The Dark Maestro A Novel

by Slocumb, Brendan

• ISBN13: 9780593687611
• ISBN10: 0593687612
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780593687628
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2025-05-13
• Publisher: Doubleday
• More Book Details

Summary

From the author of The Violin Conspiracy and Symphony of Secrets comes a mesmerizing page-turner about a young Black musical virtuoso at the peak of his career who’s forced into hiding when his family runs afoul of a ruthless criminal organization—until he fights back, using music to bring his enemies to justice.

Curtis Wilson is a cello prodigy, growing up in the Southeast D.C. projects with a drug dealer for a father. But through determination and talent, and the loving support of his father’s girlfriend Larissa, Curtis claws his way out of his challenging circumstances and rises to unimagined heights in the classical music world—even soloing with the New York Philharmonic.

And, suddenly, his life disintegrates. His father Zippy turns state evidence to the F.B.I., implicating his old bosses. Now the family – Curtis included – must enter the witness protection program if they want to survive. This means Curtis must give up the very thing he loves most: sharing his extraordinary musical talents with the world. When Zippy’s bosses prove too elusive for law enforcement to convict them, Curtis, Zippy, and Larissa realize that their only chance of survival is to take on the cartel themselves. They must create new identities and draw on their unique talents, including Curtis’s musical ability, to go after the men who want them dead. But will it be enough to keep Curtis and his family alive?

A propulsive and moving story about sacrifice, loyalty, and the indomitable human spirit, The Dark Maestro is Slocumb at the height of his powers.

Author Biography

BRENDAN NICHOLAUS SLOCUMB was raised in Fayetteville, NC, and holds a degree in music education (with concentrations in violin and viola) from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. For more than twenty years he has been a public and private school music educator and has performed with orchestras throughout northern Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC.