The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass
G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers (July 2021)
244 pages; hardcover $14.39; $10.99 e-book; $35 audiobook (or 1 Audible credit)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin
It seems impossible to turn something so pretty so ugly, but it’s not. Everything turns ugly after it’s dead.
? Ryan Douglass, The Taking of Jake Livingston
I stumbled on The Taking of Jake Livingston through one of my favorite YouTube channels, BowTies & Books. According to the channel host, BookTube collectively held its breath for the release of this YA horror story.
And I can see why.
The cover immediately pulled me in. The grim and ghostly colors, along with the look of sheer horror on Jake’s illustrated face, make this a standout on any reader’s shelf.
But, there’s more to the story than horror.
Jake Livingston struggles to relate to others, as he’s not only gay but one of the few black students at his private high school. On top of all of that, he also sees the dead.
The Taking of Jake Livingston has plenty of fun parallels to the Laika film Parnorman, but one of the predominant differences is the experience of the two adolescent mediums. While Norman talks to the dead, Jake sees their deaths on loop — in class, in the hall, hanging out with friends, EVERYWHERE — in whatever gruesome and gory way it happened. Jake refers to the place that harbors these stuck spirits as “Dead World.”
The idea of a seemingly endless hellscape, trapped reliving your final moments, was downright terrifying. And the worst part, not all of these spirits are bad, but they died unexpectedly or in a freak accident.
The blue ecto-mist entombing the dead is an additional atmospheric touch that gives this book a bit of a noir feel.
Mirroring the haunting cover, The Taking of Jake Livingston is, at times, heavy. One layer of this is within the dual perspective Douglass uses, following Jake, and Sawyer, a kid roughly Jake’s age, who shot up his school and then turned the gun on himself.
Sawyer’s character builds throughout the story mostly in the form of a confessional journal. In his writing, we see another hellscape in the form of abuse and emotional neglect. I thought this was a brilliant, though devastating, take on how horror can depict the dangers of a society, or even a family, dismissing mental health.
Speaking of heavy, Douglass also creates a metaphor for whiteness seeking to control black bodies when Sawyer’s vengeful spirit devises a plan to possess Jake. Additionally, The Taking of Jake Livingston takes on dark academia in its exploration of microaggressions and complacency toward racism in the classroom. A specific scene made me think back to reading The Crucible in high school with only one or two black peers.
Overall, The Taking of Jake Livingston is one of my favorite reads of the year. It’s atmospheric, fast-paced, and a read where no creepy element is conjured without intention.
