JENNIFER LYNN ALVAREZ’s YA thriller The Trespassers is set in the frozen depths of an Alaskan winter and follows the aftermath of a house party gone wrong and the four teenagers who attempt to hide what happened.
Read on for a Q&A.
MEET JENNIFER LYNN ALVAREZ
What inspired The Trespassers?
I enjoy writing about the tension that arises when teenage friends make terrible mistakes, primarily how it tests their bonds and loyalty. To begin the story, I imagined four childhood friends with secrets from their past who accidentally (sort of) commit a crime. When the group tries to cover it up, the repercussions snowball and threaten to shatter them. I set the novel in Alaska, where I once lived. Winter in Alaska is the perfect setting for a thriller – claustrophobic darkness, biting cold and unreliable ice.
Did you draw from your upbringing to write this story and its setting?
Absolutely! Many of the Finley’s memories are my memories – attending the Fur Rondy festival in Anchorage, meeting sled dogs, loose moose in the city, the bore tide rushing in and almost drowning me, gazing at the midnight sun, and poaching salmon from the river (shh!). Finley’s condo is based on my childhood home in Anchorage. It backed up to a bog and teemed with wildlife. A cow moose slept outside my ground-level window. I also attended Finley’s school, Bartlett High, and I rode the bus like she almost did before River showed up and gave her a ride. I loved revisiting my childhood through this novel!
What themes or ideas about friendship, trust and guilt were you most interested in exploring in your novel?
There’s a negative connotation attached to ‘snitching’, especially among young people and close friends. Finley, Mya, River, and Eli don’t want to betray one another, but the police are investigating them. They face real legal consequences, and soon it becomes a question of who will crack first. I’m interested in pushing the tension and the stakes until I discover the point where the friendships snap. This is when characters find out who they are and what matters most to them.
The premise involves a house-party turning deadly. How did you approach writing such a pivotal moment?
I dived into that scene not knowing how it would turn out! I set up the situation and the characters’ personalities, then turned them loose on the page. I was as curious as I hope the reader is about what would happen next. I knew it would be bad, and it was.
What was the hardest scene for you to write?
A scene toward the very end (no spoilers), when one of the characters pays dearly for the secrets she has kept. I debated about going as far as I did, but in the end, it felt right. It felt like there had to be a dire consequence for what the friends did at the party and the morning after.
You’ve written many novels before this one. What draws you to the thriller genre?
I love reading thrillers because I never know how they will end. They keep my mind engaged and my attention off my phone! Because I love to read them, I decided to try writing them. My first was Lies Like Wildfire. It was a test to see if I could pull it off. The test was a success. I went on to write Friends Like These, and The Trespassers is my third YA thriller. I base my stories on real experiences and real places I’ve visited or lived. I enjoy writing unreliable narrators, twists, betrayals, and resolutions that answer the story’s questions while leaving the reader thinking.
What writers or works have influenced you as a writer?
Richard Adams’s novel Watership Down inspired me to become a writer. Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty taught me not to hold back the truth and that fictional characters could break hearts. I moved on to high fantasy, science fiction, and romance. I avoided mysteries and thrillers until about 10 years ago, when I read Gone Girl. I couldn’t remember reading a book where the characters lied to the reader. I became instantly hooked on thrillers. Currently, I’m inspired by literally all thriller writers and suspenseful TV shows and movies. I consume suspense the way whales eat plankton – I can’t get enough!
What do you hope teen readers feel or reflect on after finishing this novel?
I hope they reflect on the difference between how Mya handled their crime and secrets, and how Finley handled them. One girl’s moral compass spins toward loyalty over honesty. The other girl’s compass spins toward honesty over allegiance. Each girl is emotionally wrecked by her choice, so which girl is right?
I’d like a reader to ask themselves what it would take for them to rat out their friends. These are Finley’s thoughts in the book: ‘Right and wrong is for fairy tales; it’s the luxury of heroes. Real life is about survival…’
I hope readers consider the price each character paid, not only for the lies, but also for the truth. Honesty isn’t for cowards!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jennifer Lynn Alvarez received her B.A. in English from the University of California at Berkeley. She is fascinated by underdogs and power dynamics between groups of people.
She is the award-winning author of two Middle-Grade fantasy series, The Guardian Herd and Riders of the Realm, and three Young Adult standalone thrillers, Lies Like Wildfire, Friends Like These, and The Trespassers. Her books have been published in eight countries and have received critical praise, awards, and international press for their themes on friendship, bullying, personal responsibility, and climate change.
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