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The Holocaust Opera
A Nazi war criminal has returned from the dead, angry and hell bent on genocide. A young composer and his girlfriend are drawn to his dark purpose until they discover the truth. There is something complex and evil hiding inside the music, waiting to strike. Time is running out as Roxanne and Jeremiah fight to save their souls, and perhaps the very soul of mankind, from the clutches of extinction.
The Holocaust Opera is a fast-paced thriller that will leave you breathless with wonder and possibilities.
With an introduction by Bram Stoker Award Winning Editor Vince A. Liaguno.
This book contains special bonus material.
The Holocaust Opera is a fast-paced thriller that will leave you breathless with wonder and possibilities.
With an introduction by Bram Stoker Award Winning Editor Vince A. Liaguno.
This book contains special bonus material.
167 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 28, 2011
3 people are currently reading
62 people want to read
About the author
Mark Edward Hall
53 books151 followersMark Edward Hall is the author of the bestselling fantasy and science fiction Blue Light Series. He’s written more than twenty novels and numerous short stories.
Apocalypse Island — In Book 1 of The Blue Light Series we meet Danny Wolf, Laura Higgins and Police Lieutenant Rick Jennings.
Their city has turned into a killing ground. Is it a serial killer, someone with a penchant for the macabre and a need to destroy? Or is it a darker force, an ancient legend from a mysterious Island come ashore to wreak havoc upon the unsuspecting?
In a desperate search for answers they discover a government conspiracy involving the Catholic Church, and a cold war CIA mind control program known as MK-Ultra where children were used as test subjects.
Danny Wolf, a local musician becomes the number one suspect in the murders, but no one, not even Wolf, is prepared for what they discover on Apocalypse Island, a mind blowing secret that was supposed to stay hidden forever.
Soul Thief — In Book 2 of the Blue Light Series we meet Doug and Annie McArthur. Doug McArthur, hit in the face by a young friend at the age of seven, is suddenly able to see a supernatural creature who calls itself Collector. Doug’s life is turned upside down when he realizes that it’s not just the creature he sees, but the atrocities it commits.
Since marrying Annie his visions have been quiet and Doug is grateful. Now Annie is pregnant with their first child—a child that promises to be special—and their world is in the process of coming apart, beginning with the destruction of their home and forcing them to run for their lives, back into the world of Annie’s childhood, the De Roché dynasty, to a murdered mother and a cruel and enigmatic father.
Song of Ariel — Book 3 of the Blue Light Series begins four years after Doug and Annie McArthur are forced to take refuge in the Maine Wilderness. Ariel has grown into a beautiful and gifted child wise beyond her years. Their life, although hard, has been peaceful and relatively quiet.
But the tide is about to turn. When they sense something isn't right in the world Doug leaves the shelter of their wilderness cabin to investigate. In a heartbeat their quiet life is shattered by an unspeakable violence, and once again they are forced to run for their lives, this time to a place where they will encounter a truth more fantastic than anything they could ever have imagined.
Join my mailing List Readers who join get advance copies of my ebooks before they're published: Also you will be notified of new releases, freebies, exclusive extras, and special promotions.
Visit my Website
Like me on Facebook. I love to chat with readers.
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Apocalypse Island — In Book 1 of The Blue Light Series we meet Danny Wolf, Laura Higgins and Police Lieutenant Rick Jennings.
Their city has turned into a killing ground. Is it a serial killer, someone with a penchant for the macabre and a need to destroy? Or is it a darker force, an ancient legend from a mysterious Island come ashore to wreak havoc upon the unsuspecting?
In a desperate search for answers they discover a government conspiracy involving the Catholic Church, and a cold war CIA mind control program known as MK-Ultra where children were used as test subjects.
Danny Wolf, a local musician becomes the number one suspect in the murders, but no one, not even Wolf, is prepared for what they discover on Apocalypse Island, a mind blowing secret that was supposed to stay hidden forever.
Soul Thief — In Book 2 of the Blue Light Series we meet Doug and Annie McArthur. Doug McArthur, hit in the face by a young friend at the age of seven, is suddenly able to see a supernatural creature who calls itself Collector. Doug’s life is turned upside down when he realizes that it’s not just the creature he sees, but the atrocities it commits.
Since marrying Annie his visions have been quiet and Doug is grateful. Now Annie is pregnant with their first child—a child that promises to be special—and their world is in the process of coming apart, beginning with the destruction of their home and forcing them to run for their lives, back into the world of Annie’s childhood, the De Roché dynasty, to a murdered mother and a cruel and enigmatic father.
Song of Ariel — Book 3 of the Blue Light Series begins four years after Doug and Annie McArthur are forced to take refuge in the Maine Wilderness. Ariel has grown into a beautiful and gifted child wise beyond her years. Their life, although hard, has been peaceful and relatively quiet.
But the tide is about to turn. When they sense something isn't right in the world Doug leaves the shelter of their wilderness cabin to investigate. In a heartbeat their quiet life is shattered by an unspeakable violence, and once again they are forced to run for their lives, this time to a place where they will encounter a truth more fantastic than anything they could ever have imagined.
Join my mailing List Readers who join get advance copies of my ebooks before they're published: Also you will be notified of new releases, freebies, exclusive extras, and special promotions.
Visit my Website
Like me on Facebook. I love to chat with readers.
Follow me on Twitter.
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 19, 2019
Absolutely creepy and sinister horror story. Jeremiah Gideon wants to write an opera on the Holocaust in the concentration camps. His motto is 'remembering is healing'. But there is something hidden in his music, something uncanny. Where does this element come from? What really happened to his parents Aaron and Eva Gideon in Ausschwitz? A brilliant plot leads you from the present into the past and shows the mysterious relations between the characters. Then there is the pet shop owner Walter Schroeder. What's his real name and what are his plans? Here you really learn about the 'Angel of Death' in quite an impressive form. And what about Roxanna Templeton, the girlfriend of Jeremiah. How does she fit into the setting? Dr Mengele set up a devious and diabolical plan how he can finish 'his' opera... this book keeps you hanging on the edge of your seat until the great showdown.
Well written, fast paced, compelling, thoroughly researched. This is a very interesting and shocking horror novel based on sad, even more shocking historic reality. Highly recommended!
Well written, fast paced, compelling, thoroughly researched. This is a very interesting and shocking horror novel based on sad, even more shocking historic reality. Highly recommended!
January 23, 2013
Easily the worst formatted Kindle book I've persevered and finished to date (every paragraph is a new freaking page!), yet the story kept me hooked. Whatever the publisher was thinking by putting a decent-sized novella entirely in italicized text (that cannot be changed in Kindle settings?!?! How do we change it?!?!!!) I should use a few more exclamation marks to symbolize! just! how! annoyed! I was, but the story, oh the story, let's get to that.
Wait, maybe I should put the rest of this review all in italics--not!
I kept thinking of the movie Trick or Treat where the high school teen plays Sammi Curr records backwards and summons a possessed rocker that goes on a killing spree. Yes, a demon in the music story.
In The Holocaust Opera we are treated to a first person female narrator who, is--warning--not a trustworthy narrator, stumbling upon Jeremiah playing anguish and despair through his piano. Roxanne (think the famous Police song) falls in love with Jeremiah and his bizarre world of music and memory. He is trying to bring out the pain of the holocaust so that people will never forget the horrors of the holocaust. Uh oh, you can see where this is leading and yes, it does.
It's a novella that probably should have been expanded into a novel because some of the scenes are cut up and told to the reader instead of shown through action. There are also a number of compelling flashback scenes that cut in and out somewhat sharply. Would have been nice to have that expanded.
I'm nitpicking a bit on a story that really is well done. It's one of the better music horror stories I've ever read. I find it difficult to give this a rating above three stars due to the utterly abysmal Kindle formatting. Not fair, I know, for a story that I truly enjoyed, but a reading experience that was beyond tortured. 3.5 stars and highly, highly recommended if you can find a non-italicized print version.
Wait, maybe I should put the rest of this review all in italics--not!
I kept thinking of the movie Trick or Treat where the high school teen plays Sammi Curr records backwards and summons a possessed rocker that goes on a killing spree. Yes, a demon in the music story.
In The Holocaust Opera we are treated to a first person female narrator who, is--warning--not a trustworthy narrator, stumbling upon Jeremiah playing anguish and despair through his piano. Roxanne (think the famous Police song) falls in love with Jeremiah and his bizarre world of music and memory. He is trying to bring out the pain of the holocaust so that people will never forget the horrors of the holocaust. Uh oh, you can see where this is leading and yes, it does.
It's a novella that probably should have been expanded into a novel because some of the scenes are cut up and told to the reader instead of shown through action. There are also a number of compelling flashback scenes that cut in and out somewhat sharply. Would have been nice to have that expanded.
I'm nitpicking a bit on a story that really is well done. It's one of the better music horror stories I've ever read. I find it difficult to give this a rating above three stars due to the utterly abysmal Kindle formatting. Not fair, I know, for a story that I truly enjoyed, but a reading experience that was beyond tortured. 3.5 stars and highly, highly recommended if you can find a non-italicized print version.
January 26, 2015
5.0 out of 5 stars
'The Holocaust Opera', a frightening feast for the imagination, September 14, 2011
Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Holocaust Opera (Kindle Edition)
Mark Edward Hall's 'The Holocaust Opera' is a novella that will imprint images upon your mind, so familiar (unless you've been living under a rock) and so terrible it will leave you reeling. Effortless narration propels the reader towards a metaphysical welding of historical horror and supernatural terror. The characters brim with life and seem to leap off the page as Hall shifts character POV to impart the individual horror of the main protagonists, Roxanne Templeton and Jeremiah Gideon. As the title implies, 'The Holocaust Opera' is primarily a story centered on the horror of the Holocaust and the profound ability of music to impart emotion and ultimately, human response. The way Hall writes about music and his obvious talent in composing a great tale, much in the same way as a great song is composed, makes this a true symphony of horror fiction.
I have read quite a few stories dealing with the holocaust and the death camps and Mr. Hall's is one of the best fictional renditions of the horrors of that terrible era. I couldn't help thinking of Viktor E. Frankl's memoir, `Man's Search for Meaning,' as I read Hall's descriptions of the terrible conditions and the fear imparted by the Nazi death camp regime. Evidence of the philosophical and moral depths Mr. Hall has traversed and his ability to take the reader to very real and frightening places. There are many levels to this novella and like Frankl's classic work, as I read I found myself questioning my own limited knowledge and understanding of what happened during the holocaust. Maybe I am reading too much into this profound story, but I don't think so. There's some deep scary stuff going on here!
This grim novella will have the reader on the edge of their seat `til the climatic finish. Surprises abound and the story rumbles along at a mighty pace - I finished this in one sitting and was left wanting more. Just as I thought `The Holocaust Opera' was a brilliantly constructed piece of suspenseful historical fiction, Hall subtly introduces various metaphysical and supernatural conceits that spin this profound story off into the world of Horror, both real and imagined.
See J. Chambers Amazon Review for a succinct and insightful breakdown of the novella and the brilliant introduction by Vince A Liaguno ().
'The Holocaust Opera', a frightening feast for the imagination, September 14, 2011
Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Holocaust Opera (Kindle Edition)
Mark Edward Hall's 'The Holocaust Opera' is a novella that will imprint images upon your mind, so familiar (unless you've been living under a rock) and so terrible it will leave you reeling. Effortless narration propels the reader towards a metaphysical welding of historical horror and supernatural terror. The characters brim with life and seem to leap off the page as Hall shifts character POV to impart the individual horror of the main protagonists, Roxanne Templeton and Jeremiah Gideon. As the title implies, 'The Holocaust Opera' is primarily a story centered on the horror of the Holocaust and the profound ability of music to impart emotion and ultimately, human response. The way Hall writes about music and his obvious talent in composing a great tale, much in the same way as a great song is composed, makes this a true symphony of horror fiction.
I have read quite a few stories dealing with the holocaust and the death camps and Mr. Hall's is one of the best fictional renditions of the horrors of that terrible era. I couldn't help thinking of Viktor E. Frankl's memoir, `Man's Search for Meaning,' as I read Hall's descriptions of the terrible conditions and the fear imparted by the Nazi death camp regime. Evidence of the philosophical and moral depths Mr. Hall has traversed and his ability to take the reader to very real and frightening places. There are many levels to this novella and like Frankl's classic work, as I read I found myself questioning my own limited knowledge and understanding of what happened during the holocaust. Maybe I am reading too much into this profound story, but I don't think so. There's some deep scary stuff going on here!
This grim novella will have the reader on the edge of their seat `til the climatic finish. Surprises abound and the story rumbles along at a mighty pace - I finished this in one sitting and was left wanting more. Just as I thought `The Holocaust Opera' was a brilliantly constructed piece of suspenseful historical fiction, Hall subtly introduces various metaphysical and supernatural conceits that spin this profound story off into the world of Horror, both real and imagined.
See J. Chambers Amazon Review for a succinct and insightful breakdown of the novella and the brilliant introduction by Vince A Liaguno ().
December 31, 2011
** For the full review please check out www.read2review.com **
This was the first story by Mark Edward Hall that I have read. I am really looking forward to his others that I have; ‘The Haunting Of Sam Cabot’ and ‘The Lost Village’.
The Holocaust Opera is a short story centralising around Jeremiah and Roxanne. Roxanne stumbles across Jeremiah’s music while flat hunting and it pulls her in to a world haunted by The Angel Of Death and memories from years ago during The Holocaust.
The horror in this story sends shivers down your spine and the way people die is horrible. When the twists and turns happen it just pulls you in even more. Just like the music the book had a hold on me and I couldn’t put it down.
Mark Edward Hall has a brilliant story here and one I will be recommending to others, I actually think my Mom would like this story – in my family she is the one who reads the most horror books, she even tells me if a book isn’t up my street or not.
I give The Holocaust Opera 4.5/5
**More To Read : http://read2review.com/our-reviews/m/...
This was the first story by Mark Edward Hall that I have read. I am really looking forward to his others that I have; ‘The Haunting Of Sam Cabot’ and ‘The Lost Village’.
The Holocaust Opera is a short story centralising around Jeremiah and Roxanne. Roxanne stumbles across Jeremiah’s music while flat hunting and it pulls her in to a world haunted by The Angel Of Death and memories from years ago during The Holocaust.
The horror in this story sends shivers down your spine and the way people die is horrible. When the twists and turns happen it just pulls you in even more. Just like the music the book had a hold on me and I couldn’t put it down.
Mark Edward Hall has a brilliant story here and one I will be recommending to others, I actually think my Mom would like this story – in my family she is the one who reads the most horror books, she even tells me if a book isn’t up my street or not.
I give The Holocaust Opera 4.5/5
**More To Read : http://read2review.com/our-reviews/m/...
January 16, 2012
Roxanne Templeton is mesmerized by the music she hears outside of a New York city apartment building. Longing to meet the musician, she knocks and comes to know Jeremiah, a piano student at Julliard. He has an unexplained drive to play this music that he doesn't understand where it is coming from. As the plot unfolds, the reader finds out that Jeremiah is being made to play this music by the Nazi murderer Josef Mengele. It is an interesting horror/thriller short story that had me on the edge of my seat! 4 stars!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews