Schrader's Chord

A Novel

De: Scott Leeds

Narrado por: George Newbern

Heart-Shaped Box meets The Haunting of Hill House in Schrader's Chord, Scott Leeds's chilling debut about cursed vinyl records that open a gateway to the land of the dead.

I told you they were real.

After his estranged father’s mysterious death, Charlie Remick returns to Seattle to help with the funeral. There, he discovers his father left him two parting gifts: the keys to the family record store and a strange black case containing four ancient records that, according to legend, can open a gate to the land of the dead.

When Charlie, his sister, and their two friends play the records, they unwittingly open a floodgate of unspeakable horror. As the darkness descends, they are stalked by a relentless, malevolent force and see the dead everywhere they turn.

With time running out, the only person who can help them is Charlie’s resurrected father, who knows firsthand the awesome power the records have unleashed. But can they close the gate and silence Schrader’s Chord before it’s too late?

©2023 Scott Leeds (P)2023 Random House Audio

Quirky, humorous, engaging (albeit not-quite-horror) read

This is billed as horror, but it’s more of a quirky, wittily humorous and slightly gruesome family saga and road trip romp woven through with interesting musical stuff (and a lot of heart). Really enjoyed it and have been recommending to friends. Great choice on the reader. Looking forward to seeing more from this author!

Not a Horror Novel

It has some gristly images and some clever set pieces, but the author loses interest in the horror pretty early in favor of cozy scenes. As becomes obvious pretty early, the center of the story is romantic rather than frightful and, as a sort of dark fantasy, it’s a good first novel, but as horror?

Other issues — characters from multiple generations share exactly the same cultural touch points, which is weird. Anna swings between a semi-realized character and the sort of woman the author appears to want to date. There’s some ham-handed attempts at inclusion that go nowhere (but the author tried), and a lot of writing that feels like the author is hoping for a movie deal but comes off as a bigger-budget episode of Supernatural.

All in all, not terrible, maybe promising, but it really needed to decide if it was going to be horror or fantasy and didn’t really hit either. I feel bad about being so negative, but it was a bit of a slog to finish. I won’t rule out later efforts.

The reader was fine. I didn’t love his voice, but he delivered a solid reading with slight tone shifts for voices (although his “Yorkshire” accent was… well) and didn’t over- or under-dramatize.

TL;DR: it was fine.

Interesting

I love a good original horror story. Charlie works in the music industry and gets a call that his father has killed himself. When he goes home for the funeral, he discovers that he`s been given the last thing he wants from his estranged father, his music store and some "cursed" records that must be some kind of joke. This is where things get interesting. This is a story about family and love and what we do to for those we love. The writing is great and the story is interesting. I loved the characters.

engaging story

Schrader's Chord uses its central, musical theme well to propel the story. The characters are enjoyable and gain our caring, though some drop out too soon.

Altogether, a sleek, smoothly written and involving ghost story.

Freshly told and spirited!

I enjoyed this book very much. For an author’s first work, it’s kind of amazing. I suppose the storyline isn’t revolutionary but it’s told with a lot of warmth and nuance that made the characters believable and likable and real. It delves lightly into issues of parental forgiveness and rising above family disfunctionality while spinning a tail that is engaging and interesting. The musical theme is solid throughout but not overplayed. There seems to be no real rules by which the plot comes to a climax but it’s written in a way that allows you to roll through it. I look forward to future offerings by this author.

imaginative and spooky

Overall a really good story. The plot moved along well and the story made sense. definitely a good horror factor and the imagery used by the author was great. The performance was a little dry but the story kept me interested.

Different and good

Great storyline and plot! Ending seemed a tad difficult to comprehend what was going on, but I’d definitely recommend it.

Can't wait for more from this author!

There are so many things that I love about this book. I read and Audibled as I couldn't wait to see what happened next. It had moments of horror that were terrifying alongside really great character development. I read AND Audibled and George Newbern's narration was perfection. I'm very excited to read future books by this author.

Uniquely entertaining!

This has been on my audible “you may also enjoy” for some time now, that algorithm is rarely wrong so I went for it! Great narration really ties together a fun and thrilling story! I consume so much horror it feels like themes are always the same, so this story was refreshing and engaging start to finish! Highly recommend, especially if you are craving something different!

The best story I've heard in a while.

I don't usually write reviews but I'm making an exception for this. I've been on a listening kick the past few months and have listened to dozens of books in the horror/suspense genre. This one by far has been my favorite. The characters and story really came to life in my mind's eye. The author did a superb job and I really hope he writes more.