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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
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English
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THE TAKING OF JAKE LIVINGSTON

Ryan Douglass

Get Out meets Danielle Vega 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 the 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.

Ryan Douglass was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, where he currently resides, cooking pasta and playing records. He enjoys wood wick candles, falling asleep on airplanes, and advocating for stronger media representation for queer Black people.
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Published 2021-07-13 by G. P. Putnam’s Sons

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Pride.com (1.20M UMV) covered THE TAKING OF JAKE LIVINGSTON in their 2021 LGBTQ+ YA Round-Up!: Jake Livingston is one of the only Black kids at St. Clair Prep, one of the others being his infinitely more popular older brother. It's hard enough fitting in but to make matters worse and definitely more complicated, Jake can see the dead. In fact he sees the dead around him all the time. Most are harmless. Stuck in their death loops as they relive their deaths over and over again, they don't interact often with people. But then Jake meets Sawyer. A troubled teen who shot and killed six kids at a local high school last year before taking his own life. Now a powerful, vengeful ghost, he has plans for his afterlifeplans that include Jake. Suddenly, everything Jake knows about ghosts and the rules to life itself go out the window as Sawyer begins haunting him and bodies turn up in his neighborhood. High school soon becomes a survival gameone Jake is not sure he's going to win. Read more...

Distractify (16.91M UMV) featured THE TAKING OF JAKE LIVINGSTON in its YA LGBTQ themed books roundup!: The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass is a horror-dark academia novel pitched as Get Out meets Danielle Vega. Jake Livingston is having trouble fitting in at St. Clair prep, especially being one of the only Black kids and overshadowed by his brother. To make things more difficult, Jake can see the dead! When Jake meets the vengeful ghost Sawyer, high school becomes even more difficult - perhaps even haunting. Read more...

Bustle (43.01M UMV) included THE TAKING OF JAKE LIVINGSTON in its "43 Most Anticipated New Books of July 2021" roundup! As one of the few Black students at a majority-white prep school, Jake already feels isolated from most of his peers - and that's not to mention his ability to speak with the dead. His life gets infinitely more complicated when he meets Sawyer: the ghost of a local boy who killed himself and six other students in a recent shooting at another school. Sawyer wants something from Jake, but will the living survive this game with the dead? Read more...

JAKE LIVINGSTON has been climbing the Amazon charts over the past 24 hours, ranking in Teen & Young Adult Ghost Stories (#2 now vs. #73 last night), Teen & Young Adult Fiction about Prejudice & Racism (#5 now vs. #156 last night), and Children's Books (#522 now vs. #24,803 last night). The book has also jumped over 83,000 spots on the Amazon Top 100 in Books, from #84,916 last night to #1,315 this morning.

The Taking of Jake Livingston is a New York Times Bestseller - #6 Debut YA

Crucial social commentary and insight into the ways discrimination can isolate and depress young adults. Lush and emotive prose chronicles Jake's journey... Spooky, atmospheric, and layered.

PopSugar (17.97M UMV) highlighted the book in their "Best YA Books of July" roundup: Between being a medium and dealing with the racist teachers at his school, Jake Livingston's life is more than a little bit complicated in The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass. Jake thinks things might be getting better when Allister, a new student who catches Jake's eye, arrives at the school, but the presence of a vengeful ghost quickly makes crushing on the new boy the least of his problems. Read more...

July 2021 YA Debut Author Interview Read more...

Gizmodo (20.96M UMV) featured THE TAKING OF JAKE LIVINGSTON in its Sci-Fi and Fantasy July new releases roundup: This book's teen hero is dealing with two very unpleasant situations: he's tormented by his racist teachers, and he's a medium forced to help dead people who realise he can see them. Just when romance sparks with a new boy at school, the ghost of a school shooter begins to haunt him with a vengeance. Read more...

Buzzfeed (128.54M UMV) featured THE TAKING OF JAKE LIVINGSTON in their "2021 YA Fantasy Books" roundup and raved: "This book is absolutely incredible, chilling, and a must-read." Read more...

We have another TikTok influencer viral video on our hands! Yesterday, @kimmybookss (43.7K), one of our Penguin Teen influencers, featured a THE TAKING OF JAKE LIVINGSTON video review that has already accrued 105.4K views and 42.9K likes + over 750 comments in less than 24 hours on TikTok. She shares in her review: "This book right here changed my life... This book ate me up and devoured me and I was in the world, I was stuck, and I love it." Read more...

Portuguese (Brazil): Record

This YA debut by Ryan Douglass is 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... Read more...