Black Heart Boys' Choir

By: Curtis M. Lawson

Narrated by: J. Keith Jackson

Great art demands sacrifice.

Lucien Beaumont is a teenage misfit and musical prodigy ostracized by his peers and haunted by familial tragedy. When he discovers an unfinished song composed by his dead father - a song that holds terrible power - Lucien becomes obsessed. As he chases after the secret nature of his father's music, the line between gruesome fantasy and real life violence begins to blur.

To complete his father's work, Lucien believes that he and his group of outcast friends must appease a demonic force trapped within the music with increasingly sadistic offerings. As things spiral out of control, he finds that the cost of his art will be the lives of everyone around him and, perhaps, his very soul.

©2019 Curtis M. Lawson (P)2019 Curtis M. Lawson

Super Dark and Well Written

Super dark, but well told story of a decent into madness and evil. Well drawn characters, a plot that doesn’t let up and a pace that builds well to the crescendo.

Darkly artistic

This is a pitch-black story that won’t be to everyone’s taste, but it’s very well written and rich with menacing character. A bitter teenager aims to end the world by performing a supernatural “cursed” song. The story is told with musical prose and an ambiguous plot structure that raises questions about the reliability of our psychopathic anti-hero’s first person perspective. Despite its pervasive bleakness, the book kept my interest until the inevitable Grand Guignol conclusion foreshadowed in the prologue. ‘Black Heart Boys’ Choir’ is bold enough to take risks as only indie press can in today’s overly cautious publishing climate, so give it a shot if you like your horror fiction grim and unflinching.

You can almost hear the music...

Black Heart Boys’ Choir is expertly written and the narration is superb. For a story that revolves heavily around classical music, Lawson was somehow able to make it all understandable and enjoyable for the musical layperson. Overwhelming creepiness and nihilism drips from every chapter. My only possible criticism would be that I began to really dislike the main character as the story went on. But I believe this to be intentional, given the direction the plot was going. Overall, it’s a great read or listen. Highly recommended for fans of Thomas Ligotti and Bret Easton Ellis.

Creepy and Cautionary

Frighteningly apropos in today's world - addressing issues from the bad kid's perspective. Great narration.

A crazy intense horror Story.... and I loved it!

So, what happened was... I was listening to the horror stories that I put on to go to sleep most nights. I'm pretty sure it was Youtube's Chilling Tales For Dark Nights channel. And they mentioned that the story I was listening to was written by a guy named Curtis Lawson and that he has written many other great books. So, I decided to look him up on audible. And wouldn't you know, I already had TWO of his books in my library and I just hadn't gotten a chance to listen to them yet. What are the odds of that? So I picked one and got right to listening! And it was great, gory, and held my attention throughout the entire book. The ending felt a little sudden, but that happens a lot in horror so it's probably just me. The narrator did a great job as well. He fit this part perfectly. Overall, I am a fan. And I hope to hear more from him on youtube and can't wait to start the next book that has been sitting in my library forever.