*3.75 stars*

Schrader's Chord started out immediately giving me the creeps. The writing pulled me in and made me feel uneasy. The first half of the book before they played the records was suspenseful and well-written. You could feel this sense of dread as the reader. You knew something bad was coming. Then for a time after they played the records, it lost that feeling and it bored me a little at times. And then the last part leading up to the cemetery scene suddenly started having the same feeling again. I'd say it started when the characters started their drive to Montana. You had the same dread feeling waiting for the final climax, and in the end, I'd say the twist was pretty good. I didn't see it coming, and I thought it was interesting and unique. The book definitely was different than anything I had ever read.

The only thing I hated was the random romance between Charlie and Ana. I didn't feel like it was necessary, and it felt forced. I loved the relationship between Ellie and Charlie, and the plot line of Charlie finally reconciling with his father.

I am a newer reader of horror, and I would recommend it to other people who are getting into horror. ( )

I got to review this one early and was super excited for a spooky horror with ghosts! I have already been trying to get ready for spooky season after all. I enjoyed this one for the most part, but I felt like it was unneccesarily long at points. It starts off with the perfect amount of creepy vibes to set the tone. We keep getting pieces of information that don't really tell us much yet. But the ghosts start out quick! We are then introduced to Charlie who works to discover bands and is called the Man with the Magic Ear, who has just learned that his father is dead. Naturally it couldn't be a good story if we didn't have unresolved issues between Charlie and his father.
I think the author threw a lot of characters at us in this book and sometimes they were just extra pieces. Yet it was hard to know at the time who was a vital character. Eventually the story centers on the four main characters listening to the records and unleashing something they don't understand. With the help of Raymond, Charlie's dead father, they attempt to find a way to save themselves. However, this requires Charlie and Raymond to work through the resentments that have stood between them for years now. Towards the end of the book the ghost dynamic and the haunting really pick up.
I enjoyed the spooky elements of this book and one of my absolute favorite things was that the author had a reason for the main ghost to be doing all the things that he was doing! It was interesting to see the way the author chose to create the situation for silencing Schrader's Chord, which also builds into the ghosts motivations for things. Overall, it was a great story with lots of spooky vibes. ( )