(The Dunwich Hoarder - Terry L. Estep - Image generated with the aid of ChatGPT)

“The Macabre,” by Kosoko Jackson. Publication date: Sept. 9. 400 pages.

Kosoko Jackson is primarily known for Young Adult fiction. I read his dark fantasy “The Forest Demands Its Due” last year and thought it was pretty good. “The Macabre” marks his debut as a writer of dark fantasy fiction for grownups. He largely succeeds, but I think this could be shelved with his YA output and not feel out of place.

Lewis Dixon is a young painter who recently lost his mother. He’s recruited by the British Museum for what he’s told is an art exhibit but soon realizes is a magical test. He’s tasked with helping them hunt down a group of cursed paintings — collectively known as The Macabre — to destroy them and neutralize their power.

Jackson is painting on a larger canvas here, moving the story from England to Australia and Japan through the convenience of magical teleportation. The world-building is solid, with enough hints of alternate history and magical politics to make me hope we haven’t seen the last of these characters. It almost feels as if Clive Barker had written an entire season of the old “Friday the 13th” series from the 1980s.

I didn’t see any content that makes this more “Adult” than “Young Adult,” other than Dixon being in his thirties and possibly not getting carded trying to buy a drink. Jackson, free of genre limitations, isn’t sending his characters into sweat-soaked debauchery. What little heat exists is from the smoldering possible relationship with his mentor.

Looking for something spicy? You won’t find it here. This is as chaste and inoffensive as a book for middle schoolers.

Fans of fantasy and horror will find plenty to enjoy. It’s a good story, exploring the ways pain can be turned into art. I just hope Jackson cuts loose in the future.

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“Everything About You,” by Robby Weber. Publication date: Sept. 9. 384 pages.

Robby Weber’s speciality is summer romance. “Everything About You,” his fourth novel, managed a nearly-impossible feat: it made me appreciate the fashion industry and the work that goes on behind the scenes of these big presentations.

Milo is a young American living in Paris for apprenticeship at Maison Dauphine, a fashion house. Competition arrives in the person of Rhodes Hamilton, a handsome young celebrity eager to distinguish himself from his more famous family members.

There’s plenty of mutual attraction as these two young men do the grunt work in the fashion trenches. Milo is so competitive he manages to be unlikeable in a few places, questioning Hamilton’s sincerity and stooping to sabotage at one point.

But this is a YA romance novel. You need those character flaws and setbacks to overcome and make the happy endings that much sweeter. As summer romances go, it’s hard to top falling in love in Paris.

I haven’t read any of Weber’s other novels, but I plan to check them out when I need some fluffy escapism.

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Here are a few short takes on some recent reads.

* “Silver Canyon,” by Louis L’Amour. This was my first Louis L’Amour novel years ago, and it holds up as Western 101. It has a little of everything: gunfights, a guy trying to defend his ranch against the forces arrayed against him, romance, and even some mystery. Good stuff.

* “The Midwich Cuckoos,” by John Wyndham. The basis for the movie “Village of the Damned.” An unknown force causes every woman in a small British town to become pregnant with alien offspring. Wyndham does a good job of keeping the tension climbing with each new revelation.

* “The Godwulf Manuscript,” by Robert B. Parker. What can I say? I love a wisecracking detective. It’s the first book in a long-running series and I plan to keep going.

* “The Cobra,” by Frederick Forsyth. A “what if?” thriller where the United States decides to take extreme measures to wipe out the cartels controlling the world’s cocaine market. This is pure Dad Fiction, which I’ve heard described as “smart people doing their jobs well.”

* “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe,” by Fannie Flagg. I mostly read it because I enjoyed the movie. The ending is different, but the rest tracks along pretty well. Jessica Tandy and Kathy Bates nailed their roles.

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Advance reader copies provided by NetGalley.

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Terry L. Estep can be reached at testep@newsandsentinel.com.