Friday, April 22, 2022

Contemporary Fiction: The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb

When it comes to thrillers and suspense, only the occasional book from that category will grab my attention, and The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb was one of them. When a young black man finds out he possesses a rare and valuable violin, his life changes as his dream of becoming a world-famous violinist is now possible, even though greed and racism chase him everywhere he goes. And then violin goes missing...

The Situation: Ray McMillian is young black man who loves playing classical music on the violin. That sentence alone is not something that is often said or heard, but it is true. Even though all Ray could afford to play on in high school was a cheap school rental, he made it work. And while his mother was less than encouraging - always insisting that Ray get a real job to help with bills, and even harassing him to get his GED early so he can work more, sooner - his grandmother, Nora, has been the support he always wanted and needed. During one visit in particular, his grandmother surprises Ray with the gift of her grandfather's old violin. Ray knows this is a big deal, but he did not conceive everything that would come next.

The Problem: Years later, with the Tchaikovsky Competition fast approaching, the violin that was Ray's grandfather's goes missing, which turned out to be a valuable Stradivarius. Ray is gutted, and the suspects are many. The two most obvious are the Marks family, who are suing Ray for the violin, claiming that it belongs to their family; and Ray's own Aunts and Uncles, who wanted to sell it and split the money between them once they found out how valuable it was. Without his grandfather's violin, Ray feels lost, convinced that he has no chance at the Tchaikovsky Competition without it. While his coach and his girlfriend do their best to convince him otherwise, Ray does choose to move forward, but the search for the violin remains his priority.

Genre, Themes, History: This is a thriller/suspense/mystery novel set in the present-day. Ray grew up in North Carolina, but once he goes off to college and graduates, he begins to travel all over the country, playing in various venues and with a few symphonies. As a young black man in the south, Ray experiences the expected amount of racism. But as a young black man attempting to make it as a classical violinist, the attempts to have him excluded from an industry that has never had many black participants look different, but also the same, complete with looks of derision and claims that his 'kind' has never been good at this 'type' of music. The story begins with the theft, and then goes back through history to show how Ray even got to this point, with a valuable Stradivarius in his possession

My Verdict: I probably say this about more books than I mean to, but I am going to say it again here anyway: This book is stressful. Sure, it's a mystery novel about a valuable violin being stolen from a black classical musician who experiences racism, seemingly at every turn, but my goodness. For whatever reason, I had it in my head that the search for the violin would dominate the story, but then the book resets to Ray's high school experience and proceeds to slowly go through his history from that point. While it is interesting, and many of Ray's experiences are directly from Slocumb's life, the actual theft and investigation take a back seat, and the ending feels rushed. Mystery lovers may feel cheated, but even so, what is there is worth reading.

Favorite Moment: *spoiler alert* After a difficult conversation with his mother, Ray decides to attend college, and everything inside of me cheered. 

Favorite Character: Janice is a woman who saw Ray's talent before he began playing with the Stradivarius, and believed in him enough to offer him a full scholarship for college. She is there for Ray every step of the way and is key in his progression. 

Recommended Reading: Two very different books come to mind: Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour, and Hollywood Park by Mikel Jollett. 

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