I’m so conflicted about this one because I wanted to love it so much and there were parts that I definitely did. From the moment I saw the cover and read the synopsis I was so looking forward to reading it. The setting is impeccably crafted. And I really enjoyed the supernatural elements. It’s quite an emotional read, as the characters and community have so many injustices and travesties to overcome. My biggest issue with this story is the pacing. It is a long book (576 pages) and I just didn’t feel like it really needed to be. I enjoyed Robbie’s storyline much more so than Gloria’s. Honestly, for the majority of the book Gloria’s parts felt really unnecessary to the plot as a whole. I think if the majority of her chapters had been cut from the book, it would have greatly improved my reading experience. The things that Robbie and the other boys have endured and are still enduring are truly terrible and heart-wrenching. But much of this book really dragged for me, it was very slow. I just think the story would have been a much more impactful read for me if I hadn’t felt as bogged down and bored for so much of it.

I have quickly become a horror fan! Tananarive Due knows how to write a harrowing story that is engaging. I love Robbie and Gloria so much. I had to take this book in small doses because of the suspense. WOW!

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due is phenomenal. Yes, the story has ghosts but the real horror is centered around racism and injustice in the Jim Crow south.

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due was powerful, horrifying, and not at all easy to read. Also very necessary. At 54 I am well aware of the gaps in my knowledge of history, and that the history I was taught is NOT comprehensive in any way. I honestly did NOT want to read this book because it is easier not to know, but that is a dangerous space to live in.

I read a lot of books and forget most. This one will not be one I forget.

Recommended.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for an ARC of The Reformatory in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first story by Tananarive Due and it won't be my last! This story really pulled at my emotions in a way I wasn't expecting. I thought this would just be a story about some ghosts at an old school but it was so much more than that. Yes this had a creep factor that involved ghosts (in this story they're referred to as haints), but it went so much deeper than that. We follow Robert who was sent to the reformatory and his sister Gloria that is trying desperately to save him from that awful place. This is story about a bond between brother and sister. Both of these characters had to show true determination, Gloria for trying to free her brother and Robert for trying to survive in that horrid place. They are both taking on the troubles their father left them during his escape to Chicago. The horrors that are seen at the reformatory are not only those of the haints, but the people who run the place and how horribly they treat young black boys. In this book that takes place in 1950's Florida we see racism and segregation. There is mention of rape, sexual assault and we see child abuse. I did enjoy this but there were points in the story where it just felt long and the pacing slowed it down in certain parts. Overall this was a fantastic story and I'm looking forward to reading more from the author.

I really loved this outlook on racism during Jim Crow. It was an incredible “haunting” that I just took as your actions will always come back to haunt you.

This story covers a family who is trying to get through the judicial system in Florida in the 1950s after 12 year old robert Stephan kicks his white neighbor Lyle McCormick after he made a pass at his 16 year old sister Gloria. Robert’s punishment is to go to a school for boys called the reformatory where he runs into some boys dead and alive. Whether they’re living or not they have a story to tell and how they may have succumbed to death. Haddock who is in charge of the school is desperately trying to get rid of these ghost and I wonder why.

I am now a Due fan. This book was AMAZING! Yes, I did get chills and had to put the book down often because as a Black person, I know my not so distant ancestors went through what Robbie went through as well as Gloria, and it’s hard to read, but I pushed through. Needless to say, I was terrified every time I turned the page, and that’s a good thing. Due’s writing is vivid and the imagery is immaculate to someone who has a full motion picture in their head as they read.

It was almost impossible to put this book down. The words haunting, devastating, and horrifying kept coming to mind. I would stay up late to finish chapters, so invested in and connected to these characters that I had to know what would happen, despite understanding it would undoubtedly be some new, fresh brutality — the ever present threat of serious physical harm and death never leaving my mind.

The Reformatory is a work of fiction, but it’s also inspired by real life experiences. Black kids were disproportionately sent to “reform schools”, Indigenous kids were sent to “residential schools” — it was impossible to read this and not be horrified knowing that hundreds of thousands of kids experienced similar atrocities for no other reason than the color of their skin. That’s also part of what makes it a must read. It’s important, unflinching, and so well written. It transcends genres — don’t let the horror label deter you — and exemplifies everything I love in a great book.

This story will stick with me for a long time.

Thank you to Galley/Saga Press for the arc!

The Reformatory is a brutal, heartbreaking story set in the old South in the days when good old boys would not think twice about lynching a Black man or child for looking at a white woman.
When 12 year old Robbie defends his sister from inappropriate advances he gets sent off to reform school. More than just a punishment for Robbie, this is a plot intended to make his father come out of hiding.
Robbie's father was accused of a crime he didn't commit and skipped town before they could murder him, leaving his children behind with an elderly woman.

This reformatory is more a prison than a school, where the living inmates barely outnumber the dead. Many boys never left after not surviving their sentence thanks to the brutal treatment by the sadistic warden who relished any chance to torture the boys for any slight or made up infraction of his rules. The warden and the children are often plagued by ghosts.

If this sounds familiar, you may have seen the real life news stories about the human remains found at the now closed Dozier School, where it should be noted that the author had a relative who did not survive.

The writing depicts the language of those days. If child abuse and racism require trigger warnings for you then you may not be able to handle this book so proceed with caution.

The pacing was a little slow at times but by the final third, I was nearly sick with worry over whether or not Robbie would survive.

4 out of 5 stars
My thanks to Gallery / Saga Press

I just finished this book with an involuntary said-to-nobody “holy shit”. This is definitely going in my top five books of 2023. Historical fiction isn’t usually something I veer towards, but the synopsis and this being categorized as horror had me take the chance. I’m so glad I got this one!

This isn’t in the horror category because of the ghosts (or haints, as they are called in the book); it’s because of the people. I’ve always said living people are more scary than ghosts, and that’s why haunting stories don’t usually satisfy me. The people in this novel are more horrific than the haints could ever be. If horror isn’t your normal genre, I still recommend this one, but there are trigger warnings (Child abuse, rape, pedophilia, racism, and the n-word).

This story is set in the small town of Gracetown, near the Florida capital, Tallahassee. The year is 1950, and this is the Jim Crow south, where segregation is still prevalent and racism runs rampant. One day, Robert “Robbie” Stephens Jr., and his sister, Gloria, were walking to their colored school when, as always, they passed the McCormack’s land. Their neighbors are wealthy, white and wicked. When one of the boys starts getting inappropriate with Gloria, Robbie kicks him. Let’s just say, a young black boy touching a rich white man’s son was not taken lightly. Robbie was convicted of assault and was sentenced to six months in The Reformatory. With his mother dead, and his father hiding in Chicago after being falsely accused of raping a white woman, Robbie has little to lean on.

Superintendent Haddock is a white man who runs this “school” with an iron fist…and whips…and broomsticks. Basically, he seems to think that the boys, especially the “colored” ones, are his own personal property, and he treats them as such. A minor infraction could send a child to the Funhouse - a place that is most definitely not fun; a place that ends with you in the infirmary or graveyard, depending on the misdeed. Gloria knows what happens to boys there - and that she needs to get him out. Over the years, dozens of boys have died here, and now appear as haints to those capable of seeing them. Robbie can’t become a haint. He isn’t even a teenager yet.

The book is suspenseful, sad, horrifying, thrilling, touching, original and hauntingly beautiful. As my followers know, I love horror with heart, and this has it. The story was heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. The writing was flawless, as were the characters. During the ending, my heart was in my throat, and it stayed there for the last hundred-or-so pages. I can’t recommend this one more highly, and it gets five stars from me.

(Thank you to Gallery Books, Saga Press, Tananarive Due and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.)

“Black history is Black horror.” —Tananarive Due

The Reformatory is a devastating but absolutely essential historical horror novel about a barbaric reformatory school set in the Jim Crow South in 1950. The story follows Robert Stephens, a young boy that gets into a mild altercation defending his sister and is sentenced to six months at the brutal Gracetown School for Boys. His sister, Gloria, is facing her own struggles and is desperate to rescue her brother. In addition to the violence and trauma inflicted on him at the “school”, Robbie suffers from terrifying visions of ghosts (haints) that have perished there.

Although this book is fictional and has supernatural elements, it is based on the true injustices that countless lives have faced at the Dozier School for Boys in Florida. Due’s own great-uncle was a victim found buried in an unmarked grave with several other missing boys. It was heart-wrenching to read about how these characters were mistreated, abused, and even murdered simply for the color of their skin. The story served as a solid reminder to never let America’s shameful past bleed into the future. Impactful and very well written. I’ll be thinking about this eye-opening read for some time to come.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This is such a horrifying story told with beauty, rawness. and brutality. This is such a classic in terms of horror and the perfect novel to represent the genre. It was a blast to read it for Halloween, and I loved every single aspect of the well fleshed out characters. 5 stars.

In Florida, 1950, Robert and Gloria’s father is chased out of town on false charges, but his real “crime” was asking for better pay and conditions for African American workers. Their mother has already died of cancer, so they are left in the care of an elderly friend. Then while protecting his sister, Robert kicks the privileged son of the McCormacks, who are wealthy and powerful landowners. With the bang of a gavel, Robert is sent to The Gracetown School for Boys, a strict reform school. This is a place of death, torture, and pain, especially if you are not white. And it is also full of ghosts, or “haints.” Robert’s not the only one who can see the haints, but he can see them better than most, a gift he will soon regret. Meanwhile on the outside, Gloria is desperately working for his release.

This is a heart-wrenching novel with a paranormal twist. The saddest and most horrible fact is that this school is based on a school of another name that actually operated in Florida. The evil that exists in the school is powerfully portrayed through both man and spirit. The fate of many of the young boys who were tortured and killed will leave the reader in tears. The paranormal twist brings the deaths to the forefront in a strong and unforgettable way. Gloria’s role as Robert’s constant who will never give up shines through in a light of hope, as does another special character Robert sees in the school. The evil is personified in so many people, and not just murderers, but racists, corrupt judges, and those who shrugged and looked the other way. It is a well-written but deeply horrifying novel that the reader will not, and should not, forget.

I received a free copy of this book from the publishers via The Historical Novel Society. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

HOLY COW. This is my first time reading Tananarive Due's work and it will certainly not be my last. Explicitly laid bare, this novel takes place in the Jim Crow south (Florida). While primarily at home in the horror genre, so much historical fiction is within this story as well. Its a heavy read so I did find myself putting the book down at moments (but very quickly returning!) and diving back in. Happy pub day! Read this book!

Five stars for The Reformatory! The first thing I was drawn to was the authors dedication to her great-uncle who died at a school for boys. I knew that this wasn’t just a scary story to the author. That these boys’ stories and the topic overall would be handled with the upmost care without shying away from the painful details. From the very beginning I felt like I fell into this book and was watching it from the inside. Every character from the janitor outside the courthouse to the secondary boys at the reformatory felt totally realized. This is also one of the few split narrative books I’ve read where I was equally captivated and enthralled by both sides, not rushing one away to get back to the other. Anything by Tananarive Due is now an automatic read for me!

June 1950 Gracetown, Florida. The climate, both seasonal and emotional is hot and muggy. The country as portrayed in THE REFORMATORY and in real life, is divided so radically, you can see the lines and smell the fear and hate. A 12 yr old black boy is sentenced for defending his sister to 6 months in a reformatory where the rules are designed to insure the young men come in but never come out. Although a work of fiction, there was indeed such a school, the Dozier School for Boys and a relative of Tananarive Due survived a stay at the school, barely.

Robbie sees "haints", spirits left behind when death claimed a life. Robbie has never had reason to fear these spirits but the boys sentenced to the reformatory who died there will show the dangers experienced by so many. As Robbie fights to survive every day, his family is struggling for release but to most, he's just a black boy who got what he deserved. This is a painful story. The pictures it paints of this era in American history has been exposed so many times that too many people have become immune to the emotions and indignation that should automatically be part of the response to the story, fiction or not. Due has done an excellent job of reviving Robbie's story. Readers should do their part and never forget that this awful part of history is not that far in the past. Read and share, keep it alive.

Thank you Netgalley for the E-arc of this title!

Woo….where do I start…

Set in the Jim Crow era, the reformatory holds back no punches. It is fast paced, and that’s an impressive feat considering it is almost 600 pages. This is my first book by this author and it will not be my last.

This will go down as a classic in horror literature,

The Reformatory is a modern epic about a young boy, Robert, who is taken away to a boys reform school and his sister, Gloria, who refuses to stop fighting to get him freed. Split between Robbie and Gloria’s perspectives this incredible work of historical fiction examines the many injustices of the 1950s South, and how the echoes of this cruelty reverberates in the systemic injustices today. I have a very selective, but short list of books that genuinely bring me to tears, and this one is firmly in that category. This was an incredibly difficult book to read, but it was an incredibly important one. I usually have a harder time reading longer books, and this one is almost 600 pages, but the absolute expert level pacing from the author made this borderline unputdownable. This is easily my favorite book of 2023, because it’s exactly what I called it in the first sentence. It’s an epic work of literature. It’s definitely the book that’s going to resonate and last in my mind the most out of anything I’ve read this year. Brutal, haunting, relevant, and heartbreaking, The Reformatory isn’t just a horror novel, it’s one of the most impactful novels I’ve ever read.

My review will be posted on my Instagram @boozehoundbookclub this month

“The Reformatory” is Tananarive Due’s masterpiece. A gut wrenching kick in the teeth of a ghost story. Inspired by the horrors of the Dozier School for boys Due tells the story of Robert Stephen’s junior and his sister Gloria. Robert is sentence to 6 months at the reformatory for kicking a white boy setting into motion a ghost story that will stay with you for a long time after. A horrifying tale of the monstrosity and evil of racism and white supremacy told with beauty, ferocity and heart. A must read! Thanks to Netgalley for this arc.

THE REFORMATORY by Tananarive Due is an exceptional narrative of trauma and an intimate sociological unflinching gaze at a horrific chapter in American history, its prequels, and the tremendous toll on individuals, families and extended families, neighborhoods, communities; and on integrity, character, compassion, goodness. I think very few will be able to read this heartwrenching narrative without empathy, horror, and tears.

Several years ago I first read of infamous Florida Boys' School in a Jefferson Bass mystery. A year or so ago I read a nonfiction account of the Dozier Boys' School. Here, Ms. Due fictionalizes a story from her own family history, bringing incredibly vivid detail, from the perspective of a Black Family living in North Florida in 1950, a region where slavery might not be legal or obvious, but all the effects and the power of authoritarian [White] rule was still present, real, and constant.

Release October 31.