A review by autumn_alwaysreadingseason
The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.0

Robert and Gloria Stephens are living on their own after their mother dies and their father is driven out of town. When a white boy from the town's biggest plantation makes advances at his sister, 12 year old Robert kicks him in the shin. A judge sentences him to 6 months at the Gracetown School for Boys. Gloria tries legal avenues to get him out because she knows there are boys that don't come back from the reformatory and the ones that do are never the same. 

Robert sees ghosts. He has talked to his mother's and at the reformatory he is surrounded by so many souls that can't move on. When the Warden and his lackey find out his ability, they task him with being the "haint catcher." But the ghosts don't like that because they want to see the Warden stopped. 

While there is a supernatural element, the true horror is in the every day events based off reality. The boys are subject to so much abuse and the Warden manipulates them through torturing their friends. Robert is often warned that what he's seen isn't the worst of it and he wonders how much worse it can get. The Warden is absolutely vile and the people who work for him are all complicit, choosing to participate or look the other way. Nobody is advocating for these boys. But Robert has Gloria. He just needs to help the ghosts. 
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