November 2022 Book of the Month | Longlisted for the Jhalak Children’s & Young Adult Prize 2023 | Shortlisted for The Branford Boase Award 2023

After his father’s death, Tyrese Walker spends time in Jamaica, refusing to mourn. After Tyrese is targeted by the mysterious ‘Shadow Man’ he vows to find out why he is being targeted. Alongside his cousin (Marvin) and their friend Ellie, the three children vow to find out why Tyrese is being targeted. Rose said: “Having been adopted, natural curiosity as a teenager led me to discover more about my birth family: my paternal heritage being a wonderful diversity of Jamaican and Nigerian. And it was while visiting family for the first time, I initially heard about duppies. Even all those years ago, they sparked my imagination, and I immediately knew this captivating part of Jamaican folklore was something I one day wanted to write about. To have had the opportunity to celebrate a part of my heritage by writing this contemporary horror story with diversity and inclusion at its heart has been amazing. Did you ever intend that Tyrese would have a different end to this story? Do you think you will write a sequel to this book, maybe following another character's story or another mystery? Author JP Rose's first YA novel, The Haunting of Tyrese Walker, is a gripping psychological horror story. JP Rose was born in Manchester but was raised in Yorkshire after her adoption. Growing up she suffered extreme racism, though she continued to be proud of her diverse and rich heritage of Jamaican, Nigerian and Anglo-Irish. As a child she found herself writing stories as a form of escapism and to combat her loneliness. She trained as an actress but eventually moved into writing and she is now the author of numerous novels for adults. She is the owner of several horses, dogs and cats and lives in the countryside with her family.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? The Haunting of Tyrese Walker' by J.P. Rose is a stunning achievement. Chilling and warm, full of terror and heart, I was completely engrossed. A fusion of Jamaican folklore scares with mental health themes, especially in terms of grief, this psychological horror for older children is both important and nail-biting. I loved it! 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? The tension in this creepy ghost story is almost as oppressive as the stifling heat of the island and, like Tyrese, readers will find it hard to tell what is real and what’s not.

Remember how it felt to be the age your character is, and write honestly from that perspective. Don’t try to get in a ‘message’. If you have a story idea, try to tell it in the most interesting way you can without worrying about whether it fits a particular mould or trend. Sometimes the most dramatic, moving or surprising moments in a book can be found in a line of dialogue in a quiet scene, rather than in a frenetic action scene. If in doubt – make it funny! I’ve got a theory that readers and audiences always remember the funny bits the most. I’ve always been a fan of the psychological nature of ghost stories, especially when it is based in the every day. It’s a delicious way of exploring the human mind and the unreliable narrator, it’s also a way of exploring more difficult subjects. I also was intrested in writing a haunting ghost story as I found that actually when you look, there aren’t that many out there for that vital age between upper middle grad to lower YA. Plus, the challenge of creating fear and tension purely with the written word was an exciting challenge. 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. I adore psychological horror, and it can be a fantastic vehicle to explore and navigate difficult emotions, issues and situations, feeling like one of the few places to experience fear safely. And although I’ve always written adult fiction, my passion, my desire, was to write and tell stories for teens and young YA. Despite the obvious differences writing for adult readers (I felt a huge responsibility to create an honest portrayal of the complex relationship young people can have with grief), I found the whole process empowering, cathartic and uplifting. 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 loved that Tyrese as a character felt so real and his story so truthful. It is great to see a young character dealing with the trauma of losing his dad. Parental death is not something portrayed in MG books and I feel like it helps for kids to feel represented.

I'm not a fan of ghost stories, but I could definitely appreciate this one, where the heart of the story is not so much ghosts but Tyrese's grief at losing a beloved father. And I very much enjoyed seeing the setting, culture and language of the island, and feel it's beneficial for young readers to experience different lives to their own.What will happen to Tyrese and his family? The Haunting of Tyrese Walker is a great story that will be sure to scare a teen or two out there. Well written, touching on subjects that people may find difficult such as grief, as well as managing to incorporate mystery and a dash of horror

Where and when do you do your best writing? What do you do when you lose motivation with your writing? When the adults in Tyrese's life can't help him, he must band together with his cousin Marvin and new friend Ellie to uncover the reason why he is being singled out. They must find a way to save his family, reveal the terrifying history of the Shadow Man and release Tyrese from his clutches. Will Tyrese finally face his inner demons and inability to face his father's death when he discovers it might have something to do with the events that are unfolding? Then fast forward years later when my mum died, I was heartbroken and it was a very painful time, but it also got me thinking how it would be for young people to deal with grief, how difficult it might be for them to work through it, that's really where the idea of Tyrese Walker came from. Then over a time it built in my head, and I wanted to combine the themes of grief and mental health with Jamaican folklore, and it really just went from there. You’ve written crime novels for adults. What are the challenges and rewards of writing for young people? We follow Tyrese, Marvin and Ellie as they try to save themselves from the duppies and daemons of Jamacia. What does the shadow man want with Tyrese? They dig up stories of grief from the past as they try to figure out who the shadow man is and how they can stop him, We also follow Tyrese on his journey of grief and you see his character go through all the stages of denial, anger and finally acceptance – it was beautiful to read.He, Marvin and a new friend called Ellie, herself left to her own devices by a busy father find themselves running round the island, escaping unknown enemies and not-quite-real beings, and have no idea what's going on. Who is the Shadow Man who seems to be after Ty - and why? 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! The Haunting of Tyrese Walker is both skin-crawlingly creepy and beautiful. It magnificently and powerfully links supernatural activity & grief together, so much so I was mesmerised. Tyrese enlists the help of Marvin and a new friend, Ellie, to try and find the answer to the unbelievable goings on. They find themselves delving deep into the mystery of nineteenth century experiments upon dead bodies that blur the line between science and fairy tales, evoking some classic horror tropes in an original new setting.