The Taking of Jake Livingston
Books | Young Adult Fiction / People & Places / United States / African American & Black
3.6
(516)
Ryan Douglass
An Instant New York Times Bestseller!Get Out meets Holly Jackson in this YA social thriller where survival is not a guarantee.Sixteen-year-old Jake Livingston sees dead people everywhere. But he can't decide what's worse: being a medium forced to watch the dead play out their last moments on a loop or being at the mercy of racist teachers as one of the few Black students at St. Clair Prep. Both are a living nightmare he wishes he could wake up from. But things at St. Clair start looking up with the arrival of another Black student—the handsome Allister—and for the first time, romance is on the horizon for Jake. Unfortunately, life as a medium is getting worse. Though most ghosts are harmless and Jake is always happy to help them move on to the next place, Sawyer Doon wants much more from Jake. In life, 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 Jake. Suddenly, everything Jake knows about dead world goes out the window as Sawyer begins to haunt him. High school soon becomes a different kind of survival game—one Jake is not sure he can win.
Horror
Young Adult
Thriller
Paranormal
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More Details:
Author
Ryan Douglass
Pages
256
Publisher
Penguin
Published Date
2021-07-13
ISBN
1984812548 9781984812544
Community ReviewsSee all
"Really cool creepy book. I enjoyed this during spooky season but also has some real things going on. "
Skye Edelson-Bennett
"I’m sorry but I really didn’t like this. It didn’t flow well at all. And it was so confusing."
Z G
Zariah Grant
"It was actually a pretty good book! In my opinion, it wasn’t scary…? It was definitely a ghost story, for sure. It’s a quick read (at least for me) but it’s still good nonetheless. Definitely one of those books where you forget you’re reading."
Quinno Wuinno
"For his first book, Ryan Douglass hit the nail on the head for a spooky, deep, introspective, and gay story! This is an absolute must read (pay attention to TW though)!"
Marygrace Ryan
"gay people and ghosts! count me IN"
Elliott
"Fast pace, interesting read."
Andrea Vick
"Terrifyingly disturbing... I loved it."
Loki Loki
"This book did take me some time to get into. But I really liked the ending of it. It’s really sweet."
Bryce Pedrosa
"I really enjoyed this. I don't often read YA fiction cause it falls into a lot of tropes but queer YA fiction seems to be on the rise and I'm here for it. I appreciate this book for tackling horror as well as addressing the stress of being a gay Black kid who is trying to contend with his abilities as a medium, being in the closet and attending a majority white school. It was a refreshing read and I'm happy to have experienced it. "
Onika Jancetic
"I was really excited to read this book and I really wanted to give it a higher rating, but this book was just “okay” in my eyes? 3.5/5 mainly for the solid (and adorable) lgbtq+ rep and storyline. But I felt the world building of Jake’s abilities was not nearly as fleshed out as it could of been. With this book being only 240ish pages, so much could of been added in regards to that.<br/>And I continued to find the point of view of Sawyer just really unnecessary and was kind of taken aback by it to be honest? <br/>Overall, really wanted to love this, but didn’t totally hit the mark for me."
Kelly Sarna
