The Macabre: A Novel

by Kosoko Jackson

From award-winning and USA Today bestselling author Kosoko Jackson comes his adult fantasy debut, a stand-alone novel blending of art history, time- and globe-hopping adventure, and dark horror and fantasy about ten cursed paintings and the lengths people will go to collect them, destroy them…or be destroyed.

?A picture is worth a thousand nightmares.

A struggling painter, Lewis Dixon is shocked when the British Museum shows an unusual interest in his art. While he’s always felt there’s something powerful about what he puts on canvas, he also felt there was something disturbing just under the surface—especially as he was compelled to make a painting of a painting—one that he has a connection the object of his art is one of the ten paintings his great-grandfather created over a hundred years ago. Only Lewis’s version is surreal…and maybe just a touch horrific.

Still, he accepts the invitation, only to find not a curated show, but a to see if he not only has the magic necessary to enter the paintings, but also the strength to escape them. Because unbeknownst to Lewis, there is power in his art, just as the ten paintings carry with them both immense eldritch abilities and a terrible curse—making them, perhaps, the most valuable works of art in the world.

And Lewis has been asked to destroy them all.

With orders from a mysterious museum official, Evangeline, and partnered with an alluring agent in her employ, Noah Rao, Lewis must plunge into a world of black markets, gothic magic, ancient history, and unspeakable terror to save those unlucky enough to call any of the paintings their own, and to hopefully locate the tenth painting in the series, long missing, the powers of which are suspected to be most devastating of all…

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Fiction, Queer, LGBT, Adult, Gothic

1 pages, Audio CD

First published September 9, 2025

About the author

Born and raised in the DC Metro Area, Kosoko Jackson has worked in non-profit communications for the past four years. His debut, YESTERDAY IS HISTORY, comes out 2021 by SourcebooksFire.

Reviews

[Sidney]

dnf at 25%

the premise sounded soooo good but this is definitely leaning more fantasy not horror the writing seems more YA than adult & I'm just not vibing with the overall execution of the book. I can't connect with anything or any of the characters to care enough to push through. Unfortunately it wasn't for me.

thank you to harper voyager and netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Lance]

E-ARC generously provided by Harper Voyager in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much!

Queer horror is rapidly becoming by wheelhouse so… 👀👀👀

[hailee · Rating 3 out of 5]

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the arc. all opinions are my own.

2.5***

unfortunately, i had very high hopes for this one and it just fell flat.

i can see where the author was trying to go in terms of plot, characterization, writing style, etc. - but it did not seem fully developed to me. there were a lot of instances of “telling” instead of “showing,” which led to me not really caring about a lot of the plot. i wish the characters had been more fleshed out - because i did really like them on a surface level, but would have loved if the connection with the reader went deeper.

i think this was a really really interesting and unique concept - the idea of a set of paintings holding abilities and curses is one that i was very excited to read.

also: i went into this expecting horror and it was definitely more fantasy. maybe that’s on me for expecting one thing, but i was still slightly disappointed.

i did really enjoy the middle! i thought it was fast paced and fun - seeing each of the different paintings & the magic they held was very satisfying. additionally, if the romance between the two characters (not saying names - no spoilers) had been developed more, it would have been amazing!

[Nico · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc -

Really, throughly enjoyed this one. I was a big fan of the authors previous book, and this one definitely wowed me too. They have a great grip on writing the kind of slow churning gothic inspired horror/fantasy that there is not enough of right now, especially in m/m spaces.

The writing itself can be a bit tricky, but I see what they were going for with the prose and I enjoy and appreciate it. The characters are wonderful, especially our main character, and I love the way they all come together as fully formed individuals.

The world building is great, as is the way the magic system is introduced and expanded upon as you go. The entire book is a slow, drip feed of information. It might be a bit too slow for some people, but I don’t mind slowness if it’s intentional and serves a purpose.

Overall, this is a unique book that really ratchets up the tension as you get deeper into it. If you’re in the mood for something dark, moody, slow, and gay then you’re in the right place.

[Rina | Worldsbetweenpages · Rating 3 out of 5]

„So my question is: What do you do when art scares you? - I stare right back at it.“

- prophetic magic
- cursed paintings
- sentient safe house
- time travel

What I liked:
- The magic behind the paintings and how the protagonist is transported back in time to the moment when his ancestor painted his emotions into them was so interesting, and those scenes were my favorites.
- The worldbuilding: agents who are tasked with finding and neutralizing dangerous magical objects. Each country has its own approach, in the US they’re part of the CIA and in the UK they’re a department of the British Museum.

What I didn’t like:
- The protagonist behaves a bit like a know-it-all and is so self-righteous. He is in the magic world for a hot minute and already seems to know everything better. From his ability to go on missions to using magic to save people from life-altering misfortunes, he always knows best and never truly acknowledges the mistakes he makes.
- I couldn’t feel any romantic connection between the two characters, and almost nothing in that direction happens, until suddenly, about 100 pages before the end, the enemies are supposed to know that one would do anything for the other? Where does that knowledge come from? Are they suddenly an item? I’m not even convinced they like each other.

Writing style: 2,5/5
Characters: 3/5
Story & Plot: 2,5/5
Vibes: 3/5

[A.M. (ᴍʏ.sᴘᴏᴏᴋʏ.ᴡᴀʏs) · Rating 5 out of 5]

(𝙎𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙂𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙢𝙚 𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙖 𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙖𝙜: 𝙎𝙊𝙈𝙀 𝙎𝙋𝙊𝙄𝙇𝙀𝙍𝙎 𝘼𝙃𝙀𝘼𝘿!)

There are horror stories that scare you, and then there are horror stories that recognize you, like they looked you in the eye before they were ever written. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐛𝐫𝐞 did exactly that. It’s moody, unsettling, rich with dread, and somehow still gorgeous in its construction. This is decadent horror with teeth.

From the very beginning, this book doesn’t gently invite you in, it reaches from the shadows, grabs you by the collar, and drags you straight into its haunted, glittering world. And honestly? You’ll thank it for the bruises.

Kosoko Jackson crafts a story that walks a razor’s edge between horror and fantasy, and neither genre ever outweighs the other. It’s like being trapped in a dream and a nightmare at the same time: eerie and beautiful, visceral and otherworldly. That balance is what makes the story feel so immersive. Just like Lewis, the main character, the reader is stuck between two realities, caught in a place where legacy and magic, grief and ambition, are all tangled up.

The magic system here is subtle but so smart. It’s embedded in the art, in the legacy, in the names. There’s one scene with a painting, and Lewis is literally fighting for his life, and the second he speaks its true name aloud, the devastation stops. That moment sent chills down my spine. Jackson takes something as ordinary as a title and turns it into a weapon, a shield, a spell, a lifeline. Naming becomes survival. That’s what stuck with me the most: how words, especially names, carry real power in this world.

This book is extremely layered. The horror creeps in slowly, dripping from the walls and canvases, seeping into conversation. It’s not just the supernatural; it’s the horror of legacy, of being consumed by what came before you. It asks: 𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥? 𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘺 … 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘪𝘵?

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐛𝐫𝐞 is more than a ghost story, or a fantasy story with teeth. It’s about inheritance, identity, power, and the dangerous weight of creation. It’s about how art can be a weapon. It’s about claiming your own name in a world determined to redefine you.

Kosoko Jackson didn’t just write a book. He summoned something. And whatever it is, it hasn’t let me go just yet.

(𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙃𝙖𝙧𝙥𝙚𝙧 𝙑𝙤𝙮𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙧, 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙥𝙝𝙮𝙨𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝘼𝙍𝘾!)

[Book Riot Community]

This is one of Book Riot’s Best Books of 2025:

Lewis is a struggling Baltimore artist grieving the loss of his mother, and he's in London for a curated art exhibit at the British Museum—or so he thinks. The exhibit is a ruse; he’s really there for a test to see if the fugue-like state he enters while painting is actually magic that can be used to enter nine paintings scattered across the globe, sinister paintings that are the work of Lewis’s great-grandfather and must be recovered at all costs. So begins this time-hopping, globe-trotting horror fantasy adventure into art history, Gothic magic, and cursed objects. It’s a gorey romp, a history lesson, a queer romance, and a damn good time.

- Vanessa Diaz

[Ashley]

DNF @ 10%

lack of compelling storytelling
+
general unpleasantness
+
kevin r. free is a mediocre at best narrator
_____

DNF

[✸ jax · Rating 2 out of 5]

★ ¾

this book seemed like it was made for me directly—to the point where i was overcome with so much grief that it ended up falling short of my expectations. a gothic novel about cursed paintings? a black, queer mc from a black, queer author? a narrative critical of art, art history, and the stories that are chosen to be told and those that are left to the shadows? the lengths we will go to save those we love, no matter the cost? all of these things were promised to me and made me incredibly eager for this title, but the text itself—for me—fell incredibly short in its execution.

i'm aware this is jackson's adult debut, but this book felt less like an adult novel and more like a ya novel with occasional gruesome, graphic scenes (which i usually love!) interspersed to up the level of "maturity" that the book was expected to be. rather than letting the reader grapple with the larger moral questions of the text as they read (anticolonial narratives, how being a minority does not absolve you from the ability to be an oppressor, etc.), the story chose to spend time that could have been used in creating a more cohesive world to emphasize parable over plot: to force a conclusion that overwhelmed the story that the author was trying to tell rather than running parallel alongside it. i heavily empathize with the author here—so many white and/or cisheterosexual readers act obtuse and end up obstinate towards narratives that contradict their worldview, and being so insistent on the correct interpretation of the text is very likely the author's way to leave no room for argument or the twisting of the novel's takeaways to keep readers comfortable. however, i don't believe how this was executed was the way to pull this off in a manner that was both effective as a lesson and told a story that kept readers immersed. much of the beautiful prose was interrupted by explanations that felt as if i was being spoken down to as a reader, and many of the characters that could have benefited from more on-screen development (especially cassandra and evangeline) felt not-entirely finished and more like vehicles used to push the decided conclusion on the reader rather than real individuals, which often made much of the protagonist's conflict seem flat and lacking in comparison to the lush, gothic-fantasy environment the paintings themselves provided.

thank you to harper voyager and netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review. all opinions are my own.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really hate to do this but I DNF after 3 chapters (12%), which is incredibly disappointing because I was so excited to read this. The description and cover art of this book really intriguing but the writing just wasn’t for me.Much like our character, we are thrown into this world of magic with zero understanding and are expected to just accept it. In addition to that, we have zero knowledge of our MC besides him being an artist, he’s black, and he’s gay. Everything is incredibly surface level. When we’re introduced to Edgar he is constantly referred to as “boy” or “kid,” which made me realize I have no idea how old Lewis actually is, and that further proves the lack of information we are given when interacting with other characters. There are ways to convey information about people without directly saying it.

My biggest reason for giving up on this book was the complete overuse of descriptives—I felt like I was drowning in them. We’re told what he is seeing and experiencing but there is no emotion behind it and it’s like a long winded rant. The amount of times we are told something is “like ____” to be able to describe what he was seeing was incredibly annoying.

[Vini]

dnf @ 20%
idk, i thought this was going to be horror, but it's a lot more fantasy. it also reads more ya than adult. i could feel that if i finished it, i would give it like a two so.

[Stacey-Lea · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up

thoughts still processing, RTC!

ARC provided by the publisher through edelweiss for an honest review

[Jennie Damron · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was shopping my shelves (need to reign in my buying books habit) and picked this one up. I had zero expectations. I thought I would read a bit to see if I vibed with the book and ended up not being able to put it down. This was fantastic!! This is fantasy mixed with horror which I don't come across often and I have to say I love the combo. Lewis Dixon is the MMC and he is an artist who is struggling with the loss of his mom. His grief and loss sets the course for what happens. I am purposely being vague because I don't want to give spoilers, and it is best to go in not knowing too much. The way the author uses art/creativity to expand on brokenness, loss, regret, was sheer brilliance. I am so glad I found this book. That this is not being talked about is a shame, in my opinion.

[Jo | HonkIfYouRead · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay so here's the thing... this book had all of the elements I love in a complex horror/fantasy story, but it fell flat for me. I thought it was brilliant the way the art and the horror elements blended together. Everything was incredibly atmospheric, full of dread, but also beautifully worldly. I really enjoyed the way we explored the world and the importance of art. I especially loved the emphasis on art and the impact it makes on the world.
While I loved the makeup of the story, I didn't find myself connecting with the characters at all, which is where it fell flat for me. I had a hard time empathizing with them or really understanding their motives because I just couldn't level with them. Pieces of the story felt choppy to me because it felt like a lot of emotion was missing. And what emotion was there, came off as a bit immature and disconnected.
If you don't necessarily need to connect with the characters, this is a total hit for dark fantasy lovers. This story possesses incredibly simple world building, an interesting journey, with plenty of dread to go around. Thank you, Harper Voyage for my ARC!

[ThatBookish_deviant · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75/5

[akacya ❦ · Rating 4 out of 5]

2025 reads: 332/300

i received a complimentary audio copy as part of libro.fm’s influencer program. i am leaving this review voluntarily.

lewis dixon, a struggling painter, is shocked when the british museum shows an unusual interest in his art. though he’s always felt there’s something powerful about what he puts on canvas, he’s also felt there was something disturbing just under the surface. sure enough, the invitation is not for a curated show, but to see whether lewis has the magic necessary to enter and safely escape them. lewis is asked to destroy the ten paintings his great-grandfather made, as they carry eldritch abilities and a terrible curse.

though i’ve only read one other book by him, i have a deep appreciation for kosoko jackson’s works because of how much i loved that one. so, i was very eager to get his adult fantasy/horrror debut! something i love about the horror genre is how authors can so expertly weave real-life horrors with fictional ones. this one in particular was heavy on the colonization aspect, especially as it pertains to the british museum. there was even a side of romance between lewis and his partner, noah. i’d recommend this to fellow adult fantasy/horror fans, and i can’t wait for more from kosoko jackson!

[Tell · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5)

This is being marketed as a horror but I think it's right on the border of YA and Adult Urban Fantasy?

Immerses you right in a world of magic, monsters, traveling unethical organizations, a fabulous female villain, and a queer Black artist trying to make sense of his mother's death.

Themes of grief, loss, and loneliness abound, and this is a book that attempts a lot- overlaying an entire magic system and lore alongside a cast of MCs AND a MacGuffin travelogue journey- but mostly sticks the landing. if you like fantasy, witches, dark stories of revenge and loss, budding queer relationships alongside a pretty cool magic system, this is for you.

[James 🦤 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank you to Harper Voyager and NetGalley for the e-arc of this book.

Unfortunately, I really didn’t enjoy this one, which is disappointing because on paper it’s exactly the sort of book I’d love.

Everything about it feels clunky and half-baked. The characters are extremely underdeveloped and somehow manage to feel both flat and cartoonish at the same time. Multiple characters could probably have been cut and the story would not have changed in any meaningful way. Hell, you probably could have cut Noah’s entire dead sister—a massive part of his backstory—out and the story would not meaningfully change which is…an issue.

Lewis and Noah’s relationship has promise, but the pacing is so awful and the characters are so oddly developed that it all just feels very off. I honestly feel like the pacing is largely to blame for a lot of the book’s issues, it feels like we’re missing several chapters off the bat and are just immediately thrown into the action without establishing anything about Lewis other than he’s a painter with a dead mom.

The magic system had potential to be something really cool, but ultimately it never lived up to it. It never fully made sense. At the end of the day, the rule of thumb seems to be that magic does whatever the author wants it to do in that moment and won’t do anything that would be plot inconvenient.

This book had the perfect opportunity to criticize colonialism and you can tell Jackson tried, but despite the perfect setup to do so…the mark is still missed.

I am interested to hear from Asian reviewers because I specifically felt deeply uncomfortable about the character Akana. She is essentially an amalgamation of every Japanese badass action movie trope and receives zero meaningful characterization beyond that even though there was ample opportunity to do so. It felt like she was inserted solely because the author thinks Japan is cool and he had to scramble to justify her presence afterward. For some reason the UK and Japan have magical political drama to further this despite politics otherwise seeming the same. The entire section where Lewis was in Japan just felt very poorly thought out and earned us some very cringey moments such as him ordering food because he learned Japanese from anime (never comes up again outside of this one liner.)

I’m very frustrated with this one because it has the elements of something very cool and interesting, but I cannot actually say I enjoyed any part of this experience solely because any good goes hand in hand with something annoying or frustrating.

[Bethany J · Rating 1 out of 5]

*Thank you to the publisher via Netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review*

Unfortunately, despite a really intriguing premise, this book was both immensely frustrating and disappointing. There's not even really one reason for this; it's kind of almost everything about this book. The one word that comes to mind is: messy. The pacing, the plotting, the characters, the relationships, the antagonists, the magic system - all of these things could have hit the mark, I think, but the way it was done just fell so flat for me.

I think there's just too much trying to be done in not a lot of space. As a result, the book both speeds past moments that would have made a big emotional impact and drags in a way that it really shouldn't. The same could be said for the plotting. While I can see the threads of what the author was trying to do, I don't think it all came together in a way that was narratively satisfying.

The main character, Lewis, is a very uneven protagonist. It felt like there was a bit of a wall that he struggled to breach past to emotionally connect with the reader fully. There's one particular instance that stands out to me that never got the emotional resonance it should have because Lewis speeds right past it. But later in the book, he claims to be grieving when there weren't really that many instances of that in the text, not even really implied. Plus, the implications of this plot point felt a little... off to me. I'm being intentionally vague because I don't want to give spoilers, even though in the grand scheme of things, what happens doesn't really seem to matter all that much? The only thing it really does is take the coolest part of the premise and negate it entirely.

As for the other characters, they oscillated between being very flat or being almost cartoonish, sometimes both at the same time. One of the antagonists particularly felt strange in the context of the story because the character's motivations didn't quite ring true. Especially because there wasn't a lot of build-up of the character to make that not-quite heel-turn feel like a shock or betrayal. Honestly, the same could be said of all the characters, including Lewis: there was plenty of build-up to what could have been good character moments, but fell very flat or just out-right didn't commit.
This had the side effect of making the romance also feel flat. Lewis and Noah had zero chemistry. The reason Lewis liked Noah could boil down to "he pretty" while Noah's interest in Lewis outside of his ability didn't really come across. There were also things Noah said about Lewis's character (one that comes to mind is that Lewis is a "good agent") that really didn't come across and, in fact, parts of the story seemed to outright contradict?

I'm starting to almost rant again, so I'll wrap up a bit with: I really wish the author hadn't tried to genre hop. I think maybe it could have worked in a longer, more thought out novel, but in its current iteration, it just felt like a mess. The magic system, in particular, felt largely arbitrary, despite the attempts to explain it. I almost wish it had nixed it altogether and just had the things that happened in the book be a result of ambiguous horror stuff or just possession shenanigans. The urban fantasy elements, while sometimes cool, just bogged down the narrative, especially because there wasn't a lot of cohesion to everything.

Overall, I think the idea was there, but the execution left a lot to be desired.

[J. Z. Kelley · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Macabre promises so much: horror, grief, globe-spanning adventure, queer romance, and an exploration of the intersections between race, art, colonialism, and power.

It delivers on none of its promises, primarily due to the writing.

It is difficult to describe what specifically does not work for me about the writing because there is no singular, consistent problem. Instead, this version of the book reads like someone cut up six or seven drafts, scrambled all the pieces together in a big box, and put them back together with moderate success.

At times, the narrative voice is so simplistic it reads like a middle-grade novel: Our protagonist wishes he was as brave and strong as his companion. In those terms.

At others, it is so complex that I struggle to follow individual sentences.

The bad guy is just a normal, traumatized dude, and then, in the most disappointing reveal I’ve ever read, he’s [redacted]. I literally had to put the book down and walk away.

Throughout, there are paragraphs that I can only describe as out of place. Characters have realizations upon which they neither act nor reflect ever again. Motivations shift for only a few moments. The “rules” of magic change and change back. The stakes are everything and then nothing. Our protagonist says over and over, “This is the furthest I have ever traveled.” Except often it isn’t.

Speaking of rules of magic, if you are someone who cares about magic systems being clear and consistent, you’re going to be frustrated. I’m someone who actually prefers magic to be weird, but I’m also frustrated, because this book tries to do both. Magic is a SCIENCE, except the rules are only gestured at and don’t count when they stop being convenient.

I do think another few drafts and a good writing group could have made this work … ish. There truly is so much promise here. The dynamics between characters, the mystery, the quick pace, and the themes all drew me in enough that I kept reading even after I knew I would not be giving this more than three stars.

And actually, I think I could have gotten past the inconsistent writing, were it not for the fact that the female characters are just abysmal. They read like they’re written by J. K. Rowling. Moms are good, kind, soft, warm, almost asexual; childless women are evil, harsh, cold, ambitious, seductive. Good women are smart and capable and don’t care what they look like. Villains’ plans fall apart because they stop to get a facial and end up arriving late. Genuinely, you can predict with 100% accuracy if a woman is good or evil because if she’s good, she has kids (or is a daughter who’s not quite ready to have kids of her own), and if she’s evil, she wears makeup.

I’d be curious to hear from Japanese and Indian reviewers, too, because I have a hunch, but I don’t want to speak out of turn.

I received a free eARC of this book through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

[Hannah Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75!!
Thank You to NetGalley for this ARC! <3

I loved this book. It was so good!! the only reason it was a 4.75 instead of 5 was the fact that I felt like sometimes it was just missing a little something. Either things were glossed over a little fast or the build up between characters wasn't as well shown as I would like. However, that being said I really enjoyed this book. It took me a lot longer to get through than I thought it would tbh, but that isn't a bad thing. It had the perfect amount of horror and romance thrown in for a fantasy book. I loved the characters, even if I thought they were all very stubborn at certain parts, and I loved the magic system. I feel like in a fantasy novel, the magic system, can either make or break it. I felt like the author described it pretty well and it seems well thought out! I will definitely be buying the physical copy once it comes out!

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise of the book is basically this: there are magical factions in the world who are vying for control of magical objects as well as people with magic in their bloodlines. Members refer to themselves as Casters. The book details two of these factions as they kill, steal and spy on each other in an attempt to gain the upper hand. The Macabre are a group of magical paintings done by our main character Lewis's ancestor. Thus both factions need Lewis to gain control of these morose paintings.

First can we talk about this cover. As soon as the Macabre painting was described, I wanted to see it. Outstanding work recreating the painting. It's very eye-catching and sets the mood for this novel appropriately. If it's not already obvious, I love the unique magic system and premise as well. They are different than expected and reminds me a bit of the 1988 movie Waxwork where people accidentally fall into the scene or sections of Graham Masterton's book Prey with the witch's painting. From page 1, Kosoko Jackson produces an impressive amount of unease in this story. The atmosphere that main character Lewis finds himself in reflects his own confusion and dread so well that the reader feels it easily throughout. The writing style is very descriptive but this didn't put me off at all. Instead it made me feel more in sync with the artist main character Lewis Dixon. It made sense to me considering his chapters include a lot of his thoughts.

The pacing of the book overall is slow but starts out fast and also like Lewis, dumps the reader into the thick of the plot immediately with very little explanation. Ironically, embedded in Lewis's chapters is an extreme amount of his internal dialogue, which slows those chapters dramatically. The combo is a bit of whiplash honestly. Different chapters switch between Lewis and Cassandra's point of view. The actual world building is very simple, think Dresden Files, but I liked it.

Strict Horror readers may end up being disappointed. It's definitely more fantasy with grief horror elements. I can see how some readers feel catfished by the "macabre" cover but as a fantasy fan too I liked that aspect of it. If you enjoy crossovers of both genres give The Macabre a try.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Prose: descriptive
Pacing: inconsistent
Scary: uncanny
Gore: yes
Character Development:
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Atmosphere:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Geonn Cannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't know this was (yet another) adult debut by a YA author, but I probably wouldn't have bothered reading it if I had known. I try not to badmouth YA. I know there's an audience for it, I know people greatly enjoy it, but it's not for me. To me, it's the YA authors who are ashamed of it. Calling it the "adult debut of a YA author" sounds like graduating to a higher tier. It's not! It's like saying a romance author's literary debut. They're just targeted at different people. Unfortunately YA authors tend to still write for the YA audiences, they just pepper in sexy scenes or gory scenes and call it good enough. It's like if a writer known for comedy books started writing for horror (this isn't about Chuck Tingle, I have no opinion on him other than thinking he's generally a force for good and people being kind to one another). I didn't even get into the space wasted on an unimaginably forced romance. Two bland people fell in love because they were near each other for a little while. Whee.

As for "the adult debut"... most novels for adults don't come with a page you can color inside the cover. I'm just saying. It didn't include crayons so I guess they assumed readers would already have some...?

Readers may enjoy it if it's marketed to the right audience.

[Kayla Borden (boocwurm) · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars

Thank you to the publisher and BookSparks for a free copy of the physical book, and Libro.fm for a free ALC.

The premise of this book promised so much: A globe-trotting horrific adventure, in which an aspiring artist is recruited by a British magical organization to hunt down and neutralize a set of paintings with unspeakable powers. Unfortunately, the execution made this book an absolute horror to get through.

I’ll start with what I liked to be fair:
-The premise was really unique and interesting. We’re thrown into the plot abruptly, leaving little time to think through the implications of the magic and potential impact, which worked for the concept.

-The conversations the author starts regarding imperialism and its longstanding effects, international power struggles, privilege and how identity and art intersect were interesting. However, I don’t think these conversations were pulled through the book enough to have a coherent or impactful message, apart from “these things exist, and they are bad.”

And the bad….
-The writing style was, well, a mess (to borrow a favorite composition of the author’s). I struggled to comprehend so much of this book with my eyes because the sentences were simultaneously so basic in content but written in a convoluted, unnecessary way. It’s like the author tried to be poetic, but the sentences he chose to spruce up were wholly simplistic, so he ended up saying a lot just to say nothing. Others were entirely stilted, repetitive and awkward.

-This book is mismarketed. I was expecting horror (and the cover certainly gives horror), but really it’s a fantasy with horror elements—and those are pretty few and far between. The paintings and some scenes were pretty gruesome, but on the whole, this was a story about a ragtag team of agents using magic, with a few spooky situations to get themselves out of.

-The characters felt super flat. I felt like I knew next to nothing about Lewis (our MC) apart from his identity, and the side characters were equally shallow. The one exception to this is Cassandra, our almost-not-quite-villain, who has an unexplainable character shift midway through the book for ?? reasons.

-The magic system used a convoluted mess of languages and hand gestures but was basically unlimited in scope and poorly defined. Similarly, the way the team used magic to neutralize the paintings was inconsistent. Sometimes the name neutralized it, sometimes it didn’t work for no reason, sometimes the memories were full and explorable, sometimes they were limiting. It was extremely hard to follow the rules of this plot, because there weren’t any.

-There was a Jack the Ripper tie in that was… honestly laughable. It made no sense and was utterly ridiculous. I had to rewind my audiobook to make sure I heard it correctly.

-On audio, the audiobook narrator was great for MCs like Lewis and Noah. But some of his accent choices were… interesting. His accent for the Japanese agent, Akana, not only sounded wrong but felt a little offensive? I didn’t see why that was necessary. However, the audiobook made following the plot a little easier, since my eyes weren’t being tripped up by the convoluted writing style.

I really wanted to like this book but I struggled with it so badly. On the whole, it just felt like a big mess born out of what was a really cool concept.

[Denise Ruttan · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the synopsis, I was going into this expecting creepy queer art horror, but instead I got a high-octane spy thriller with dark fantasy elements and it just wasn't for me.

Painters are also really difficult to get right in fiction and can often seem stereotypical or like caricatures of artists and I kind of felt that here. Lewis always kind of seemed like a mediocre painter who was swept up into a global magical conspiracy on promises of fame and legacy.

Mourning the death of his mother, Lewis accepts a chance to display one of his paintings in the British Museum. He's then recruited into a clandestine ring of the museum's magical agents who can somehow use magic whenever they want with few costs; Lewis's powers lie in prophetic painting, and his ancestor painted a series of haunted paintings that have the ability to kill and spread destruction. I never really understood the magic system and it seemed too easy. There were runes, spells in different languages or you could just think it and make it happen; it was never consistent.

He's told he's on a mission to destroy the paintings by his boss Evangeline, a Nigerian British woman whose motivations made no sense to me for wanting to restore the British empire to its former glory.

The only thing I liked about this book was the charming romance between Lewis and another agent, Noah, his handler, but sadly it was a small part of this globe-trotting action-packed thriller.

It did have a fast pace and a lot of action, but I found it a drag to read because I felt as if I never got to know Lewis as a person. I knew he was a Black gay man and a painter. I didn't know anything about his life or why he so desperately wanted his mother back. I would have appreciated some scenes from his childhood to show me their bond. This novel was also bogged down by a lot of expository in between life or death action scenes and this author's writing style wasn't for me.

It at least had an anti-colonial message at the end, sort of. Working from within to make things better has never been my preferred outcome.

I usually like dark fantasy but perhaps I just had the wrong expectations for this book. I usually prefer my dark fantasy to be more character driven.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[katarina]

dnf @ 19%

I was really looking forward to this one but unfortunately it was a miss. I was a bit thrown off right from the get go as following the prologue we are greeted with an “eighteen weeks later”. And just like that Lewis is at the British Museum being told that magic is real.

In all honesty I was under the impression that this was horror, so I was a bit shocked when it ended up being much more fantasy leaning (and looking back I think I ended up getting mislead by the tags on Goodreads because everywhere else I am not seeing this as horror so that might’ve just been my bad). The early conversations regarding the magic felt sort of goofy. I tend to still like fantasy stories but the writing style and lack of depth having to do with the magical elements hindered my enjoyment.

Almost no atmosphere was created within this story. Pairing some descriptive prose along with the paintings could’ve really helped execute the story better. I didn’t feel as transposed as I would’ve liked.

The characters also felt very bland. Jumping back in after taking a week break from reading it I already couldn’t remember which one was our main character. I just couldn’t connect to them at all, neither really having any strong memorable characteristics to lean on.

So sad this wasn’t a hit for me because the concept of travelling into cursed paintings sounded super intriguing!

Thank you so much to Avon and Harper Voyager for providing me with this eARC.

[Dana K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Harper Voyager for gifted access via NetGalley. All opinions below are my own.

This was not at all what I expected, but in a good way. I thought it might be a straight-forward horror story, but what we get is a genre mixing book that I was really invested in. Lewis's ancestor painted a set of magic imbued paintings that have the power to destroy. There are several people clamoring to use the power of the paintings. Lewis finds himself working for the magic arm of the British museum, initially just hoping to get a chance to show his own art, but quickly embroiled in the race to find and neutralize the paintings. He's thrown into a world of magic he didn't know existed and he will face some gnarly forces before the end. Lewis has just lost his mother when the story starts so his motivation is to find a way for this new magical world to reunite with her but that shifts as he learns more about magic, his family history and the people who are working with and against him. The story was so complex and yet so entertaining to unravel. I really enjoyed this one.

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess I just wanted more from this. The premise was interesting but it felt like it was missing emotion. I didn’t care about anyone. The bad lady felt very cartoon villain. And typically a dead mom gets me but yeah idk I can’t pinpoint exactly what it is but it felt like it was written with nothing behind it. With that being said I still mostly enjoyed reading it bc it was fun to imagine how all the places and paintings looked.

[Esme · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't expecting to be as Fantasy forward as it was but I still liked it even if It really turned out to be very different than what I expected it to be. The book is easy to read it's fast paced and entertaining. The characters were great I just struggled to really connect with them. The concept of the paintings was very well done I really enjoyed those scenes. I still don't know if I'd go as far as to put this under Horror, it read a bit more like a new adult dark fantasy tbh.

The audiobook was well done! Really helped visualize the paintings better.

Thank you Netgalley & Harper Audio for the audio copy! *All opinions are my own*

[mwana]

The blurb has editorial errors or my mind is more fucked up than I originally thought. Regardless, I'm excited to read this thanks to a TikTok I stumbled on.

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMAGESSY6/