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Spooky Season hath commenced! Even though as I’m writing this, the forecast is calling for 90° temps all week. Over on Bookstagram, people start ramping up the fall vibes in late August & I’m extremely here for it.

I read a decent amount of horror throughout the year, but it’s always tempting to just go ALL OUT HORROR for September & October (spoiler alert: I won’t).

That said, THE REFORMATORY reads like a modern day horror classic & I’m glad to kick off my Spooky Season reviews with this one! Prior to this, I had only read one of Tananarive Due’s short stories, in the HEX LIFE anthology. I remember being really unsettled by that one, and wanting to check out more of her work. And yeah, THE REFORMATORY was so haunting & beautiful…a book filled with so much pain & rage, and one that feels so completely vital and important.

I read in an interview with Tananarive Due that this book took her quite a long time to complete, due to the somber nature of the story & her personal connections to it. Yes, it’s a ghost story. It’s also a work of historical fiction, with characters and events loosely based on people from Due’s own family (as well as other real-life historical figures…I definitely recommend Googling some of the characters you’ll meet!)

Set in Florida, in 1950 (the Jim Crow era), this is the story of twelve-year-old Robert Stephens. While trying to protect his older sister Gloria from harassment, Robert kicks an older white boy, Lyle McCormack in the knee. The McCormack family is powerful in Gracetown, where Robert and Gloria live. The kick draws the attention of Red McCormack, the head of the family, and Robert quickly finds himself sentenced to six months in the Gracetown Boys’ Reformatory.

This is ostensibly a school, but functions much more like a prison.

Robert, like a lot of kids in Gracetown, has the ability to see ghosts, mostly referred to as haints in the book. It’s this ability that draws the attention of Warden Haddock, the truly sinister man who runs the Reformatory. Haddock is a man literally haunted by his own sadistic past, and if Robert can help Haddock rid the Reformatory of haints, he might be able to steer clear of the brutal punishment & abuse that befalls many of the boys.

Trouble is, some of these haints become friends to Robert. And all of them have a story that deserves to be heard.

This is a big novel, north of 550 pages, so it would be hard to describe all the ins and outs of the story. There’s so many different elements at play in this story…for sure, it’s got the bones of a horror novel. But the historical aspect adds so much authenticity to Robert’s story. I’m not sure “legal thriller” would necessarily apply, but a huge part of the story is about how Gloria exhaustively attempts to find legal ways to free her little brother, bringing in lawyers from the NAACP.

There are moments of extreme violence in this book that readers should be prepared for. The “punishment” that is meted out at the Reformatory is literal torture, and includes whippings & solitary confinement. It’s harrowing & upsetting, and speaks volumes about the U.S. Correctional System and the way it disproportionately affects Black men.

THE REFORMATORY is a book that takes an unflinching look at the fact that there are two systems of justice in this country, one for white people, and one for Black people. The way that Robert is treated made me want to throw the book across the room at times. Oof…some of this story is absolutely gut-wrenching.

It’s also not without hope & some humor, and some really effective and chilling/scary moments. Tananarive Due is also a master at describing the environment & the sweltering Florida weather takes on an ominous persona of its own.

This was such an impactful read & with just having read the one novel, Tananarive Due has made a fan out of me.

Huge thanks to Saga Press for sending this ARC my way! THE REFORMATORY releases on October 31st!