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Karen grew up in New Zealand on a farm—there was plenty of time for roaming and room for imagination. Later she worked with exporting businesses where she met a lot of really interesting people (from someone who kept tanks full of eels, to another whose business made huge machines for chopping down trees). She learned that everyone has a story to tell.
When her two children were young she home-schooled them for five years—there was lots of reading books on couches and figuring maths out in the sunshine! Her homeschooling highlight was spending almost a year travelling around Europe with her family. They loved seeing so many places and meeting so many different people (and eating so many different foods!).
Karen has always written stories, mostly for her writers group. She loves to put something of her joy of living and love of family into her writing. She still lives in beautiful New Zealand, near to the beach, along with her two teenage kids, two cats and a goat called Milly.
Reviewed by Hilary Hawkes for Readers' Favorite
The Trespasser by Karen Cossey is a well-written modern day mystery adventure story. Logan is the thirteen-year-old foster child of Steve and Abby. He meets Meeka and her rich and famous parents when they stay at a nearby clifftop lodge. When the two families get to know each other, Meeka enjoys sampling “normal” life for a few days. But then Logan, his older foster brothers and sister, and Meeka stumble on a smuggling operation and get caught up in a dramatic and dangerous adventure that includes secret tunnels, rock falls, being abducted and threatened, escape, bike racing, and finding their way out of a fire.
I particularly like children’s books that do more than just tell a good, exciting story. The main characters in The Trespasser have all experienced some kind of trauma or difficulty in their young lives and I like the way they are drawn together in friendship and the way these friendships help them move forward in their lives. The past experiences of Cossey’s characters reflect reality for many children then, and this does give the book an added element that is special and important and I really liked this. The children’s pasts undoubtedly affect the way they respond to the criminals they encounter and their determination to look out for each other.
I loved Meeka’s desire to be an ordinary child, away from the fame and riches, and her family’s sense of fun and love for each other. Her life contrasts with the pasts of Logan and the other foster children, but there is a similarity in that they all need the security that comes with normality and family love. There is plenty of exciting mystery, adventure and escape from danger as well as the fun of rock climbing, bike racing and family camps on the beach. There is some threatening of the children with guns by the smuggler gang, but this is in keeping with the characterizations and story line. An enjoyable action and crime story that older children or younger teens are sure to enjoy.
