Lewis Dixon gets the offer of a lifetime from the British Museum, they will show one of his pieces of his choosing for five years guaranteed to make him if not a household name but at the very least one well known in the art world. Knowing he'd be an absolute idiot to pass this opportunity up he heads to London where he is introduces to Noah Rao and his boss the museum's director Evangeline. Almost immediately something feels off though and when they usher him into a room where a painting is simply floating, a painting that is identical to the one he has brought with him Lewis is simultaneously terrified and justified as he has always known magic exists, his own paintings have predicted the future. Evangeline explains that the artist who made the painting floating in front of them is Edgar Dumont, a distant relative of Lewis's and somehow responsible for infusing his paintings with the ability to kill; ten in all they and the very world need Lewis's connection to Edgar to find them and neutralize them before they take more lives. Lewis agrees to this magical goose chase almost immediately, however, he feels that there is something not right, something Evangeline is not telling him and as he and Noah are dispatched around the globe to find the paintings it is becoming more and more clear that Evangeline's plans have no one's interests at heart but her own.
I think I've mentioned this but this last week I have been doing random reads. One book (sometimes two) chosen each day from random from my personal collection. This was yesterday's pick, and I am so glad I went with this one! I was hooked almost immediately and outside of having to sleep and an unplanned three-hour nap (it was extremely nice btw) I have not put it down!
Art as a conduit for violence through magical means or otherwise is a truly fascinating exploration of how both the viewer and the artist interact with art, and for this reason alone I wanted to read this. Art cannot of course physically harm you, but it can mentally and emotionally affect both the viewer and the artist to the point that it may as well be physical harm. It's one of the reasons we have so many stories of pieces driving people to insanity, even in Scooby Doo one of the main bad guy's tricks is to use paintings as a way to spy on Scooby and the gang and to ultimately, hopefully scare them off of the case. Art affects us in profound ways that can change who we are, how we view ourselves, how we view our ancestors, and the world around us. It can arouse fears in us that we never knew existed. Which is why paintings that can actually kill you makes the perfect plot for a horror story. Especially when we take into consideration the artist's perspective as Jackson has done in The Macabre. Edgar's descent into madness and how that madness physically effected his work is a stunning commentary on the emotions artists put into their work. A timely one as well as we see more and more people turn to AI when acquiring art. While this may have not been Jackson's purpose (and I wholeheartedly believe it was not but a happy side effect) this story and all of its nuances in terms of the relationship art has between the creator, and the viewer simply could not exist without a human creator. The ability to look at a painting and feel, no to know, that it is a physical representation of the word "morose" is a relationship that can only exist between two people. So, while no I don't think Jackson was going for a dig on AI it is extremely difficult to read this and not walk away feeling that I would never want to lose that relationship.
Make no mistake these paintings are truly horrifying as well because their abilities come from something that profoundly affected Edgar in real life, all of the traumatic events in his life become weaponized through the paintings offering what looks like salvation to their owner's when it is truly death wrapped in a pretty package. But moreover, it is what we are willing to sacrifice of ourselves to avoid dealing with our own traumas. From a painting that sucks your life force to create a "happy" world for someone you love to one that allows you to keep those you have lost alive just a little bit longer by sacrificing others Edgar's art sees not just people's pain but their weaknesses and capitalizes off of them. Throwing morals and deep-seated beliefs out of the window for their one selfish dream to come true. It's Dorian Gray on multiple levels. The Macabre asks you over and over again where you do the reader draw the line.
Now, this all makes it seem like this is going to be some really difficult read but guess what? It's really not. Jackson has woven not just magic but a surprisingly heartwarming found family story throughout this whole thing. The magic system while not completely unique is interesting as it is clearly rooted in politics. And yes, British Colonialism because you can't have the British museum in a book and not have that in there. I'm sorry you can't, pretty sure that's against the law as it should be. The found family side of this though was definitely a really nice surprise though. Obviously, Noah and Lewis hook up but like there are more characters that I loved for multiple reasons, and I am really glad that they ended up not being the bad guy.
Finally, though at the end of the day this was truly about Lewis working through the loss of his mother and the guilt he felt over not being there with her in the end. Grief is pretty high up on that list of things that art can draw out of people both as an artist and as the viewer. A painting can remind you of a person you have lost in a way nothing else can. As Lewis works his way through all of these paintings his ancestor has created in his own grief, Lewis is processing his grief. This is most obvious when we finally discover the secret of the paintings and how the last one is neutralized. On this level this is one of the most complete books I have read of the grief process and for that alone I would recommend this.
As I said at the beginning, I'm glad that I decided for this to be my random read. Is it your typical horror? Nope, absolutely not. Does it deserve to sit in the genre? 100% and if it doesn't than The Picture of Dorian Gray doesn't either as far as I am concerned.
As always thanks to NetGalley and Avon Harper Voyage for the eArc!
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