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 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?
I realized really early on in Scott Leeds’s SCHRADER’S CHORD that I had a choice to make: I could drop my other current reads and focus all my attention on it, so it could land on my Favorite Reads of 2025 list. Or I could deliberately slow my pace a bit & it could be the first book on my Favorite Reads of 2026 list. I opted for the second choice, and I’m glad I did. I really can’t begin to express how much I loved this book, and how its Christmas vibe was exactly what I needed these last couple weeks.
I try my best to “keep up” with all the Nightfire releases, but of course there’s still a bunch I haven’t gotten to. And I think I had some reluctance about SCHRADER’S CHORD, mostly to do with a bit of a misunderstanding on my part in regards to the plot. I’ve had an…iffy relationship with rock n’ roll themed horror, let’s say. And I knew SCHRADER’S CHORD was at least music-adjacent (as evidenced by its badass cover), so I was sort’ve internally preparing myself for some cringe scenes of the main characters playing music, but it just didn’t work out that way. If anything, when all is said & done, this book pays tribute to a love for music as well as (if not better than) any book I’ve ever read.
Somehow, SCHRADER’S CHORD manages to feel both like a warm hug and a terrifying descent into interdimensional madness, which I assume is no easy feat on the part of the author. Factor in the book’s Christmastime vibes & this one took on such a comforting vibe for me, and is certainly an early favorite of the year already.
Charlie Remick is an A&R guy of some renown working in New York City, discovering bands and helping them realize their rock n’ roll dreams. Charlie receives word that his father has mysteriously passed away. Though Charlie & his father had had a falling out and hadn’t spoken in years, the news hits Charlie hard. He travels back home to Seattle to be with his two sisters, and settle their father’s affairs.
Charlie’s father, Raymond, was the owner of The Cuckoo’s Nest, a long-standing record store. Turns out he has left the store to Charlie, much to Charlie’s chagrin.
He’s also left behind a case containing four very old vinyl records. Records containing music performed by a composer driven mad with grief. Records that can open a door between the realm of the living and the realm of the dead when played simultaneously.
Allegedly.
Charlie grew up hearing this story from his father. Like an urban legend/horrifying bedtime story. But as Charlie struggles to make sense of the last few months of his father’s life, it seems more & more likely that those tales were true.
I say it so frequently in my reviews, but horror is a genre that just lives or dies based on whether or not you, as the reader, care about the characters. All the spooky imagery & existential dread in the world won’t make up for uninteresting characters, or worse, characters you simply don’t care about.
But Scott Leeds has put so much into the characters in SCHRADER’S CHORD, so much love and backstory and nuance…I just loved these people. I was so invested in Charlie’s story, in the dynamics between him and his two sisters, Susan and Ellie (Charlie’s twin).
I was especially drawn to Ana Cortez, one of the two employees at The Cuckoo’s Nest. We learn so much about her growing interest in music when she was young, an interest that becomes an obsession. Ana’s experience as a young person picking the brains of older record store clerks (Ana was a Cuckoo’s Nest customer before becoming an employee) was so similar to my own experiences as a teenager getting into hardcore & punk music. I’m honestly not sure I’ve ever seen that experience reflected so close to my own in a work of fiction, and it was such a treat.
There is some deeply creepy shit that happens in SCHRADER’S CHORD, and there are more than a few moments that put me in a PET SEMATARY frame of mind. But take away all the chills & dread, and you’re left with this achingly beautiful story about a grieving family. There’s so much here about everything that’s left unsaid when someone dies. About the complicated mess that someone can leave behind. About legacy, and resentment, acceptance, and love.
I can’t really explain what finally pulled me towards SCHRADER’S CHORD, but it was the perfect book for the moment. A melancholy, gorgeously written Christmas-adjacent horror novel that meant the whole entire world to me while I was reading it. This book is a fucking treasure, and I can’t wait to see what’s next from Scott Leeds.
Grimdark Dad 