The Taking of Jake Livingston

By: Ryan Douglass

Narrated by: Kevin R. Free, Michael Crouch

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Survival is not a guarantee in this chilling horror novel where a teenage medium doesn’t know which is worse . . . confronting a school-shooter-turned-vengeful-ghost or enduring his racist high school.

“Spine-chilling YA horror.”—The Boston Globe

“A teenage version of Get Out . . . Douglass looks at race and trauma and death with a comical and horror-esque twist.”—The Root

Living in two worlds is exhausting and no one knows this better than sixteen-year-old Jake Livingston. His working-class, diverse neighborhood is a far cry from the world of St. Clair Prep, where he is one of the only Black students, constantly at the mercy of racist teachers and peers who don’t understand him. But when his neighbor—a survivor of a grisly school shooting—is murdered and the bloody initials of the now-dead shooter, Sawyer Doon, are left on the entryway wall of Jake’s home, Jake is forced to confront another world he wishes he could escape—the world of the dead.

As a medium, Jake sees ghosts around him all the time. Most are harmless. Stuck in their death loops as they relive their deaths over and over again, they rarely interact with people. And while for most of his life Jake has avoided them, this time there is no running away. Sawyer was a troubled teen who shot and killed six kids at a local high school before taking his own life. Now he’s a powerful, vengeful ghost, and he has plans for his afterlife—plans that include Jake. When Sawyer begins stalking him, high school becomes a different kind of survival game—one Jake is not sure he can win.

Fell short of my expectations :(

I thought I would like this book more than I did. It’s not a bad book, but the vibe isn’t what I enjoy reading. It was darker than I expected; I thought it would be a bit more like Love at Second Sight by FT Lukens. That book still had a murder mystery and heavy themes, but the aura was different. The Taking of Jake Livingston gave me the ick for a good chunk of it, mainly because of the POV of Sawyer, a vengeful ghost. Sawyer unalived himself as well as several others at his school. I’m not sure how we are supposed to feel about Sawyer; are we supposed to condemn him because he took lives, or are we supposed to pity him because we see how he was abused and neglected? I don’t know what was the author’s intent but I kinda didn’t like how Sawyer was portrayed? Also I kinda didn’t like how Jake’s mom was let off the hook for letting abuse happen to Jake.
I guess it’s supposed to be like Sawyer and Jake have parallel experiences, and showing how they respond to the cards their life was dealt? Which I also have a problem with😅 I don’t think Jake was necessarily the better person, but I feel like that’s what the book is trying to say?
I like the general concept of the book; I love ghosts, and it’s queer, and the MC is a person of color. I enjoyed the beginning and the ending lol. The conflict of the story wasn’t my cup of tea tho🥲

WOW WHAT A GREAT BOOK

Douglass does a great job of utilizing imagery to set the scene and create character development. I finished this book so quickly! He did a really great job filling in any gaps or questions, so no sequel is needed but I’d honestly read the whole series. Overall this book was great right out the gate and finished just as well! An addictive read!

great

the book is good a little slow at parts but good all around yes

Very Creative and Original

I found this book to be very unique. A storyline about a medium haunted by a school shooter morphed into an LGBT coming of age story, accepting and feeling pride in one’s identity. I loved the back and forth storylines, digging into the psychology of both medium Jake and school shooter, now demonic spirit, Sawyer. Sawyer was guided solely by vengeance against a world he thought had wronged him and despised people like him (gay people). Outcast Jake, victim of both racism and homophobia at his school, may easily have gone down the same path, taking out his frustrations in a reign of terror. However, he fought against the anger Sawyer’s spirit was steering him towards and became the stronger, better individual. I highly enjoyed this YA story.

getting into the spooky vibes in spring 😄☠️🎃👻💀

Great representation, coming of age, terrifying descriptions (trigger warnings by the way).
Had moments that was slow and were confusing, I still would recommend it!