each character is capable of the theft, however I guessed quite early on who the culprit was, but this didn’t ruin my reading experience.

Ray’s mum is a mess! She doesn’t support his musical talents and constantly pushes him to get a job and it is Ray’s determination to make it pro in the musical world that really drives the story.

I did find Ray’s racist encounters to be written in a cliche way at times, I can 100% believe that these encounters were inspired by true events, however I would have wanted more depth and maybe for these moments to be written from a fresh angle.

The book is more mystery than thriller, but the suspense and page turning aspect of the novel is there.