Curtis Wilson is a cello prodigy, growing up in the Southeast D.C. projects with a drug dealer for a father. But through determination and talent, and the loving support of his father’s girlfriend, Larissa, Curtis claws his way out of his challenging circumstances and rises to unimagined heights in the classical music world—even soloing with the New York Philharmonic. And then, suddenly, his life disintegrates. His father, Zippy, turns state’s evidence, implicating his old bosses. Now the family—Curtis included—must enter the witness protection program if they want to survive.
As The Dark Maestro recounts the activities of the crime syndicate, some of the passages are difficult to read. But they are not gratuitous. Slocumb is building the scaffolding for the real story, about a father who seems to have every strike against him, yet wants to learn to be a good person ... While some readers might find the conclusion a bit dubious, haven’t artists always blurred the line between real life and imagination?
The twists of the story keep coming, and the thread of superhero comics and the Dark Maestro brings readers along on a journey that comic book fans will appreciate.
