Schrader's Chord

A Novel

By: Scott Leeds

Narrated by: George Newbern

Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

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

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.

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!

This Book will pull your strings

A thoroughly entertaining trip between the ears. The author's attention to details paint a canvas full of imagery and sound.

different

a bit long and some parts could of been shortened. narrator is awesome. good new artist and looking forward to his next book

Excellent Spooky Tale

Really enjoyed this book from start to finish. Finished in a day. Great character development, wonderful narration. Perfect book for October. Can’t wait for this author to write MORE.

Thoroughly Enjoyable

A fresh take on cursed objects, haunted music and death. I wasn’t expecting to be hooked so fast, I have a short attention span and if it isn’t interesting from the get go I’m out. Interesting, fleshed out characters I cared about. I’m excited to see what the author comes up with in the future. I will be listening!

extremely detailed

I felt like i could see it all happening. I loved it! definitely will read more from this author.

Cool story but no one to really get behind in this one.

I hate to knock anyone’s writing because this guy is a 100x the writer I am. I loved the idea behind this book and was ready to get hooked. Unfortunately I could never get behind the main characters. The only one I could pull for meets an early demise. The initial scene where the story gets serious does not have the aura of believability you want. You are thinking- after what you just saw you are going to do this with people you supposedly care about??
And the protagonist, despite multiple efforts by the author to develop positive traits, kind of comes off as selfish and whiny. By the end, I was just ready for it to be over. Interesting and fitting ending though. The narration exacerbated the whining nature of the main character for me but certainly wasn’t bad.

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.