"The Taking of Jake Livingston," is a dark, challenging, and suspenseful horror story. There is diverse representation within the major characters of the book.

There are some very difficult themes in this book.

DNF @ pg 67.

I honestly was expecting this book to be completely different and it was not. I didn’t go into this wanting to read something that would attempt to make me feel sympathy for a serial k*ller

I am thankful to PenguinTeen for sending me an ARC of this book to read and review.

I honestly DNF’d this book about 80 pages in, because after 2 hours of reading I was thoroughly confused by the characters and the plot.

I’m really sad, because I wanted to love it. Queer ghost story sounds up my alley. I plan on trying it again in the future.

note: Ryan Douglass is an amazing human being and I'm so glad that I was able to read this ARC copy :3 <3

Two words. BLACK. HORROR.

LBGTQ+ rep! Horror! BIPOC characters! What more could you ask? Halloween came early with The Taking of Jake Livingston.

This has been one of my most anticipated reads for this year and I can't believe I got an ARC! Once again, thank you PenguinTeen for providing me with a copy!

The plot was very interesting and I definitely felt the horror aspect of this book come through! As most of you guys know, I don't really do well with horror but I was greatly surprised at how I was getting goosebumps as well as getting creeped out as I read this book.

First of all, I want to talk about the pun in Jake's name. Jake Livingston? The kid that gets possessed by a ghost? The kid that fights an undead ghost and lives to tell the tale? Amazing. Superior. Awesome.

When I first dove into this book blind, I thought I was going to get something different. From the cover I suspected an anxious teen who probably had a lot of bad things happen to him fight a ghost in the middle of this large dark academic school where secrets unfold.

Well, there wasn't a dark academic school, but I was pleasantly surprised with this book! I loved the aspect of a possessing ghost looking for revenge and a witty queer bipoc teen fight back while going through his first ever crush. It was simply... everything.

When I first got my copy, I was surprised with how short the book was but I felt like the pacing was well done and the only thing I was disappointed in was that it wasn't longer.

We got our medium Jake, a teenager who can see spirits deal with the ghost of Sawyer Doon, a who used to live in their town commit a terrible act on other students before eventually ending his life himself. The plot was well done and everything came full circle, starting with Jake, diving back into the backstory of Sawyer Doon and why he's seeking revenge, and ending it back with Jake.

The only other characters I enjoyed reading were Allistar and Benji, I didn't really care for the others but I wish I got more scenes w them towards the climax of the book!

(There are some really graphic scenes that everyone should be aware of before diving into this book and I've put all warnings at the top of this post!!!)

It was truly a thrilling book to read and I can't wait to see everyone thinks about The Taking of Jake Livingston.

Thank you all for stopping by! I hope you're all staying safe <3

The Taking of Jake Livingston was a dark and atmospheric read about a boy with the unwanted ability to see things on a different plane of existence. He sees spirits and ghosts wherever he turns and it causes some serious turmoil in his life. Where most are harmless, there are few who seek to interact with the 16 year old.

Being one of the only black kids in a predominantly white school, he is already fighting a losing battle with trying to just get through high school where he is constantly running into racism from teachers and students alike. When you add in the fact that the dead things he sees on a regular basis are now actively trying to possess him, you have a recipe for disaster.

Jake comes home to find that his neighbor, Mateo has been murdered. Mateo was a survivor of a school shooting years before and it is the shooter, Sawyer Doon, who is wrecking havoc on Jake's life. Sawyer was a troubled teen who shot and killed six students in his high school before killing himself. And, now he has his sights set on the medium boy who can give him a body to commit more heinous acts in the afterlife.

This book was seriously amazing. I adored Jake and wanted only the best for him. Dealing with being a gay black kid in a white school, an older brother whom he constantly has to be an older brother to and a mom who isn't always there for him, Jake is struggling. The possibility of a new friendship and the arrival of another black student may not be enough to keep Jake's head above water.

I absolutely believe that there will be readers who love this book. And those that need it (and love it, too).

However, I found myself slipping in and out of this story quite frequently. Being in an odd difficult-to-focus mindset probably contributed to this. Regardless, I found Jake's voice intriguing because he feels purposefully distant like he's trying to build barriers between himself and the readers. This makes sense if you read the book, I swear. Jake attempts to hide in every aspect of his life, but he can't ignore that he can see the dead (and dead world). He starts becoming more vulnerable and more open as the book progresses.

I liked how the chapters often alternated between Jake and Sawyer</strong>, the guy who killed Jake's neighbor and a school shooter before he died. It was very interesting to get an inside look at Sawyer's past and how the violence he experienced in his family contributed to his external violence exacted onto others. This was a perspective that helped to round-out the story.

Another important aspect of The Taking of Jake Livingston is how the horrors of dead world are rooted in (and surface again) in the current world. Jake is gay and Black, and these parts of him inform how he views the world and how the world, in turn, views him.

Conclusion: I would recommend! Take note of the content warnings because it definitely isn't a book to read when you don't feel like you're in the right mindset. However, the social commentary and the character studies kept me engaged through to the end.

When I first heard about this story I was intrigued about the element of seeing ghosts and was very excited to see the representation. I'm going to start off by saying that this is a book that has many incredibly heavy topics in it that could be triggering for many people. Please check out the content warnings before picking this book up. This is very much a horror book, not thriller. I personally wish I had been aware of the content warnings before requesting an ARC copy. One element of the plot that confused me the most was the extent of Jake's powers and how they could be used. At many points a random fact or ability would appear with no explanation as to why it came or how it worked. For example the ectomist, which I still do not fully understand. Jake unfortunately felt like a very one dimensional character, we don't explore his personality very much and I found him more to be a vessel for the plot than actually being interested in him as a person.

What I disliked the most, and what made me feel the most uncomfortable was Sawyer. Throughout the book we get diary entries from him, leading up to the school shooting. These entries were extremely disturbing, detailing much of the plot pertaining to the content warnings listed above. At many points it feels as though you should be sympathizing with him because of what he has been through. This made me very uncomfortable as he does many horrific acts throughout the book.

Some final thoughts that come to mind are: don't read this book at night, and don't read this book when you're alone. This book made me extremely uncomfortable.

I don't usually read horror because I'm a wimp, but I really wanted to read this based on advance word of mouth, and I'm glad I did. Jake was such a well-realized character, as were the secondary characters - and his nemesis as well. The writing gets a little florid when Jake is astral projecting or confronting ghosts, and these moments were sometimes a little hard to follow, but it was manageable. I appreciated that the book was relatively short and left me wanting more!

WOAH. This book is…interesting. I’m not sure I would have been able to handle this YA as a teen. Not only is it a horror that left me scared more times than I’d like to admit, it covers some very serious and troubling topics that I wasn’t prepared for. I would definitely check out the content warnings if you pick this one up.

I enjoyed the overall plot and thought the social commentary was very on point. The MC Jake goes THROUGH IT as a high school kid, and I don’t just mean because he can see dead people (cue Haley Joel Osment, IYKYK). I liked Douglass’ writing style, but for me, the horror overpowered and didn’t allow me to fully love this one.

If you enjoy horror, paranormal activity and ghosts in death loops, you should pick up this book!

Enjoyment: 3.5/5
Execution: 3.5/5
Final: 3.5 (rounded to 4)

An incredibly chilling and gripping fast-paced horror read. The Taking of Jake Livingston tackles a lot of heavy issues well and was a fascinating read. I've included a list of CWs below, which I'd recommend looking over before picking up this book. There is a nightmare quality to the book, which is told from Jake's point of view, and he's a really interesting and conflicted narrator. He is one of the only Black kids at St. Clair's prep, where his classmates are largely white and privileged. I really felt for Jake and the constant microaggressions to flat out racism he dealt with on a regular basis from his classmates. The bullying portrayed in the book felt really real and unfortunately, very relatable. The story starts up with the murder of Matteo, survivor of a local high school shooting, and Jake, a teenage medium, finds himself haunted by Sawyer, the teen responsible for the shooting. We have occasional flashbacks from Sawyer's POV, which are disturbing and provide more background for him.

While the scenes are very well written and appropriately terrifying, I had difficulty understanding what was happening at times. Given the whole supernatural premise of everything, with Jake being able to see the dead and the possession, I think this is intentional, but I personally wasn't a fan. It's difficult to get a grasp of who Jake is, as well as his relationships to the other characters, because he spends so much of the story in a state of emotional and physical limbo. Perhaps some more worldbuilding/background to the story would have helped, because I would've liked to know more about Jake and his background whereas we are thrown right in. There's a lot of Sawyer's background that is explored vs sprinkles of Jake's history. Additionally, the book ends a little abruptly and there are a lot of things that jump straight to the conclusion. Even after finishing the book, I was left with a lot of questions. Ultimately, I wanted a little more in regards to relationship development between Jake and his new friends, as well as with his family.

Lastly, which was by no means any fault of the author, but the formatting of my e-arc was terrible with random spaces/lack of spaces between sentences and words, which made it difficult to stay in the story. Sometimes it would occur in the middle of dialogue, which lead to confusion over who was saying what, so I would have to reread the scene, imagining it from the alternate perspective to get a feel for what was happening. This definitely made it hard for me to stay connected to what I was reading and was very distracting.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read and I think this would be absolutely fascinating in a visual format as well. It's scary and yet heartwarming, and I would love to see more from this author! Thank you to Penguin Teen for the e-arc through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Content warnings (may be incomplete, may contain spoilers): School shooting, guns, graphic descriptions of violence, animal cruelty, underage recreational drug & alcohol use, cyberbullying/revenge porn, homophobia, racism & microaggressions, attempted rape of minor/incest, assault, death/murder, bullying, blood/gore, graphic descriptions of injury, body horror, disturbing insect imagery, nonconsensual possession, mental & physical abuse, parental neglect, mentions of suicide, sadism

"𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦. 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘴."⁣
⁣
The Taking Of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass is both creepy and contemporary. For Jake, being a queer black teen in a mostly white school is difficult enough, but now imagine also seeing dead people everywhere you go. When one of the ghosts seems to be able to break through into the world of the living, it's up to Jake to stop a murdering ghost, protect himself, and balance the complexities of his social life. At times downright scary, and at other times heartbreaking, this book was much more than I had expected it to be. An excellent own voices story with a supernatural twist.⁣
⁣
𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘳: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 G.P. Putnam's Sons 𝘢𝘯𝘥 NetGalley 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸.

alright as I always take the time to say I am not own voices here so please please go seek out those reviews first.
This was such a great read! I don't want to say much for multiple reasons but just let me say I really enjoyed this story. This is definitely a book I plan to recommend and talk up as much as I can. This was such a cool and unique story and I can not wait to see and hear more thoughts about this book.

I had such a fun time reading this book! It is a great mix of spooky and real issues. There was a lot of talk around hemophobia, racism, abuse, and gun violence so please be advised before you start reading if any of those are trigger warnings for you. These topics were handled very well and it was interesting to merge a school shooting with a boy who is an unwilling medium.

Jake Livingstone is one of the only black kids in his mainly white high school and seeing ghosts everywhere just makes high school that much harder. Jake is a very likeable character and very well developed. There are a lot of sides and backstory to Jake that helped you understand why he felt like he did in a lot of the parts. His brother Benji had a good character development even though he isn’t seen too much in the novel. I also really enjoyed Jakes friends Fiona and Allister.

Sawyer, the (ghostly) villain, was also really well fleshed out and developed. While we don’t really see the main event that happened to Sawyer, we do get bits and pieces from his diary and the couple of chapters from his POV that discuss his past and backstory. I really liked having chapters from both of their POVs as it helped the story move along and be more comprehensive.

I also enjoyed the writing in this book. There were a lot of great quotes and parts where I really just loved how it was worded (continue reading to see some of my favourite quotes). However I do wish the book was longer and some parts felt like they could and should have been expanded on since they just felt open ended and forgotten.

Overall, this was a really great read and I was a little surprised with how much I enjoyed it. It was a quick read, perfect for a summer night by a campfire.

When I initially finished this book, I was left feeling confused and unsure whether I enjoyed this book or just wanted it to be over. Now, I know that sounds terrible, but it’s not because this book is so dark.

Jake Livingston is one of the few Black kids that attends the prestigious (majority white) St. Clair Prep. Jake is known for being a loner and a bit strange. This is mainly due to the fact that he’s able to see replays of the moments of ghosts, which…would weigh on anyone. Not to mention make you question all of reality.

There’s one ghost in particular that is adamant about haunting Jake and that’s Sawyer. Sawyer shot and killed six kids at a local high school before turning the gun on himself. Sawyer is back for revenge, and Jake must do whatever he can to make it out all.

This story alternates between Jake’s and Sawyer’s POV, which really highlights how drastically different they are. While both come from meager backgrounds, their decisions and paths couldn’t be any more different.

I’ll be honest, there were times that I found Sawyer’s POV utterly infuriating because at no point did I want to feel any type of sympathy for this kid that decided to be another high school mass murderer. That being said, getting the intimate insight into Sawyer is ultimately needed for Jake even if I wanted to throw Sawyer off a cliff.

The author does a great job of creating an atmosphere that gave off a constant state of unease as well as throwing in some surprising horror elements that I really enjoyed.

While this isn’t a book that I can say “OMG yes I loved every minute”, it still has me questioning everything that I read, so I’ll definitely be looking out for more of Douglass’ books in the future.

Thank you to Penguin Teen for providing a review copy. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.

CWs: graphic imagery; death/murder; suicidal ideation and attempts; mass shootings/gun violence; child abuse, mental and physical; attempted sexual assault; racism, bullying, and homophobia

I had really high hopes for this one. I love a classic paranormal slice-of-life novel, and all the better when it's starring a queer Black boy. Unfortunately, this book just... wasn't great.

The Taking of Jake Livingston follows Jake as he navigates being not only gay and one of the only Black kids at his private school, but also being a medium. The ability to see the souls in the After isn't new for him, but he's always tried to ignore it up until now. Suddenly, Jake's already stressful life is made worse when he finds himself haunted by the ghost of Sawyer Doon--the boy who shot up his high school before taking his own life. Now, it's not just Jake's life on the line, but his friends, his families, his crush--and even the ghosts of the kids whose lives Sawyer took in the shooting.

Some positives! The main plot was pretty fast-paced and therefore did a pretty good job of keeping you engaged. The ghost-world was unique and intriguing, and I enjoyed the concept of using "ecto-mist" as a weapon. There were some fantastically gory and creepy imagery, some undeniably spooky, hair-raising scenes, and the author certainly succeeds at unsettling the reader, especially within Sawyer's (the shooter) scenes. Like, objectively, this really is a fun book.

Unfortunately, these things couldn't really compete with the fact that this book reads much like low-budget teen superhero movie. There are so many strange lines, metaphors, and similes thrown into intense life-or-death scenes that gave me straight up whiplash (I will never forget "my neck cracked like a crisp lobster"). The dialogue typically felt distant and unnatural, and the pace at which relationships developed was much the same.

Perhaps the biggest issue to be raised is that this plot and its characters are just seriously lacking in foundation. The characters, although they definitely stand apart from one another, are notably underdeveloped and flat, including Jake. Each character felt like they were made of one (1) character trait. For Jake's friend group, for example: the anxious one, the confident one, and the adventurous one. You never really learn anything about any of their hopes, their dreams, how they feel about... anything.

The scenes felt slapped on top of one another with flimsy bridges to connect them. Often, emotional repercussions didn't seem to carry over--Jake has his life threatened by a ghost, he runs downstairs to witness a school fight, and he isn't even shaken by the former.

The plot twists were unpredictable not because they were clever, but because they were almost completely baseless and a little unhinged. Most plot points occurred because they could, not because they made sense. Like, suddenly, Jake can merge with another ghost to become more powerful (similarly to Sawyer), I guess? And to be fair, this is a super cool idea--it just needed more of an explanatory build-up to it. Why can he do this? Can all mediums do this? How did he do it without even knowing it was possible? There are a lot of other questions I have for this world pertaining to just about everything--some of which aren't necessarily questions that need to be answered, but I felt should have at least been offered.

The romance was super cute, and although a little cringe-worthy at times (as high school romances oft tend to be), definitely made me smile. It's also just nice to see a queer romance between Black boys in YA for once.

In the end, this just wasn't my cup of tea, but it does have its moments. I can easily see this appealing more to a different audience, so if it sounds like something you might enjoy, or if you're just looking for a fun, fast-paced read without any life-changing revelations, consider checking it out!

CW: racism, homophobia, bullying, school shooting, graphic violence/death, suicide and suicidal ideation, physical and emotional abuse, mental illness, parental neglect and abandonment, attempted rape/child molestation, drug use, possession

Ever since I saw the cover for this book (shout out to Jessica Jenkins, who designed it, and Corey Brickley, who did the cover art), I knew I had to pick it up. Horror is still a new-to-me genre and I'm slowly easing myself into it, unsure where I truly stand on it, but I have no regrets reading The Taking of Jake Livingston.

While it may seem short, The Taking of Jake Livingston packs quite the punch. From the get go, Jake's narration style mixed with the diary entries from Sawyer manage to create great tension and suspense. Although Sawyer gave me the creeps, I enjoyed how reasons for his behavior were explained but not excused. I felt like it was really easy to connect to the teen voices, which were casual but also had some really beautiful lines included. I was barely a couple pages in and I wanted to know everything that had happened and was about to happen.
I have to say that you barely get a breather while you read, with heavy topics such as abuse, racism, bullying, etc. being around every other corner. It became quite a lot at some point, but, at the same time, perfectly portrayed Jake's dire circumstances. He was about to be stripped of everything, even his self, and you really felt that along with him. All of that made the lighter moments, especially those with Fiona and Allister, who were like bright spots in the ever-growing darkness, all the sweeter. I often wished they had been featured even more prominently, just to give Jake someone to lean on, although I understood that wasn't the main plot.

Despite the heaviness and the gruesome scenes, some of which had me in literal tears, the book does end on a hopeful and lovely note. I don't know if I could have handled a glum ending, but I was really pleased and even happy at what I got. This was a story about ghosts, control and letting go of things/people that hurt you, but it was also about self-acceptance and even queer Black love. While the romance surely wasn't the main plot, the author managed to incorporate it perfectly, making it something that eased the heavy parts without ridiculing what was happening.

In the end, I was impressed by how much intensity could fit into such a "short" book. Some parts felt a bit disjointed and rushed, lacking consequences at times, but the discomfort and creepiness of some scenes will continue to haunt me. I'll try to just think of the nice ending instead ...

Fazit: 3.5/5 stars! Gripping and haunting story you will surely fly through!

This YA genre bender consists of a gay Black teen medium dealing with the haunting of a school sh**ter. Release date: July 13th. Ryan Douglass captivates everything that's so brilliant about the Supernatural genre. Watching Jake come into himself and grow to defeat his demons was fascinating. My only complaint was that I wanted more. I was left with a longing to see after. Highly recommend picking this one up. Cannot wait to see what else Douglass produces!

TWs/CWs: school sh**ting, m*rder, s*icide, animal abuse, attempted SA/Incest, death/gore, tr*nsphobia, h*moph*bia, r*cism, depression, anxiety, childhood tr*uma.

The fact that I even picked up The Taking of Jake Livingston is a testament to its greatness because I don’t read thrillers, not really. Less than five or so a year normally but lately I find myself not only reading more thrillers but enjoying them as well! And truthfully, the buzz surrounding this debut was just too great to ignore so, here we are.

Two things that jump out at you right away are the books incredible cover (Corey Brickley) and the page count, it’s low. I’ve read a lot of debuts recently that were beefy, and while I’m always in favor of “tell your story in the number of words you need to tell it”, it’s kinda nice to breeze through something now and again. It certainly helps with pacing issues, or it should at least, and The Taking of Jake Livingston is indeed paced and plotted very well, yes, you’ll find that these pages turn easily.

But I can’t help but think that Ryan was so focused on writing a “tight” novel, that he left a few things hanging plot wise, especially when it comes to the paranormal aspects of the story. We aren’t given a lot of “why”, but a ton of “whom”, so it ends up being weirdly a character driven genre book. So, my advice is focus on the spectacle, the horror, and the spooky, don’t worry so much about cause and effect. And definitely focus your energy on Ryan’s fantastic character work, which is without a doubt the book’s greatest achievement, so let’s start there.

Sixteen-year-old Jake Livingston feels like the last of great romantic poets in a lot of ways, taking his brooding and detachment to a level that rivals Heathcliff and makes Jon Snow exuberant by comparison. Jake’s isolationist behavior is part self-induced and part discriminatory in nature thanks to several things out of his control. He’s an artsy medium who sees dead people pretty much everywhere he goes, he’s gay, Black, and has the unfortunate disadvantage of having a more popular jock older brother. In a vacuum, this makes him an interesting well-rounded person who’s well worth your time, in a contemporary American prep-school with 99% cis-white kids, not so much.

Jake’s isolation is so important to this story, and you can imagine how spending your days seeing specters relive their final gruesome moments will heavily influence one’s psyche, and it does here. If you remember high-school at all you’ll recall that it’s supposed to be a shared experience, and for those that didn’t have that through no fault of their own, it can be pretty fucking rough. And you’d think you could at least count on the grownups in Jake’s life for a little sensibility, but you’d be wrong. The adults in Jake’s world not only don’t know any better, but even dole out either unrealistic expectations, moments of micro aggressive racism, or are dead, so yeah, not much help there.

This detachment carries over to the reader I believe, and it’s so well done that I’d bet paychecks that many reviews will comment on just that, that they weren’t able to connect with the book’s main character. They’re right, and that’s the point, and it’s where Ryan’s true skill shines, because he’s subverting this first person POV in the best possible way, like he’s subverting the horror genre as well. Kinda genius.

For the full review, click the link below!

https://www.cinelinx.com/off-beat/the-taking-of-jake-livingston-book-review/

4 Stars

TW: Racism, bullying, attempted rape, school shooting, gun violence, homophobia, and abuse.

Sometimes you find a book, and you end up reading it in one sitting. That's exactly what I did with The Taking of Jake Livingston. I found it impossible to put it down, so I just read until I was finished. I typically don't like to read horror books until October, but the synopsis of this one sounded too good to pass up. And I am so glad I read it because I ended up really enjoying this one.

The story focuses on two povs, Jake, our ghost seeing main character, and Sawyer, a ghost who is haunting Jake. Now I don't want to get too spoilery, so just know that Sawyer isn't a good guy. In fact, his chapters were the most disturbing. But Jake, I enjoyed his character the most. He was a bit spaced out most of the time, but I think that is pretty normal when you are being haunted by a ghost.

With a unique plot, a fantastic MC, and some serious spooky scenes, I would 100% recommend this one. Especially to horror lovers out there. I cannot wait to see what Ryan Douglass puts out next.




.

This was AMAZING! I loved the story, the representation, and the overall spooky vibe of this. It was eerie and creepy to have a POV from a school shooter, but I think in this context Ryan surprisingly made it work. I loved Jake as a character, and really felt for him and everything he had to go through. This was a fun, ghostly read and I definitely recommend.