Thank you to Bookish First for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Jake Livingston is one of the only Black students at St. Clair Prep, the other being his more popular older brother. Jake just wants to get through high school so he can leave his small town behind. But Jake can also see the dead, which while creepy and stressful, usually isn’t too bad. He observes the dead until he meets Sawyer, a teen who shot and killed 6 of his classmates before killing himself. Sawyer is still out for revenge though, and he changes everything Jake thought he knew about ghosts.
.
I may have read like 70% of this in one day and it was stressful in the best way. This novel alternates between Jake and Sawyer's POV. As we get to know these boys, we see how their paths in life have differed even though both come from poor backgrounds. Ultimately, I have zero sympathy for Sawyer, he did a terrible thing, had zero remorse about it and was ready to do it again. He needed to be thrown in a volcano or something. But I do understand his character, and this insight is what Jake needs to go up against him.
.
This book is seriously spooky. Maybe I am a chicken with horror (probably true) but this book definitely had me side eyeing the dark corners of my apartment. We also see Jake dealing with his anxiety throughout the book, which the ghost murder plot did NOT help. But I loved seeing how Jake coped with it and how resilient he was.
.
I seriously enjoyed this book. The only thing that I was a bit confused on was how the ectomist worked. Which is like ghostly energy? I don’t even really know. It’s ghost goo, let’s go with it. Regardless, I really enjoyed this debut and I’m eager to see what else Douglass writes!
Jake Livingston is one of the only Black students at St. Clair Prep, the other being his more popular older brother. Jake just wants to get through high school so he can leave his small town behind. But Jake can also see the dead, which while creepy and stressful, usually isn’t too bad. He observes the dead until he meets Sawyer, a teen who shot and killed 6 of his classmates before killing himself. Sawyer is still out for revenge though, and he changes everything Jake thought he knew about ghosts.
.
I may have read like 70% of this in one day and it was stressful in the best way. This novel alternates between Jake and Sawyer's POV. As we get to know these boys, we see how their paths in life have differed even though both come from poor backgrounds. Ultimately, I have zero sympathy for Sawyer, he did a terrible thing, had zero remorse about it and was ready to do it again. He needed to be thrown in a volcano or something. But I do understand his character, and this insight is what Jake needs to go up against him.
.
This book is seriously spooky. Maybe I am a chicken with horror (probably true) but this book definitely had me side eyeing the dark corners of my apartment. We also see Jake dealing with his anxiety throughout the book, which the ghost murder plot did NOT help. But I loved seeing how Jake coped with it and how resilient he was.
.
I seriously enjoyed this book. The only thing that I was a bit confused on was how the ectomist worked. Which is like ghostly energy? I don’t even really know. It’s ghost goo, let’s go with it. Regardless, I really enjoyed this debut and I’m eager to see what else Douglass writes!