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    Help for the Haunted: A Novel
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    Help for the Haunted: A Novel
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    Help for the Haunted: A Novel
    Ebook520 pages8 hours

    Help for the Haunted: A Novel

    By John Searles

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    “Part ghost story, part coming-of-age story, John Searles’ Help for the Haunted is a dazzling, dark portrait of a troubled family beset by the supernatural. Searles ratchets up the tension with every passing chapter, and delivers authentic and well-earned scares--all written through the lens of a lonely teenager searching for answers. The result is a novel both frightening and beautiful.”
       — Gillian Flynn

    An unforgettable story of a most unusual family, their deep secrets, their harrowing tragedy, and ultimately, a daughter’s discovery of a dark and unexpected mystery.

    Sylvie Mason’s parents have an unusual occupation—helping “haunted souls” find peace. After receiving a strange phone call one winter’s night, they leave the house and are later murdered in an old church in a horrifying act of violence.

    A year later, Sylvie is living in the care of her older sister, who may be to blame for what happened to their parents. Now, the inquisitive teenager pursues the mystery, moving closer to the knowledge of what occurred that night—and to the truth about her family’s past and the secrets that have haunted them for years.

    Capturing the vivid eeriness of Stephen King’s works with the compelling quirkiness of John Irving’s beloved novels, Help for the Haunted is that rare story that brings to life a richly imagined and wholly original world. From the very first page, it takes readers on a captivating journey, told in the heartbreakingly resonant voice of a young heroine who is determined to discover the truth about her family and what went wrong one snowy winter night.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateSep 17, 2013
    ISBN9780062199430
    Author

    John Searles

    John Searles is a New York Times bestselling and award-winning author. His books are published in over a dozen languages and have been voted “Best of the Year” or top picks by Boston Globe, Entertainment Weekly, Salon and the American Library Association. He has appeared on NBC’s Today Show, CBS This Morning, CNN, NPR’s Fresh Air and other shows to discuss his books. 

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    Reviews for Help for the Haunted

    3.5/5

    280 ratings45 reviews

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    • 3/5
      What is Ed and Lorraine Warren had kids? I feel like this is the main idea in this story. Did not go where I thought it was going to. Also, I hated the older sister. UGH. I did like it, but not as much as I wanted to.
    • 2/5
      Ugh, I didn't think a book with this sort of premise could be so slow. I'm all for suspense and setting a scene, but eventually something has to actually happen. Not finishing, and by now not really caring how it ends. Glad it was a library book.
    • 4/5
      It's 1989, and Sylvie and Rose Mason are the daughters of religious ghost hunters. Very late one winter's night the Masons are called to the town church to meet Rose, who has run off again. Sylvie waits in the car, until a terrible noise urges her inside. Rose isn't there, but a murdered is. Another shot rings out, and Sylvie awakens at the hospital with tinnitus, an orphan. Released into the care of her angry, wild older sister (who has finally turned up), Sylvie must try to come to terms with her new life, her estranged relationship with Rose, the mockery of the town for her parents' questionable livelihood, and all that she never really knew about her parents.

      The synopsis and blurbs from other authors suggest that this will be a scary haunted house tale or riveting thriller. These statements are somewhat misleading. There is certainly an undercurrent of menace running through the novel. The Masons are involved in very mysterious activities, giving lectures on spirit activity and meeting with supposedly haunted people. They're loosely based on Ed and Lorraine Warren, ghost hunters involved in many supernatural investigations throughout the 70s and 80s. The occult museum in the basement and haunted doll locked in a case are borrowed from the Warrens. The gothic elements of the story add a spooky tone throughout, but this is where the `ghost story' plotline ends. The real plot is Sylvie's journey: her sister has little to do with her, the police are pressuring her to swear under oath about who she saw in the church that night, she's mocked by the town kids because her parents `were weird', her only other living relative is AWOL, and she has several strange encounters that make her question her parents, their work, and the family relationship she thought they had. A brilliant overachiever, the good daughter, the responsible kid, Sylvie embarks on a journey to learn the truth about her parents' career and their death.

      I seldom use the phrase "page turner", but this one really was. I had all the elements of a 'somethings really off" story...you just had to see if the next chapter would explain it all but each chapter just dug the reader a deeper hole.
    • 4/5
      Interesting and spooky-- this book kept me guessing, which is great, and then was kind of a let down, which isn't great. A fictionalized and neat look at the Warrens (the couple who are the object of another fictionalized enterainment, the movie "The Conjuring".) Some clunky dialogue that took me out of the story occasionally.
    • 5/5
      Help For The HauntedByJohn SearlesMy " in a nutshell" summary...Silvie and Rose...two sisters living alone after their parents have been involved in a horrible and violent crime.My thoughts after reading this book...All that I can say is that this book was an amazing thrill ride that contained meticulously crafted complicated characters. It is the story of a family deeply involved in the reality/unreality of ridding others of demons. Sylvie and Rose are the daughters drawn into this world because of what their parents do. This book pretty much has everything...a complicated parental relationship, confused daughters, strange mysterious characters, mystery, a horrible crime, an evil uncaring sister, questions about sexuality and a weird clown doll! Yikes! To me this book was about the unraveling of a crime that was committed and the awakening for Sylvie about what her parents were and were not. What I loved about this book...This book is Sylvie's story...her struggles with her sister, her struggles at school, her struggles with what really happened to her parents. I loved this author's writing, I loved the way the story flashed back and forth, I loved learning about Sylvie's parents, I loved that this book never for a moment was stale or boring. It was mesmerizing!What I did not love about this book...Sylvie's life with her sister was so sad. Rose was so awful. Popsicles for dinner, not getting her clothes, not paying her money that she earned and not being truthful were just a few of the offenses Rose committed against her sister. Final thoughts...I found this book to be so intriguing, so intense, so good...I literally read it nonstop through the weekend. It was that good!
    • 5/5
      John Searles' new novel is one of those rare books that envelops, absorbs, and encompasses you completely. From the very first chapter I was completely drawn into the world Searles created: it’s 1989, and Sylvie and Rose Mason are the daughters of religious ghost hunters. Very late one winter’s night the Masons are called to the town church to meet Rose, who has run off again. Sylvie waits in the car, until a terrible noise urges her inside. Rose isn't there, but a murdered is. Another shot rings out, and Sylvie awakens at the hospital with tinnitus, an orphan. Released into the care of her angry, wild older sister (who has finally turned up), Sylvie must try to come to terms with her new life, her estranged relationship with Rose, the mockery of the town for her parents' questionable livelihood, and all that she never really knew about her parents.The synopsis and blurbs from other authors suggest that this will be a scary haunted house tale or riveting thriller. These statements are somewhat misleading. There is certainly an undercurrent of menace running through the novel. The Masons are involved in very mysterious activities, giving lectures on spirit activity and meeting with supposedly haunted people. They're loosely based on Ed and Lorraine Warren, ghost hunters involved in many supernatural investigations throughout the 70s and 80s. The occult museum in the basement and haunted doll locked in a case are borrowed from the Warrens. The gothic elements of the story add a spooky tone throughout, but this is where the ‘ghost story’ plotline ends. The real plot is Sylvie’s journey: her sister has little to do with her, the police are pressuring her to swear under oath about who she saw in the church that night, she’s mocked by the town kids because her parents ‘were weird’, her only other living relative is AWOL, and she has several strange encounters that make her question her parents, their work, and the family relationship she thought they had. A brilliant overachiever, the good daughter, the responsible kid, Sylvie embarks on a journey to learn the truth about her parents’ career and their death. Suspense is created by the complex construction of Searles’ narrative. Sylvie’s memories are interspersed with present day happenings, but Sylvie’s memories are not chronological and are often muddled. The reader is encouraged to try to piece together the narrative timeline and work out seemingly unconnected occurrences. Sylvie, as much as she wants to better understand her parents and the events leading up to their death, is also afraid to learn the truth and shatter her illusions about her family. She will start and then stop parts of her investigation, leaving the reader wanting more information or clarification. We feel very tenderly for Sylvie—her childhood was tough, she was under a lot of pressure to be the opposite of her sister, her mother’s time and effort were often taken away from her by all of the people in the Masons’ lives coming for help. Sylvie had to be selfless. She had to be good. She was taught to respect her parents and not ask questions. Her very investigation seems to Sylvie like a betrayal of her parents, even if it’s in pursuit of their murderer. Though sometimes unrealistically precocious, Sylvie is likeable, vulnerable, and wise beyond her years. A word on Searles’ prose style. As I said above, I was completely lost in this book. Searles has the rare gift of utterly disappearing from his text, and this is a wonderful thing. Some authors are intrusive: they insert themselves into the text, make asides, make their politics known, etc. Searles deftly constructs a narrative that unfolds seemingly by itself, without authorial guidance. Instead of employing hackneyed metaphors and similes, Searles uses such moments to insert anecdotes about Sylvie’s life. Rather than saying, “Sylvie’s heart beat quickly” he tells the story of Knothead, the bunny Sylvie’s sister Rose had as child, fed carrots and living out in the backyard, wanted by Rose and then forgotten. It had a tiny, frenzied heart that went tic-tic-tic. Sylvie’s heart beat like that. In this way Searles beautifully and unobtrusively builds up the characterization of his players and provides their backgrounds. I felt like I knew these people, I had become so wrapped up in their lives. The ending was so poignant that I wept. At the heart of fantastical (the murders, the hauntings) is a troubled family, which can sometimes be the most frightening thing of all. How well do we know our mothers, fathers, sisters? Would we still love them if we truly knew them? These are the questions Searles poses with subtlety. Help For the Haunted is a beautiful , transporting novel, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
    • 5/5
      This book is very spooky in an atmospheric way. It is not a mad slasher book. If you like a cast of dysfunctional characters that have no coping skills for day to day life this book is for you. The plot centers around a couple with a pair of teenaged daughters. The parents make a living by speaking to and trying to help people with paranormal problems. The girls have adopted some strange coping skills to deal with their parents unusual celebrity. Everything takes a turn for the darker when the couple are murdered in a church. The tension builds as the younger attempts to answer the mystery of the deaths of her parents. If you enjoy this genre, you will really like this book.
    • 4/5
      John Searles' quiet thriller spins out it's web of plausibility slowly and carefully. We are introduced to the daughters of two murdered spiritualists -- a couple who spent years helping those who are haunted or possessed -- through the eyes of the younger daughter trying to keep secrets in and horror out. The perspective in this novel is one of the best uses of point-of-view I've seen in a while -- the reader peels back the pages of this family's history with the same pace and the same occasional confusion as that young woman. We see what might be true and what should be doubted with the clear trust of a child, a teenager, a daughter. The puzzle pieces come together in measured fashion throughout the novel -- until the very end, when the reader is jolted into a sudden understanding of something we might have thought was a throwaway line 200 pages ago. Whether you will take pleasure at the twisting reveal or hum with rage at having your attention tricked toward other distractions depends on what kind of reader you are. Either way, this is a pretty good mystery to take on.
    • 2/5
      This was really more of a mystery than a horror novel, and I'm not a mystery person so I was disappointed. I found it slow-paced and a little boring (as I generally find most mysteries), a little long in getting to the meat of the story, and a LOT depressing. No real supernatural elements, and in the end I found it to be just a sad story about a sad girl being raised by her sad, neglectful sister from a sad family who never understood what it meant to love one another. But again, I don't care for mysteries, so if you DO like them, just take this review with a grain of salt.
    • 4/5
      Help for the Haunted is a really good read. A family so filled with secrets, that even the family members themselves don't know them all, at least not at first. To say that this is a tragic story is to minimize the pain and the loss, I think. Each and every member of a family that makes a living in an unusual manner is dramatically affected, as are the lives touched by the adults in this family. The capacity for love in the mother is so completely overshadowed by hate, and anger and lies, that at times I found myself wondering if I misread something, or misunderstood. Or If perhaps I had been fooled. That turned out to not be the case, as the deceit and worse is uncovered page by page.Sylvie is the youngest member of the family. If there is such a thing as normal, she comes the closest to it. For this reason, she is the one I found myself feeling the closest to, and the one who seems most in need of help and sympathy. But make no mistake, she is young, she is quiet and she is very intelligent.Rose, the mother has so completely disappeared that she con't even find herself. When she married, she gave herself over so completely to her husband that she seems to no longer have a thought of her own. Rose the daughter suffers from being a bit to world wise and and more than a bit too free with her words and thoughts. She is an enigma. But is she good or evil? Is she right about her family and their secrets, or is hers the biggest secret of all. This is what we hope to have revealed as we time travel with Sylvie from what was, in the days before...to what life is like in the present.The head of the family is the one who so quick to draw your attention, and to hold onto it by any means when he has it. Perhaps he is the only one who knows what really goes on the basement. The dark cellar with the mysterious lights and even more unnerving, the sounds. He discourages his daughters from descending the stairs, but are the subterranean goings on the worst of it all? Or is it the mysterious late night calls that have the parents slipping quietly out the door?This is far fro being a fast paced thriller, it is much more a slow story that pulls you in and keeps hold of you, until you finally reach the end of the story. And even then, you wonder if it really is the end. Who is really the hero? Are there any victims here or simply desperate people who don't know where to turn. And are there really answers to any of the questions?There are answers, as it turns out, but they are not simple, and they are not definitive. They are well worth waiting for.This is a good read. Recommended.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. It is not a thriller as described but more of a mystery. The book follows Sylvie Mason as she tries to figure out what really happened the night her parents are killed. Her parents are ghost hunters and while many people believe in what her parents do, many do not. I couldn't put this book down.
    • 4/5
      I liked this book but it took awhile to get there. I thought it was supposed to be suspenseful or scary. One I realized that it wasn't, I began to enjoy it for what it is; a story of a girl trying to make sense of the lives her parents lived, the truths and untruths she has been told. She has to remember and put all the pieces together in order to know who she saw killing her parents. This is well-written though a little slow at times but one I would recommend.
    • 4/5
      This is a mystery/suspense novel in paranormal drag, and it was a great read: complex and engrossing, yet fast-moving. When the Masons, a celebrated pair of paranormal investigators/exorcists, are murdered, their daughter Sylvie is the one who accuses a suspect, but as time goes on she begins to doubt herself. As the story unfolds in a nonlinear manner, we learn about Sylvie’s troubled elder sister (and about what troubles her), and we learn different perspectives on whether the Masons were gifted psychics or pure charlatans.I liked all the characters in this novel, especially the ones I didn’t like! I had a few reservations about the narrative: it was first-person from Sylvie and she was plainly holding out on us sometimes - she knew more than she was telling and the withholding felt a little awkward. Not a big complaint, though, in a good story that ended up being much more about family relationships than about ghosts or murder.
    • 5/5
      Oh my! This book had me spellbound. I was glued to my seat reading late into the night with this one! Just because of the title I thought at first it was going to be a ghost story but no, no, no this is an intense psychological suspense which held me in its grip right until the very end. I just couldn't believe who the killer ended up being, I was so shocked but then part of me was like, "Oh, wow! That makes so much sense." There had been clues and when I had finished I immediately had an impulse to start all over again to see if I could find them. Now that I knew what to look for, LOL. I don't often feel like re-reading a mystery. I just loved everything about it: the setting, the characters, the doll, the paranormal topic. I have read sooo many books this year but this is one of my favourites of the year, especially, for a mystery; it deals with so many unique topics and it stays creepy from beginning to end. Loved it! Wonder if Searles' other books are anywhere near this good?
    • 3/5
      First, be aware this book is much more literary drama than paranormal suspense. While the author tries hard to give the story a scary, ghostly edge, the plot is simply too slow to create any sort of tension or fear.I enjoyed Sylvie's character. Searles does an excellent job of putting us in the mindset of a teenage girl. Sylvie's parents come to us in memories and flashbacks throughout the story. The pieces are woven together nicely, but I think the constant back and forth disrupted the flow and made the pace even slower. Despite my best efforts, I didn't particularly like either of her parents and, consequently, couldn't sympathize with their situation at all.The writing is full of beautiful prose. I enjoyed the way the words ebbed and flowed with a literary rhythm. But they often didn't go anywhere. We did a lot of beautiful meandering.The last 30 or 40 pages give us a faster pace, a couple nice twists, and a satisfactory ending. Overall, it took so long to get to our destination that I'd lost a lot of my enthusiasm for the finish line.
    • 5/5
      Originally slow in pace, as the pages accumulate, the story grabs and doesn't let go. It's been awhile since I read something that keep me reading way past bedtime.Told from the perspective of young Sylvie, the reader, like Sylvie, tries to make sense of a highly unusual family. A dominant, self centered father is in charge of his wife as she works with him to help those who need to banish the evilness of possession and those haunted by unwelcome spirits. Telling the children not to go into the basement, where a bright light shines throughout the day and night, sets the stage for fear inside and out. Sylvie watches her calm, prayerful mother and loves her dearly. While she wants to love her father, she gets glimpses of his selfishness and secrets. Sister Rose, smart mouthed and defiant hates the scorn of the neighbors and what she perceives as quackery of her parents. When Rose gets too big for her britches, the father simply sends her away to what appears to be a reform school. Filling in sentences for Sylvie, her father negates any communication regarding truth or consequences. All to soon, the consequences are two murdered parents, found in a church before the altar.Sylvie thinks the man who murdered her parents is a disgruntled customer whose possessed daughter is now missing. Scheduled to testify in court against this suspect, as the story unravels, Sylive begins to have grave doubts.The book is more than a who done it tale, it combines insightful character development, an examination of the unknown of psychic powers, and a lifestyle as spooky as those who claim to help others while damaging their own.A must read! Five Stars
    • 3/5
      This is the story of Sylvie (it is told from her perspective) and her family (parents and sister, Rose). Her parents are very religious and help those who feel they are being haunted. One night they are murdered and Sylvie wants to learn why.Although, a beautifully crafted story with well-developed characters, it started off mysterious but is more of a character study then a suspense or horror story. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I wanted more and became disinterested halfway through the story.
    • 4/5
      Sylvie Mason is a young girl trying to make sense of her family and the world. Her older sister Rose is angry and often estranged, and their parents are very religious ghost hunters.One cold night, the Mason's receive a late phone call asking them to meet the estranged Rose at the local church. The parents take Sylvie along. When the father is gone for several minutes, the mother goes into the church looking for him. Sylvie falls asleep, but is startled awake by loud gunshots. She turns off the car, and approaches the church. Her investigation leaves her orphaned and confused.Angry and rebellious Rose takes custody of Sylvie. Things only get worse, as she is detached and offers no answers or security for Sylvie. The town ostracizes Sylvie and their family based upon the fact that the parents were known ghost hunters, even advertising their "Help for the Haunted".Sylvie sets out to find answers about her parents, her sister, their basement, and the paranormal activity surrounding them all. Both curious and afraid, the journey is confusing and difficult for Sylvie.John Searles has written a very intense novel. The title is fitting for the field that the Mason's worked in, but also for Sylvie's journey for answers.
    • 4/5
      When it comes to "well-written" stories, whatever that vague term may mean, Help for the Haunted surpassed my wildest expectations. The story follows Sylvie Mason, who is trying to come to grips with the sudden murder of her parents - two self-proclaimed demonologists who give lectures and assist spiritually-afflicted people. Sylvie is now under the care of her older sister, Rose, who proves to be a misguided and neglectful legal guardian with a secret she is determined to keep from Sylvie.

      The story is firmly centered around the death of the Masons, with chapters alternating between the events leading up to their death and the secrets and the mysteries left behind in the wake of their murder. This seems to be a common narrative technique in modern psychological thrillers, where the story is told from either two points of view or two time periods until the very end, when everything comes crashing together in the final climax. It's an effective device, and it pretty much ensures that the reader will be helpless to stop turning the pages. In addition, Sylvie is one of the best young protagonists I've read about in a long time. She comes across as intelligent, determined, and genuinely affected by her parents' death and the stigma surrounding her entire family without being melodramatic, whiny, or any of the other character flaws that plague teenage protagonists.

      Side note: I'm not sure if I'm the only person who drew this connection, but after recently seeing The Conjuring, I drew a lot of similar parallels between this story and the story of supposed real-life demonologists, Ed and Lorraine Warren. I have no way of knowing if they provided any sort of inspiration for this novel, but I certainly saw a lot of similarities.

      In a way, this may have lessened the impact of the novel's climax. Despite chilling spiritual and supernatural overtones, it was obvious to me that the book was heading towards a much more earthly and human conclusion, yet I hoped in the back of my mind that I would be wrong, that there would be some sort of unnatural, demonic presence by the end of the book. That's just an indication of the types of books I enjoy reading, but I have to admit I was a little let down by the rational ending.

      Although it didn't have the spiritual presence I was hoping for, I was thrilled to find another psychological suspense novel to add to my growing collection of fantastic titles,, and I think this would make for a good suggestion for just about any reader. Chills, mystery, and drama without being gratuitously violent.

      Readalikes: Mother, Mother - Koren Zailckas. This story about a mysterious and dysfunctional family uses two different narrators to tell an increasingly horrific story of manipulation and control. Although it has more of a venomous bite than Help for the Haunted, the reactions and emotions it evokes are quite similar, and the female protagonist proves to be unusually smart and resourceful.

      Reconstructing Amelia - Kimberly McCreight. The true story of a high school girl's death is pieced together using flashbacks and clues uncovered by the girl's determined mother. Another effective and realistic suspense novel without over-the-top objectionable material.

      Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn. This book seems to be the new standard for psychological suspense, but it has a lot of the same qualities. Two dueling perspectives combine for a dramatic and satisfying plot twist. Violence & language are much harsher in this novel, though.

      The Unseen - Alexandra Solokoff. The pacing in both titles is measured and deliberate, then increases in intensity by the last third of the book. Both deal with the supernatural, but The Unseen, although it hints at a much more human explanation, satisfyingly delivers a paranormal-fueled ending.
    • 5/5
      I truly loved this book, definitely one of my favorites this year. HELP FOR THE HAUNTED is a suspenseful mystery novel and coming-of-age story in one, and I was so excited to discover that it was set in the 1980s! Fourteen-year-old Sylvie Mason was a curious and complex heroine, and wow, she has an intriguing story to tell.Whenever the phone rang late at night, I lay in my narrow bed and listened.Sylvie’s parents help people who are haunted by malevolent spirits, and they’ve become somewhat famous for their unique abilities. Mr. and Mrs. Mason tried to keep Sylvie and her older sister Rose away from their work, but that was impossible to do. Troubled clients and odd paranormal paraphernalia made their way into the Mason home over the years, not to mention the constant phone calls from haunted souls desperate for help. Then one February night, they receive a call that changes everything. The family is led to a small church on that snowy night, and the tragedy that results puts Sylvie on a quest to discover the truth about what really happened.HELP FOR THE HAUNTED is told from Sylvie’s first person point of view, and it alternates between the time before and after that night at the church. I loved the eerie atmosphere of the story and the puzzling mystery. The author did a fabulous job keeping me guessing about what was really going on. Was it real? Who was telling the truth? Who could Sylvie trust?I love a book that can pull at my heartstrings and creep me out at the same time, and HELP FOR THE HAUNTED did just that. I know I’ll never look at a Raggedy Ann doll the same way again. Eek!
    • 3/5
      Author John Searles generally writes well in "Help for the Haunted." With only a few glaring exceptions, the plot is interesting, the characters are full and intriguing, and the settings and dialogue ring true. Searles is particularly good at creating vivid imagery, and turns many clever and evocative phrases that belong in a more riveting book than this one. When "Help for the Haunted" isn't slow, its pacing is downright tedious. Be also warned, disappointment awaits readers drawn to the book primarily because its title bodes a story steeped in the supernatural or paranormal. "Help for the Haunted" is far more a straight whodunit murder mystery story populated with irretrievably sad and broken (i.e., "haunted") people, than one meaningfully steeped in anything traditionally considered occult.
    • 4/5
      I'm not normally a fan of Gothic-ghost story type stuff, but lately have found a taste for it in some of the recent YA lit coming out. I heard about this book from someone or other who read a review and heard an interview with the author, and then it popped up in my radar on the book sites as well. I thought this tale was well crafted, dark, but with good depth. I'm making the mistake of writing the review a week after I finished the book, and don't have my copy in front of me to refer back to, so will rely on reviews of the plot already out there to give those details. From me, you'll get that I liked the characters, I liked the way the story unfolded, with present day and then back to the time before the murders of Sylvie and Rose's parents -- parents whose occupation was helping "haunted souls" find their peace. Family dynamics in the most normal of families can be twitchy when adolescence hits, and this family was not exempt. But unraveling all the other threads that braid together to tell this tale was a nice read, and a good reminder that things are not always what they seem.
    • 4/5
      Help for the Haunted is several things all at once - a family saga with lots of secrets, a murder mystery, and a coming of age tale. Plus there's a haunted doll. In the basement. She's a Raggedy Ann.If you're a fan of Lorraine Warren (and I am, honey) then you'll know that the doll is based on Annabelle, the doll the Warrens identified as infested with an inhuman spirit and took home with them for safekeeping. Annabelle is on display at their family's Occult Museum. There's a photograph of Lorraine Warren with Annabelle that is quite obviously a starting point for the writer and what a cool reminder that stories can come from anywhere.Back to the book. Help for the Haunted is complicated, but I found its complexity and richness of scope refreshing. This is not a haunted house book, or a book about ghosts in the traditional sense, but it is about haunting and, as its author demonstrates, haunting comes in many forms. The book avoids linear storytelling by taking the reader back and forth from the present and the past and both timeframes inform the story, opening up ever new questions as the book progresses. Sylvie, the main character and narrator, is very sympathetic - a young woman adrift with her sister without her parents and in the center of a homicide investigation. Sylvie's parents were murdered in a church and Sylvie saw the murderer. There is a possibility that her sister may have been involved in the murder and the whodunit hovers over the whole tale. I rooted for Sylvie and read her story compulsively because I just wanted to know more. Smart, well-written, a great read.
    • 5/5
      The genius of Help For The Haunted is that Searles successfully combines so many genres. He gives you a heroine to care about and empathize with, some scares and chills along the way, a dysfunctional family with a secret, all the while trying to solve a murder mystery. The solution to the mystery is surprising, and I doubt that many people will have figured it out before the big reveal.Sylvie is an intriguing young heroine; she belongs up there with Stephen King’s Carrie, Roald Dahl’s Matilda and even Harper Lee’s Scout Finch. Searles has written such a real, honest, believable character. Her outsider status is one that many readers can identify with.All of the characters are richly developed here. Even a minor character, like Dereck, an old high school boyfriend of Rose, is so fully realized and I admit to a little bit of a crush on him. Uncle Howie is an interesting character as well; we don’t really know what the deal is with him. Does he love his brother or despise him?With Halloween on the way, this is the perfect time to read Help For The Haunted. If you like a brilliantly written scary book, one with interesting characters and a puzzle of a mystery, pick this one up. Just be sure to leave all the lights on while you read. And lock the basement door.
    • 4/5
      John Searles is an author I hadn't read before. Help for the Haunted is his third novel. The back cover blurb was more than enough to have me interested in the book. "... a most unusual family their deep secrets, their harrowing tragedy, and, ultimately, a daughter's discovery of a dark and unexpected mystery." Searles has achieved something that is getting harder and harder to do with this reader - he surprised me, he kept me on my toes and kept me guessing. His premise is unusual and his delivery of his tale kept me riveted. Rose and Sylvester Mason have an unusual profession - they help those who need help ridding themselves, their family or their dwellings of haunted, possessed or dispossessed souls. Their children Sylvie and her older sister, also named Rose, are aware of but not really part of the work. Until the night Rose and Sylvester are killed - by someone their parents had tried to help. A year later, Sylvie lives with her sister Rose as her guardian in the family home. Sylvie begins to question the case against her parents. Did she really see the killer? Searles moves the story from past to present, letting us be a silent witness to Sylvie's attempt to make sense of her life - and find the truth. Sylvie is such an engaging narrator. The reader just wants to protect her, to warn her, to shield her from the inevitable results her searching will bring. The other characters made me wary - everyone else seemed to have their own agendas and secrets - from sister Rose, to the neighbour, the local priest, the reporter and more.... The search kept me off kilter. I suspected everyone - and everything. For Searles spins his story so that we are never quite sure of what is real and what is otherworldly. What is in the basement? "I saw it: the yellowy glow from the basement window. After all those months of darkness, whatever it was down there had turned on the light once more." Who is the strange girl who lived with them for a summer? What is Rose trying to hide from Sylvie? Who keeps dropping off food on their front stoop? Searles slowly but surely drops hints and unexplained clues, ensuring I read 'just one more chapter' until far too late one night. The reader has to notice those bread crumbs and follow them through to the unexpected and original finale. Help for the Haunted was a completely different read for me - one I really enjoyed
    • 4/5
      Sylvie Mason has always been the good daughter compared to her sister, Rose. Sylive and Rose's parents have given the girls an interesting life- to say the least. Their parents made a living by helping people who are haunted, they often took objects or even people into their home. Sylvie and Rose's life changes drastically after Penny, a doll and Abigail, a troubled girl come into their lives. After their parents take these cases, their parents are killed. Rose is left as Sylvie's guardian and 14 year-old Sylvie is the only witness to her parent's deaths. As Sylvie tries to recollect what happened that night, she recounts her strange life in order to figure out who or what actually killed her parents.Help For The Haunted is a creepy murder-mystery that seems to be inspired by the life of the Warrens. The narration skips back and forth between time from Sylvie's childhood and the events leading up to her parents deaths and after Sylvie's parents have died, the result of this is slightly disorienting, but brings us into Sylvie's mindset. As the story unfolds, the battle of the natural versus the supernatural begin to unfold as Sylvie tries to determine what really caused all of the strange events in their lives and who really killed her parents. I was very intrigued by Penny and Abigail and why they were believed to be haunted as well as their real sources of power of people. Rose's character was an enigma, as well as an important part of the story; it seemed that no one understood her, including her parents that were supposed to be able to help children who were struggling. The ending wrapped up rather quickly as Sylvie exposed the truth of her family .Overall, a suspenseful crime thriller with plenty of supernatural elements that will keep you guessing.
    • 3/5
      I was expecting this to be a little more scary. It was good, I liked the characters and didn't see the ending coming, but it left something a little lacking.
    • 3/5
      Young girl, Sylvie, tries to solve the murder of her parents. Proof that "eyewitnesses" are inherently unreliable. A "dark portrait of a troubled family beset by the supernatural." Mother, Rose, is a kind, calming force. Daughter, Rose, is anything but. Father, Sylvester, is living a lie.
    • 5/5
      Sylvie Mason is part of a most unusual family: her parents help haunted people find peace. In having parents who deal with paranormal happenings, both Sylvie and her older sister Rose are forced into a life they don’t understand and are subjected to the jeers and teasing of their peers at school. Things become worse when the parents are lured to a church and murdered. Sylvie has a limited knowledge of what really happened that night but she can’t quite put together what she has seen. Author John Searles has written a novel that is part ghost story and part a study of human nature. The story frequently jumps to the past and back to the present with lightning quickness, but the author makes it work. Through these flashbacks, we learn more about the parents and the life of the family until past and present finally brought together and the issues are resolved. Though not all storylines are neatly wrapped up, the end is believable and satisfying. This novel has just the right amount of eeriness mixed reality to make it a compelling but not overwhelming thriller.
    • 4/5
      Sylvie and Rose Mason live in a suburban neighbourhood where theirs is the only occupied house. They are outcasts at school because of the strange occupation of their parents and their basement is filled with trophies of successful ghost hunts. Not quite the normal family life. Sylvie seems to coping but Rose is more rebellious and runs away. On a stormy winter’s night Sylvester and Rosie Mason receive a phone call from their daughter asking them to meet her in an old abandoned church in town. Despite the weather they make the drive and while Sylvie waits in the car her parents enter the church. When they do not emerge Sylvie goes in to investigate to find her parents murdered and she gets only a glimpse of the murderer. Sylvie thinks she recognizes the culprit as a man her parents had at one time tried to “help” but as the investigation goes forth family secrets start to come out and more than she ever suspected, Sylvie realizes her family is definitely not what she always believed.

      I read this book at the end of October when I wanted a good spooky Halloween read and I picked up this book thinking it was a ghost story. Nope! Then I thought is might be a scary story about a possessed doll. Wrong again! Hmm – the teasers and promos I had read about the book seem to have been slightly misleading as the book is about neither of those things, but this book is a good thriller with just a hint of the paranormal tossed in. So, it wasn’t what I was expecting but it sure wasn’t disappointing.