The Haunting of Tyrese Walker

I dipped into this arc, thinking I'd only read a few pages as I had other things planned, but I ended up reading throughout the night. I have always thought the term, couldn't put it down to be rather a silly phrase, but that was my experience with this book. I feel rather emotionally drained by the extraordinary journey I was taken on. The writing was superb. Mesmerising. The highest of standards. Poetic but without slowing the narrative. The descriptions of Tyrese's mental health issues which are triggered by grief and the black outs, have been beautifully and cleverly crafted by JP Rose. The horror elements truly frightening. As a librarian for many years, I read a huge amount and I have never been particularly drawn to the horror genre and as this book is a Teen-Ya read, I would normally only read for suitability for the library/book club/ordering, but with this book, there is something unique and powerful about the story and the writing. It feels very special. I haven't felt so moved and haunted by words and the journey of the protagonists, as if I was actually there, since I read books such as, A secret history, The Kite runner, which shows the sheer brilliance and uniqueness of the story. It is an extraordinary read which both teen-YA and adult readers will be thrilled and moved by. I hope it is read far and wide, and I doubt I shall read a better book for a very long time. Thank you to Andersen for this arc for an honest review.

The Haunting of Tyrese Walker is a resonant, chilling work of YA horror.

It follows Tyrese Walker who is in Jamaica with family, and struggling with his grief & guilt.

He commits 2 ‘sins’. Firstly, he fails to take superstition seriously—beware The Shadow Man; and secondly, he fails to let love & hope in.

This sets off a chain of unsettling events. And it’s now up to him, his cousin, and a newfound friend to undertake a journey that will force him to reckons with his ‘sins’.

Two questions take hold of the narrative:

Will Tyrese uncover the truth of The Shadow Man?

Will Tyrese let love and hope in?

These two questions underpin the second half of J.P. Rose’s story and she delicately unpacks them masterfully. In ways that burrow under your skin.

I confess I don’t read much horror, but I am struck by the thought that this is what horror ought to provide: visceral reflections of deeply human experiences.

The Haunting of Tyrese Walker slowly builds suspense by revelling in the anguish of Tyrese before satisfying the reader’s patience with an epic, spin-tingling journey!

A slow burning suspenseful YA horror that builds in suspense and tension as the pacing of the plot increases. It was dark and creepy Nand I loved it. A real page turner that I read in one sitting.

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.

The story opens with Tyrese arriving in Jamaica with his mother to stay with his grandmother and cousin Marvin for the summer. The boy has struggled to recover from the death of his father some months earlier and is overcome with grief with his mother hoping the change of scenery will do some good. However, rom the first night, strange things start happening: impossible visions, blackouts, swarms of insects, and the discovery of a grave hidden deep in the forest… Tyrese can’t explain what’s going on and he’s scared that he’s losing his grip on reality. However, friendship develops with his cousin and a girl called Ellie who is visiting the island with her developer father. This leads to a mystery which takes in Jamaican folklore and the possibility that he is being hunted by a boogieman type character called the ‘Shadow Man’ and together they uncover a rash of unexplained disappearances and uncover the Shadow Man’s sinister history. The supernatural mystery element, which included some great possession scenes and freaky scenes of people with hooves were great, but the portrayal of Tyrese and how he deals with his grief stole the show. The book carefully shows the reader how grief can change you, but that the power of friendship can trump than. This was a terrific read and is highly recommended. AGE RANGE 11-14

After his father’s death, Tyrese Walker refuses to mourn and shuts down at the mere mention of his father. In an effort to help him, his mother travels with him to Jamaica to visit his Grammy and cousin Marvin, in the hopes that being home will help Ty come to terms with what has happened. When Ty sees a mysterious figure in the mountains near his Grammy's house, he quickly finds out that he has been targeted by the 'Shadow Man', a paranormal figure in West Indian folklore. Strange things begin happening to Ty and with the help of his cousin and their new friend Ellie, the three children take off on a journey to save Ty from the duppies and paranormal entities haunting his every move.

I very much enjoyed this book, I devoured this in one sitting as I simply could not put this one down. However, I didn't realise until a little under halfway through that the book leans more to the middle-grade/younger side of the YA spectrum. However, the descriptions of the various duppies and the haunting scenes got under my skin far more than some more 'adult' YA horrors that I've read ever have.

The main theme present in this book is grief, and how grief can change a person. Ty, as a character, I didn't like, which I think may be an unpopular opinion given the previous reviews I've read. He let grief consume him and make him a rather spiteful and hurtful character, and it was only as I reached the halfway point and realised he's not an 18 year old and is likely no older than 13/14, that I realised he's a child and cannot fully comprehend and process his grief, and therefore, the way he spoke to his elders, his peers, was probably a rather accurate portrayal. I do think this hindered my experience of reading his character's development, as I just found him unlikeable from the get-go and therefore, it was harder to shake these feelings. If I knew he was a child going into this book then I think his journey and acceptance of what happened to his father would have been more profound to me, especially the scene when he finally listens to his father's voicemail and subsequently defeats the 'Shadow Man'.

I really enjoyed the mystery surrounding Levi Campbell and his son, and I was so eager to find out more about the 'Shadow Man', the missing, the duppies and other paranormal entities, and what happened all those years ago.

Overall, this is a very solid YA/teen paranormal horror, steeped in Jamaican and West Indies folklore and tradition, which only added to my curiosity. I found myself googling practically everything for a little more background, and to me that's the sign of a well-written plot. The descriptions in this book were as beautiful as they were creepy, and I did very much enjoy J.P. Rose's writing style. I'd definitely read more from this author!

I could not put this down!

My students are crying out for horror and creepy books that are age appropriate and this ticks ALL the right boxes!

It paints a picture of an island full of mysterious and uncanny events - at times the hairs on the back of my neck stood bolt upright! However - it is also a story of grief, and loss, and processing death with support from those around us.

I would definitely read this in class and will be stocking multiple copies in the school library!

I really enjoyed this book, dealing with an difficult topic, the loss of a parent, JP Rose did a brilliant job of portraying Tyrese’s pain and difficulty of expressing himself to his family along with the supernatural element with the candy man style demon he encounters. I loved all the characters and will definitely look for more books from this author.