Jake Livingston is one of the only Black kids at his mostly white high-school. He doesn't have a lot of friends and he mostly keeps to himself due to the bullying he endures from other students. To make things even more complicated, Jake is also a medium. He see's the dead all around him and often has trouble concentrating on school and making connections with people. The dead people he see's are usually harmless, but that all changes when he meets the ghost of Sawyer Doon. Sawyer took his own life after shooting and killing 6 kids at his own school and now Sawyer's ghost wants to get revenge on the people he was bullied by. Jake must figure out how to stop Sawyer's ghost before he hurts anyone else.
The book jumps between two POVs- Jake and Sawyers. I was a little conflicted at first reading Sawyer's chapters, I didn't want to sympathize with someone who would shoot up a school and feel no remorse. After reading more I understood that his POV was meant to give us a glimpse at what pushes someone over the edge like that. It was heavy reading and I can see how the events leading up to the shooting caused him to snap.
I loved the Black Queer representation in this book found myself wanting more of the romance piece of the story. I know it was meant to be horror and not romance but I wish we had gotten to know Allister better and seen their relationship grow more. I felt like Allister was introduced so late in the story and it just left me wishing for more. I loved watching Jake's character grow throughout the book. This was actually probably my favorite part, seeing him start to accept himself and be more comfortable with who he is. The paranormal aspect of the book was very spooky and the descriptions were vivid but I found myself confused quite a bit about how it all works. I am the kind of reader that likes to have magical/paranormal powers and aspects explained really well, and the astral projection and other paranormal parts weren't explained in this book, leaving me confused on what was going on, especially at the beginning of the book. As the book went on I started to kind of understand a little more but still had a lot of questions.
This would be a great book for spooky season and I would recommend to horror fans and YA fans! 4/5 stars!
Thank you to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for this ARC.
TW: racism, bullying, school shooting, suicide, abuse, attempted sexual assault of a minor, homophobia, violence
The book jumps between two POVs- Jake and Sawyers. I was a little conflicted at first reading Sawyer's chapters, I didn't want to sympathize with someone who would shoot up a school and feel no remorse. After reading more I understood that his POV was meant to give us a glimpse at what pushes someone over the edge like that. It was heavy reading and I can see how the events leading up to the shooting caused him to snap.
I loved the Black Queer representation in this book found myself wanting more of the romance piece of the story. I know it was meant to be horror and not romance but I wish we had gotten to know Allister better and seen their relationship grow more. I felt like Allister was introduced so late in the story and it just left me wishing for more. I loved watching Jake's character grow throughout the book. This was actually probably my favorite part, seeing him start to accept himself and be more comfortable with who he is. The paranormal aspect of the book was very spooky and the descriptions were vivid but I found myself confused quite a bit about how it all works. I am the kind of reader that likes to have magical/paranormal powers and aspects explained really well, and the astral projection and other paranormal parts weren't explained in this book, leaving me confused on what was going on, especially at the beginning of the book. As the book went on I started to kind of understand a little more but still had a lot of questions.
This would be a great book for spooky season and I would recommend to horror fans and YA fans! 4/5 stars!
Thank you to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for this ARC.
TW: racism, bullying, school shooting, suicide, abuse, attempted sexual assault of a minor, homophobia, violence