The Haunting of Tyrese Walker

Product Information

Hi there, I'm JP Rose and I'm the author of The Haunting Of Tyrese Walker which is a psychological horror set in Jamaica. It'll will be my first teen/YA novel, although it won't be my first book published as I've written many other books for adults, however I've always wanted to write for teens and YA, and after 10 years as a published adult author, I finally decided to take the leap. It's taken me long enough! Why did you choose to write in third person rather than first person, and was it difficult at times to explain Tyrese's feelings without it being in the first person? I really enjoyed the mixture of local folklore and Jamaican mythology in this story and it made for a decent YA read.

It was important to me to be authentic, however, writing full Patwa for the Jamaican characters might exclude some readers as unless you know the dialect or can hear it in your head it can slow down the reading experience and I didn't want that as it was important that this book was for everyone. I still wanted readers to feel Jamaica and experience it so rather than make the characters speak full Patwa, I sprinkled it with Patwah, along with phrases and Jamaican sayings, which hopefully gives readers a real sense of authenticity. The ending of finishing on hope was always there, always important to me, though I didn't know quite how it would end until I got there! I do think about the characters and wonder what they would be doing now, so maybe one day I might revisit Marvin, Tyrese or even Ellie, who knows! I Loved How Every Character Was Shrouded In Mystery That I Felt Very Understanding Of Tyrese’s Mental State As I Began Questioning Everyone’s Motives And What They Were Saying 😵‍💫

Format

The Shadow Man was my own creation and Jamaican folklore is so interesting I wanted a wide audience to know about it. A celebration of the culture and country as it were. I knew a lot about the folklore, but I still researched as it was important to get it right, plus I love researching and I found out a lot I didn't know. Tyrese can't explain what's going on and he's scared that he's losing his grip on reality. Then Tyrese is warned he's being hunted by the mysterious Shadow Man. Under threat, Tyrese and his friends set out on a terrifying journey across the island to try and uncover the Shadow Man's sinister history. Who can Tyrese trust when his own mind is falling apart and there's nowhere left to hide? About This Edition ISBN: The use of patois and Jamaican supernatural lore is both interesting and educational, it doesn’t matter if like me you know nothing about these things as the book makes it accessible for everyone and I came away wanting to learn more about the subjects.

I was greatly impressed by JP Rose’s The Haunting of Tyrese Walker which uses grief, loss and mental health as a convincing basis to build an excellent horror story which could be read by both Middle Grade and YA audiences. It was creepy and unsettling rather than outright scary and because it was not particularly gory or violent it should attract a wider audience and such was its quality it deserves to. It was a compelling read and I sped through it in a few sittings, I also adored the use of the Jamaican folklore, which had me reaching for Google to find out what the supernatural references of ‘Duppy’ and ‘Soucouyant’ meant. The story was also beautifully paced, had a clever way of eliminating adults from the adventure and had three terrific main characters. It was also refreshing to read a novel with a boy as the main character, as these types of books are virtually always dominated by female narratives. Equally so, I enjoyed the fact that the author did not feel the need to throw in a developing romance, as the story really did not need it and the importance was how Tyrese Walker overcame his own personal, painful and complex inner demons which were portrayed incredibly sensitively. Tyrese has been struggling with grief and all the feelings that come after the loss of a loved one at such a young age.Tyrese can’t explain what’s going on and he’s scared that he’s losing his grip on reality. Then Tyrese is warned that the mysterious Shadow Man is hunting him. Under threat, Tyrese and his friends set out on a terrifying journey across the island to try and uncover the sinister history of the Shadow Man. Who can Tyrese trust when his own mind is falling apart?” I loved hearing about other cultural stories and the way the story all unwinds to keep Ty's own current life situation as key, his confused and guilty thoughts very well portrayed and dealt with.