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    Help for the Haunted: A Novel
    Help for the Haunted: A Novel
    Help for the Haunted: A Novel
    Audiobook14 hours

    Help for the Haunted: A Novel

    Written by John Searles

    Narrated by Emma Galvin

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    John Searles’s Help for the Haunted is 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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateSep 17, 2013
    ISBN9780062190550
    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

    300 ratings51 reviews

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    • 3/5
      a little creepy, but a good suspenseful read
    • 3/5
      left me haunted for little isolated Slyvie.
    • 4/5
      Very, very, very well done! The characters were fully developed, at least as developed as they can be when the protagonist is a 14 year old girl. I am an avid reader, and this one surprised me! Well done!
    • 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?
    • 5/5
      Unforgettable….
      I will carry this story with me always.
      Truly Amazing!
    • 5/5
      Help for the Hauntedby John SearlesWhat an excellent, page turning thriller! Wow! So many unknowns, secrets, mysteries, scary situations, and possibilities! Had me gripping the page to the very last page!Our young gal just a young teen, barely, and has an older and wilder sister who fights with the over domineering religious parents who are also famous Demonologists.This is a flash back and forth between present and past telling the history of various episodes in their lives coming up to the parents murder that the sister may or may not have had something to do with. That same sister who has custody of her now, and that our gal lied to the police for to keep her out of trouble. But things aren't adding up.Then there is the paranormal activity. How much can she explain away? Her parents kept the cursed objects in the basement in a special room. A doll called Penny is down there in a cage too because she was moving around the house.I loved this book. It kept me entertained and thinking. Multiple puzzles to solve, I love that! The ending was great! But when you thing back, not all was solved....wiggling scary fingers!
    • 3/5
      This novel is about a girl raised by evangelical parents who make their livelihood by driving out demons from those who suffer. There are too many options about who to believe, so the character is in a constant state of frustration and so is the reader.
    • 3/5
      Not quite sure what I expected out of this novel, but this wasn't it. And that's not a bad thing.

      Basically, it feels as though Searles saw The Conjuring, did a little reading on Ed and Lorraine Warren, and riffed on the whole doll sequence at the beginning of the movie. It's a paranormal novel that isn't paranormal. It's more about belief--belief in the right things and belief in the wrong things.

      And it's an interesting story of two sisters.

      I enjoyed the novel, and the only reason I'm giving it three stars instead of four is due to some of the clunky dialogue, especially toward the end of the novel, as well as a couple of character shifts that weren't developed enough.

      But overall, a fine novel.
    • 3/5
      Although the primary story occurs in 1989, a coming-of-age story of the youngest daughter in a two child family is told through flashbacks. The primary mystery surrounds the death of the protagonist's (Sylvie) parents, lecturers and investigators into the paranormal. Their Maryland home, a dilapidated Tudor is a beacon for a stream of visitors seeking help for a number of paranormal activities. The home's basement houses a number of supernatural artifacts, including a toddler-size rag doll named Penny, initially carried by Sylvie's mother and bone of contention with Sylvie's older sister, Rose, because the family has received negative attention regarding the sanity of their mother.An itinerant, homeless man, seeking assistance from Sylvie's parents, is accused of her parents' murders. After their death, Rose who recently reached the age of majority becomes her sister's guardian, however, she does not take her responsibility too seriously. The flashbacks set the stage for the reader to question give the reader a better understanding of this unusual family and are a wealth of "red herrings" in understanding what happened to Sylvie and Rose's parents.Although the flashbacks were necessary for character development, I found I was frequently slogging through the pages. I wish that there was a bit more action in this part of the book as I found in the unforeseen climax and the mystery solved. A good read, but not a great read IMHO.
    • 5/5
      The Masons are an unusual family, a fact that their community realizes once newspaper articles and then a book about them appear. Sylvester and Rose Mason are paranormal investigators and faith healers, but as this story takes place in the late 80's- early 90's, that's a bizarre occupation, and making things worse, they really believe in possession and spirits and have filled their basement with evil objects removed from clients.Their teenage daughter, also named Rose, is old enough to be enraged that her parents are so weird and cause the family to be the target of pranks and ridicule. But this story is told by the youngest of the family, Sylvie, who gets the brunt of the mess because she's timid and her sister's horrible behavior obligates Sylvie to always be accommodating even when it's unfair.From the very beginning the reader knows that Sylvie's parents have been murdered and that Sylvie witnessed some of what happened, but since the Masons took on the burden of several sick strangers, mostly because Sylvester was interested in the fame "curing" these people brought, there were several different scenarios that might have happened in that dark church.
    • 5/5
      Author John Searles wrote a brilliant novel, in Help for the Haunted. There is a great in-depth characterization of the main characters, so much so that a reader feels they know these people, and well. The vivid imagery of this novel had me hooked from the very first chapter, and the narrator's rendition is absolutely flawless, here. (I switched between the audiobook and ebook). In fact, this is one of those rare books that enfolds and encompasses you completely.
      The parents in the novel are loosely based on Lorraine and Ed Warren, who were ghost hunters of a kind in the 60's and the 70's. Even a few ideas, like the spooky raggedy Ann doll, were borrowed from the movie, The Conjuring. Because I've seen this movie, the parts of the book that dealt with the doll moving around of its own accord had me quite freaked out, at one point.....but gleefully so. And having been a HUGE fan of Stephen King, Dean Koontz and John Saul since I was 14, that's a pretty big deal. But while gothic elements of the storyline add a spooky tone throughout, this is where the ghost story line ends.
      The suspense entwined in this novel is crated by the complex construction of the author's narrative, the paranormal, religious, and demonic beliefs blended so realistically in this story that it kept you on edge all the way to the unbelievable, twisted ending. The story had a very intricate, complicated plot that you didn't know one minute to the next, what was real or not. Sylvie's memories are interspersed with present day happenings, but Sylvie's memories are not chronological and are often muddled. So the reader is encouraged to try to piece together the narrative timeline and work out seemingly unconnected occurrences. And 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. So 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 "haunted" people in the Masons' lives coming for help. So 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. (And the character Abigail.....? Holy crap, that kid.......!!).

      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, but 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. 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, And i had become so wrapped up in their lives that I wanted - no, NEEDED to help.........and then 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, or 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 huge stars for this awesome author.
    • 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.
    • 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
      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.
    • 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.
    • 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
      This one actually caused me to wake from a nightmare involving a doll. I'm not the type for this to happen. Gave me the creeps, but just momentarily.
      I see negative and positive reviews and understand, but to me this was a really good and different kind of thriller.

      Here's my synopsis...

      John Searles has written 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.
      Fast forward, one year. Sylvie is living in the creepy house in the custody of her older sister, Rose. Rose may be to blame for what happened to their parents due to one phone call. Teen Sylvie, has the deep need to know the truth of what happened in that dark church where her mother and father were murdered. Therefore, she 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.

      The story begins with a call one snowy February night. Lying in her bed, young Sylvie Mason overhears her parents on the phone across the hall. They bundle Sylvie and take her along leaving Rose behind.
    • 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.
    • 4/5
      What a wonder story...seriously. It's def a pager turner, with just enough left to the imagination to make this tale enthralling and mysterious without a lack of fulfillment.

      Coming of age meets endless suspense.
    • 4/5
      Sylvie is 14-years old and Rose is her older sister. Their parents have an odd job. They are very religious and they help people who are “haunted”. They also lecture on what they do and become famous for it. When, one night, they receive a phone call, they put Sylvie in the car with them and drive to a church. While Sylvie stays in the car, her parents, one-by-one, go inside. Neither ever comes out. I really liked this one. It was a little creepy in a couple of parts. I listened to the audio and it did a good job of keeping my attention, so I didn't miss very much on the rare occasions my mind wandered. The book starts with the phone call and the trip to the church and it goes back and forth in time from then, but even with the audio, I was able to follow.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed the mystery of this book but not the way the mystery ended. Such a minor character should not have played that big of a role. The relationship between Sylvie and Rose was very well written. I was not sure what Penny's role was in the novel a well; I thought she was supposed to be haunted but nothing every came from that. The blurb in the front of this ARC compares it to Stephen King, Not Even Close!!! I feel like the parents were based on the Demonologists, the Warrens and I have now purchased their book to read.
    • 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

      For me, this was a very difficult book to review. Like many, and based on the title alone, I began the book expecting a completely different plot. It didn’t take but a couple of chapters to realize that the novel had very little to do with ghosts, unrepentant spirits and ghastly deaths. I thought that I had, again, decided to invest my time poorly in a novel that I would have to struggle to finish. But, shortly after having those first thoughts, I began to appreciate how especially well crafted and well written this book was, and how much I was enjoying it.

      While one maybe expecting the book to contain malevolent ghosts and horrible events (although the plot does involve one extremely horrible event), it centers around the lives of two young sisters as they begin to question the teachings, and values of their parents. While I don’t often enjoy stories involving children, especially young women (sorry), I was immediately able to empathize with the protagonist as she learns that most of our parents are not heroes, or even exceptional. That some, when looked at through the eyes of an impartial observer, may be seen to be selfish, overbearing, or even dishonest.

      While I acknowledge that the title may conjure up a totally different plot, get over it. This book is well worth the read. Kudos to the editor, who in my opinion, did a brilliant job and to the author that made me want to read a book about two young ladies.
    • 2/5
      My mind drifted away while reading this I found excuses to pick up other books. I just found myself doing anything to avoid this book. I didn't care, who, what or why, no connection with the characters at all.
    • 5/5
      I loved this. It's full of twists and turns with just enough darkness and uncertainty to make you think there might be supernatural forces afoot. The end really got me. It's just such a stark reality of the how alone we are in this human experience after all the searching and wondering and piecing together what has happened. Great read.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 3/5
      a little creepy, but a good suspenseful read
    • 3/5
      The writing is good but I found the pacing very slow till the last 75 pages or so. There is a constant undercurrent of menace in the story of the demon hunter, his "sensitive" wife, and the two daughters, one "good" and one "bad." The story shifts forward and backward from chapter to chapter and this helped keep me guessing, but I think also slowed down the pace of the story--until the last 75 pages. The denouement of this murder mystery is totally unexpected, but like so many mysteries, full of red herrings along the way and then, towards the end, introducing new characters with unexpected motives. It's too long to be a YA novel, so I wouldn't recommend it to reluctant readers at my high school. Think it would appeal more to adults, and based on the average 4-star reviews, it has appealed to many. Just not so much to me.
    • 4/5
      Help for the Haunted was one of 2013's Alex winners. It certainly has appeal to teens, and adult fans of really creepy stories, too! Sylvie's parents have a most unusual occupation: they advertise that they offer "Help for the haunted". If ghosts or unhappy spirits are unsettling your life, call Rose and Sylvester Mason and they will come with their Bibles and prayers to bring you peace. Told alternately in flashbacks and current time, it takes a while to fit the pieces together. The writing is beautiful, the characters unforgettable (especially Sylvie's slightly older sister Rose, but many minor characters stand out as well), and the story creepy enough for the most jaded reader.