Skip to main content
book cover for Portraits of Decay

Portraits of Decay

You must sign in to see if this title is available for request. Sign In or Register Now

Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app

1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date 21 Oct 2025 | Archive Date 5 Nov 2025
Ruadán Books | Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Titles

Talking about this book? Use #PortraitsofDecay #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!


Description

Reveling in occult rituals gone wrong, body horror, and the creeping dread of the Southern Gothic, Portraits of Decay paints an enthralling tableau of obsession, revenge, and a thirst for control that asks the question: why ruin a painting when you can ruin a soul?

Up-and-coming young artist Jefferson Fontenot has everything going for him: The hot New Orleans art scene has noticed him, and he's finally found his true love, Nevaeh Parker.

But Fontenot's bright future hides a darkness known as Gemma Landry-the artist's lover and art scene influencer. Gemma believes Jefferson's talent holds the key to her seizing control of the popular Carondelet Street Gallery. But when Gemma discovers Jefferson's infidelity, she enslaves the artist with a poison she acquired from swamp-dwelling witch Mirlande St. Pierre.

Now trapped in a rotting body and plagued by hellish visions, Jefferson finds himself reduced to a zombie-like servant for his unhinged ex, while Nevaeh is forced to embrace her past, hoping to save the man she loves. As the dark curse courses through Jefferson's veins, everyone involved soon discovers-in the most brutal of fashions-the terror that awaits when you cross Gemma Landry. 

Reveling in occult rituals gone wrong, body horror, and the creeping dread of the Southern Gothic, Portraits of Decay paints an enthralling tableau of obsession, revenge, and a thirst for control...


A Note From the Publisher

eBook: 9798991258777

eBook: 9798991258777


Advance Praise

Portraits of Decay is a brutal love letter to New Orleans, artistic ego, and the kinds of broken people who break each other beyond repair. Blanes captures your imagination with richly drawn, deeply flawed characters, and once they have your heart, he paints their world in rot and despair. Read it!”

—C.J. Goldberg, Author

Portraits of Decay is Velvet Buzzsaw meets American Horror Story: Coven; full of magic, gore, and the worst kind of ex.”

—Marissa Yarro, Author of Island X

“Taking the paranoia and intimacy of Come Closer and pairing it with the visceral horror of A Head Full of Ghosts, Portraits of Decay is an immersive, haunting, original novel. Could not put it down.”

—Richard Thomas, Bram Stoker, Shirley Jackson, and Thriller Award Finalist

"Portraits of Decay is at once haunting, provocative, and full of New Orleans mystery, where envy and greed make people more horrific than monsters. Blanes has concocted a spellbinding tale that will chill you to the core, as if your body sunk to the bottom of a Louisiana swamp.”

—Christa Wojciechowski, Author of The Sculptor Series 

Portraits of Decay is a brutal love letter to New Orleans, artistic ego, and the kinds of broken people who break each other beyond repair. Blanes captures your imagination with richly drawn, deeply...


Available Editions

EDITION Paperback
ISBN 9798991258760
PRICE US$16.99 (USD)
PAGES 388

Available on NetGalley

NetGalley Reader (EPUB)
NetGalley Shelf App (EPUB)
Send to Kindle (EPUB)
Download (EPUB)