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The Taking of Jake Livingston cover art

The Taking of Jake Livingston

By: Ryan Douglass
Narrated by: Kevin R. Free, Michael Crouch
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Summary

An Instant New York Times Best Seller!

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.

©2021 Ryan Douglass (P)2021 Listening Library

Critic reviews

A 2022 ALA Rainbow Book List Pick

A 2021 Tor.com Young Adult Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Best Book Pick

A 2021 Black Caucus American Library Association Best of the Best Booklist Pick

“This book is absolutely incredible, chilling, and a must-read.” (BuzzFeed)

“An exceptional blend of genres - horror, mystery, thriller, and contemporary - that brilliantly captures how Jake, a Black gay teen medium, copes with the varying kinds of violence threatening him.... Douglass creates a clever and effective parallel between what Jake can't control - racism and how his body is perceived, a toxic father, an irresponsible brother, his mother's expectations - and his fight against Sawyer. The story builds to a rewardingly chilling and sentimental climax, as Jake must look deep within himself for the power to break the cycles of harm entrapping him.... An extraordinarily crafted exploration of agency during Black gay teenhood.” (Shelf Awareness)

“A teenage version of Get Out, and you will not be disappointed.... Author Douglass looks at race and trauma and death with a comical and horror-esque twist.” (The Root)

What listeners say about The Taking of Jake Livingston

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a not to me missed ya thriller

A fabtsically gripping YA thriller about a boy called Jake, who as a medium becomes haunted by the sprint of a high school shooter.
Expertly performed in multiple POV this story touches on issues surrounding, homophones, racism, mental health and the teen experience.

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  • Overall
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Gripping and Fun!

I loved the way the story split across two perspectives, the distinct voices of both Jake and Sawyer made them feel distinctive and the relationships Jake and Sawyer had with not only their peers and family but with the reader felt believable and intimate 💖💕

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