'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 the keys to the family record store and a strange black case containing four antique 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?'
Charlie Remick is living a quiet life, wells, as quiet as a life in the music industry gets at least. Dubbed 'the man with the magic ear' Charlie has been finding hit new musicians for the record company he's working for, and has signed success after success. He's a hot shot in the industry, and he's enjoying living and working in New York; even if he is living paycheck to paycheck. Things change for him, however, when he gets a message from his older sister, Susan, telling him that his father has died. Faced with the prospect of returning home after years away, Charlie is reluctant to go, but knows that he has to face the ghosts of his past.
Arriving in Seattle, he's reunited with Susan, and his twin sister Ellie. The three of them are left to deal with their father's estate after his grim death, a death by suicide. As they're trying to deal with everything that this tragedy brings, the employees at their fathers record store, Ana and Dale, worry about what Raymond's death might mean for them, and if they're out of a job. As the people in Raymond's life come together because of his death, strange things begin to happen. A crazed man dies in a horrific accident at the wake, and Charlie is left a case containing four mysterious records and the cryptic message 'I told you they were real'.
Charlie reveals that the records are part of a ghost story that their father would tell them growing up. Forged by the composer Ivan Schrader, the four records, when played together, would open a doorway to the world of the dead. Not quite believing in the myth, but curious to see what might happen, Charlie, Ellie, Ana, and Dale decide to play the records. What follows is a frightening experience, on that will see the four of them having to fight for their very survival as supernatural forces set their sights on them.
Schrader's Chord is a slow burn horror novel that puts character and story first before scares, one that ends up sucking you in and makes you forget that you're supposed to be reading a horror story. The first third of the book almost forgoes all horror, and instead focuses on the Remick family and the staff at Raymond's record store. It becomes a very real, very well crafted story about relationships, human nature, and the way that people intersect in ways that they don't expect. The main focus is on Charlie and Ana, who get the most time in the book split between the two of them, and explore the death of Raymond in different ways.
Despite being his son, Charlie isn't hugely affected by his fathers passing, due in large parts to how their relationship deteriorated over the last few years. He almost resents having to travel across the country to deal with his fathers death, and his initial reaction to inheriting the record store is one of dismissal, wanting to sell it immediately so as to be done with it, little thinking about what that might mean for those who work their and rely on the place. Ana, however, is the opposite to this. She's not related to Raymond, but has come to see him as a father figure and his presence had ended up changing her life for the better. She's mourning his passing, feeling like the world has lost a kind and caring individual. It's great to see these two almost opposing perspectives, in examining the different ways in which the same person can change peoples lives in completely different ways.
However, this isn't just a book about family relationships and mourning; though it would be fine if it were. This is a horror book, and as such things need to get scary. When Charlie and the others end up playing the cursed records things very much get scary, and from here on out the book becomes this delightfully creepy race against time to survive the horrors that the group unleash. Thanks to the records, the four of them are able to see the dead, to interact with the spirit world that exists around us, unseen by the living. This leads to some delightfully frightening and messed up moments when the group realises that they're in the presence of a ghost, and the dead people start doing some frankly fucked up stuff.
Even when the frights start the book still puts the human characters first. The focus is always on the people, how these events affect them, and how it brings them closer together; Charlie and Ana in particular. The ability to see the dead also leads to some interesting moments as Raymond, who lost his life at the family home, gets to make a reappearance, and he and Charlie are finally able to air their dirty laundry, and deal with the issues that kept them apart in life. It makes for an interesting thing to see a character dealing with the loss of an estranged parent, to have to recon with the issues they had never being resolved, for them to then have the chance to speak to that person again and get to put those demons to bed. As with everything in this book, it's the characters that come first.
Schrader's Chord is Scott Leeds debut novel, and it's astonishing how well crafted it is. A lot of the time with debut authors you tend to see the cracks as it were, the areas where they're not quite as strong, and the places where you know they're going to get better as their career continues. With this book, however, it feels like it's been written by someone who's been crafting books for decades. The character work is fantastic, the world feels full and lived in, the horror is chilling, and the creativity is wonderful. If this is the first book that Leeds has released I can't wait to see what they come up with in the future.
Whether you're into your music or not (if you are you're going to get a lot more out of the book!) there's something phenomenal to discover with Schrader's Chord. This is the kind of book that only comes along every once in a while, a debut that feels like a tour de force, that you hate having to put down because it's so engrossing, one that you can easily see being adapted into a horror film that would take the world by storm. Horror fans looking for something new and interesting need look no further than this.
No comments:
Post a Comment