Book Review: Dark Maestro

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 then, suddenly, his life disintegrates. His father, Zippy, turns state evidence, implicating his old bosses to the FBI. 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 people who want them dead. But will it be enough to keep Curtis and his family alive?

Dark Maestro by Brendan Slocumb will be published on May 13, 2025. Doubleday Books provided an early galley for review.

I have been a fan for Slocumb's novels for the past several years, so I was very excited to see the listing for his latest one. I correctly concluded that I was in for another good reading experience.

The narration bounces between the three lead characters (Curtis, Zippy and Larissa) as the story unfolds across the years. From the set-up chapters, we get a good sense of who they are, the world they are coming from, and what they do to survive in it. The story momentum builds to a fevered pitch over the last third of the novel.

As a comic book fan, I enjoyed the added touch of Curtis' reference to comics. For those in that loop, they serve as nice Easter eggs. They are more than just character-quirks as comics do tie into the plot of the story. Per his notes in the back, the author is also a big fan.

Slocumb also ties in the musical elements as this is something he knows personally from his own life. This is a signature component across all of his novels to date. There is also a bit of worldbuilding going on as a few things in this novel tie into earlier works as well, thus setting the books in a shared world.