Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb on April 18, 2023
Genres: Fiction / African American & Black / General, Fiction / Historical / General, Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Historical
Pages: 320
Format: ARC
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If I were to classify Symphony of Secrets, this would be a musical mystery/thriller. If you like Brendan Slocumb’s first novel, The Violin Conspiracy, this one is one to also a literary masterpiece. Slocumb writes a clever, talented, smart novel filled with musical references. You don’t have to be Mozart to enjoy this one though. Anyone can pick up on his references. The dual timelines will have you turning pages quickly.
Symphony of Secrets starts out with Dr. Bern Hendricks who has lived his life for his favorite composer, Frederick Delaney. The Delany foundation offers Bern a chance to work on a top-secret project involving his hero, Fred Delaney. Bern starts out thinking he is the expert in Frederick Delany, only to find out that there are many secrets he has to uncover.
Then we are transported back in time to see how Frederick Delany came to be such a successful musician. We meet Josephine Reed in the 1918 story. Josephine likes to frequent jazz clubs and compose music in her interesting way. When Fred is introduced to Josephine, both their lives are changed forever.
I don’t know which storyline I enjoyed more. When Bern and his friend Eboni were frantically trying to uncover the facts of Delaney’s life from the past, or hearing how talented Josephine was and how she assisted Fred and their story were both highly interesting. It did take me a little while to get into the story, but then when things started to fall into place, I was hooked. Race was an important part of the story as Josephine was black and Fred was white. Also, in the present story, Bern was black and had to deal with racism as well. Greed and power are also central themes to the story and how they impacted multiple characters.
This was The DaVinci Code meets Gone Girl. I think anyone who enjoys a smart literary thriller will enjoy this.
Thank you to NetGalley, Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, and the Author for and advanced reader copy.