The Taking of Jake Livingston

By: Ryan Douglass

Narrated by: Kevin R. Free, Michael Crouch

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)

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

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!

A solid 3 for story, narrators not my fave.

I honestly thought the concept of the story was so cool. New, original, and different, but I think the narration may have thrown me off. The performance was a bit lackluster at times and the “screams” throughout felt like a grown man whining. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Definitely read trigger warnings but if you like diverse books I would actually suggest it. Author is a POC, the MC is as well and is also LGBTQ+

speechless

words can't express the awe that I felt listening to this wonderful performance! the characters are amazing, the world building and going with Jake as his crazy story unfolds is awesome! one scene in particular had me cheering for Jake, but I won't tell.
read! listen! JUST DO IT!!!

Gay black teen romance

This book is truly one of a kind. I’ve never come across anything quite like it, and I can hardly find other stories featuring gay Black male teen protagonists—aside from two other books. If I could forget anything in the world, it would be this incredible book, just so I could relive the experience of reading it for the first time. The emotions it stirred in me were unforgettable.

The Taking of Jake Livingston will always hold a special place in my heart as my favorite book. It’s so inspiring that it has motivated me to write my own story, because we, as African American gay boys, deserve more than just a handful of books that speak to us. I want to send all my love to Ryan Douglass for creating something so powerful and unique.

This isn’t just a great book because it’s rare to see someone like me reflected in its pages; it’s a great book because Ryan Douglass captures so much reality within a fictional ghost story. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever read before.

This is also the first review I’ve ever written. Normally, I’d skip reviewing something and move on, but this book deserves my time, my energy, and my thoughts. Thank you so much for creating this masterpiece, Mr. Douglass. I deeply appreciate your work.

Sincerely,
Jerry

P.S. Thank you.

I’m sorry it ended

This is the first story I’ve experienced in a very long time that I didn’t want to end. Ryan Douglass is a genius and I am looking forward to many more delightful, intriguing and beautiful stories in the future.

I genuinely love this book!

I was just looking for something a little spooky to listen to well doing some Fall cleaning and stumbled upon this. All the characters were really well-written, and they seemed really realistic. It's not the scariest thing I've ever read but it definitely has its moments. The narrator also did a really good job differentiating the voices and not making the female characters sound ridiculous. Also, I really liked the commentary about queer media and just the general struggles of coming out in the book. A lot of depictions of coming out in Media is so bombastic and unrealistic, this felt like such a personal and realistic depiction of it.

one thing I will say is that the book is pretty dark at times which I wasn't expecting (i think cuz it was labeled a teen book). It was fine for me, but I will say if you're extremely sensitive to child abuse, sexual assault, racism, homophobia or school shooting imagery, you might want to wait a bit on this book.

Loved this story!

Initially, I was a bit taken aback by the narrator and was going to return the book, but he grew on me and the story was quite intriguing. Highly recommend this listen.

is this me but supernatural?

I found Jake very relatable, this book has every genera I love how this story fits with anyone's life though any character it's scary how well you can relate to any character 10/10 recommend