Help for the Haunted audiobook

Diabolical forces are formidable. These forces are eternal, and they exist today. The fairy tale is true. The devil exists. God exists. And for us, as people, our very destiny hinges upon which one we elect to follow. Ed WarrenI didn't know a lot about HELP FOR THE HAUNTED going in-except that it had very high ratings on Goodreads...but I somehow had the feeling- after reading the description, that the parents of the main character were based on The Warrens- involved in such cases as "The Lutz's" Amityville Horror, "The Snedeker House"- The Haunting in Connecticut, and "The Perron Family"- The Conjuring.and the further I got into reading it, I was sure I was right...I love being right...February 1989- The novel starts on a snowy night, when 13-year-old Sylvie Mason’s parents are woken up by a phone call from their other daughter- Rose (jr.)- asking them to meet her at an old church. Sylvester and Rose Mason are used to strange phone calls in the middle of the night...they are experts in the paranormal, but this phone call will be their last- after packing up Sylvie and heading to the destination they are gunned down inside the church, and young traumatized Sylvie is the only witness.One year later, Sylvie -under the care of her older sister Rose- is still dealing with police investigations. Who killed their parents and why? Sylvie is determined to find out the truth. The book moves back and forth in time as Sylvie tries to piece together what really happened that horrible night.HELP FOR THE HAUNTED by John Searles is a wonderful, sometimes creepy read- especially for fans of the paranormal.

Help for the Haunted is an extraordinary book that defies categorization. It revolves around the murder of Sylvie Mason's parents and with an elegant construction takes place both in the present and through a series of flashbacks that bit by bit reveal all the mysteries surrounding the Masons and their lives. The first person narrative voice of Sylvie is marvellously realized as an intelligent, sensitive and deeply troubled teenage girl, not surprising considering her upbringing and the fact that she was the only witness to her parents' killing. They had been ambitious members of the paranormal community, paid to deal with hauntings and possessions and increasingly prominent on the supernatural lecture trail with a basement full of spooky souvenirs and possessions including a very scary rag doll confined to a locked cage.Almost every object and character in the book have their own air of menace and nothing and no one is entirely what they seem. The atmosphere is beautifully drawn and the air of danger and menace as Sylvie gets closer to the truth is beautifully realized.Somewhat to my surprise (I am about as far away from being a teenage girl as you can get) I loved this book from the very first page. Read it, you'll be glad you did.

In addition to being adorable, John is a really engaging and skillful writer. I have always been a fan but this latest one was a real treasure to read. The quality of the writing is just amazing. Some of the phrases still stick with me, which is always what you want with a good book.Also, of note, I recently found out that John's dad was a long-haul truck driver, and John used to ride along with him and read books, which makes me respect John even more because I get really car sick and would've puked my way across the country.This is what audio books are for.

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.

I absolutely adored this beautifully written, haunting and evocative novel about two sisters and their strange childhood and coming of age, growing up in a house with parents who are not by any means normal and whose career lends itself to some strange and sometimes scary goings on…Exquisitely constructed, the story opens on that fateful night at the old church, then moves backwards and forwards in time telling the tale of Sylvie and Rose as they grow up and slowly but surely revealing the background and events leading up to the time that everything changes. It is truly compelling throughout and highly addictive – as Sylvie struggles to make sense of her life and the lives of those around her you will be enthralled, immersed into their world and barely able to look away. Often horrifying, definitely upon occasion very creepy and yet with an elegance and depth to it that will resonate, this is absolutely one of the best books I have read this year.Sylvie provides our eyes and ears – she is the “good” daughter, the one who is accepting and who never causes trouble. She has a love/hate relationship with her sister Rose, who is a completely fascinating character, not so willing to forgive or understand and who has her own inner demons to fight..as such I found her enthralling and often eminently dislikeable yet more fragile than she cares to admit. Extremely well drawn both, they provide the anchor around which all else flows, in a tale that is at turns enchanting and alarming.I kind of don’t want to give anything else away. How they cope, what happens, where and why – these are all things to discover as things unfold…at its heart it is the tale of one family, the author simply allowing his characters to speak, and the reader to draw their own conclusions. An intelligent and very appealing novel, with some surprising twists and turns, a complete tale which lends itself well to allowing the readers imagination to have full flow, I’m very sorry to say goodbye to this one. And without doubt I shall be reading more from this author. Preferably VERY soon.

John Searles has created a masterpiece of contemporary fiction with HELP FOR THE HAUNTED. The hair on the nape of your neck begins to bristle and stand stiff early on in this new work and it does not lay flat and straight once you finish reading. Sylvie is a fantastic narrator, a beautifully written fleshed out young girl. Every character fits perfectly into the story. Every plotline is woven smoothly into the story which is filled with Searles' wit as well as wonderful creepiness. Excellent demonstration of his superior storytelling skills.

I was expecting more and something different from John Searles', Help for the Haunted. With it's interesting title and nice cover art, I was surprised when I finished that the book wasn't more scary. Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading about young Sylvie and Rose Mason. Sylvie was a delight and Rose was often quit comical. I am looking forward to reading more by this author.

This was a very entertaining book, a great literary read with a touch of mystery to keep readers turning the pages.The book’s structure, I think, was cleverly done, with chapters moving backwards and forwards in time. This gives us access to certain events while keeping some other ones hidden, creating in this way even more tension in the narrative. This technique also doesn’t allow us to become too complacent with the storyline, which works very well in a novel like this where suspense is a key element.The main character, Sylvie, is nicely written, as is her sister Rose. I also enjoyed how their parents were presented. Since they are seen through Sylvie’s eyes, we don’t really know if they are accurately represented. We start getting little clues from other characters, but they don’t really come to life until late in the story, adding to the tension. The writing itself is clear, with a unique voice that I found refreshing in a suspenseful novel such as this one. The topic is not necessarily the most groundbreaking, but the way it is handled makes all the difference.I do recommend this one to all lovers of literary novels that have a touch of psychological mystery.

Wow, what a terrific book. I have never read one quite like this (a ghost story!), and thoroughly enjoyed it. I absolutely loved the character of Sylvie, as well as many of the other truly unique characters in the novel. The telling of the story itself was quite distinct as well, and I couldn't wait to get to the end and discover the truth of what happened that night in the church. I'm looking forward to reading much more by John Searles!

"You know the truth already. What I will say is this: each of us is born into this life with a light inside of us. Some, like yours, burn brighter than others. You don't see that yet, but I do. What's most important is to never let that light go out, because when you do, it means you've lost yourself to the darkness. It means you've lost your hope. And hope is what makes this world a beautiful place."And that is exactly the advice that Sylvie Mason has to hold onto. When she was nine years old, she left with her parents on a cold night in the snow to attempt to meet with her oldest sister Rose who had left home in hopes of reconciling the issues between her parents and Rose that cause her to leave. Only little did Sylvie know that that would be the very last time she would ever see her parents alive. Left alone in the car and having fallen asleep she hears the sounds of a gun being fired and finds her parents murdered on the steps of an old church and her sister is no where to be found. Yet all she remembers is that they were not alone. Someone else was there and it's that someone that is haunting the memories of Sylvie late at night. In the latest novel by John Searles, Help for the Haunted is a suspense thriller that takes you on an unforgettable ride into the darkest places of a persons soul. She knows her parents help troubled people that no one else can and has been the reason for people treating her and her sister Rose different from other kids you'd know in school. Most people in school avoid Sylvie and give her plenty of room whenever she walks into a room. Most are simply afraid of what they don't understand and since the deaths of her parents, most people believe that the people the Mason's helped carried some evil right alongside them. It was that evil that they hoped to find relief from when all other attempts had failed. Now the basement is the only place that has been left virtually undisturbed and both girls were warned by their parents to stay out. But just what is happening in the basement now, sounds that seem to emanate from beneath the house, it seems like something below is not happy that Sylvie's parents are no longer among the living and are deeply upset with the current state of things. I received Help for the Haunted by John Searles, compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review and received no monetary compensation for a favorable one. This one literally gave me what I was expecting and then some. Rave reviews comparing John Searles work with that of Stephen King is what drew me to read this one. I was not disappointed. 90% of the way through this novel that author creates such a suspenseful atmosphere you think you have it figured out, you're just waiting for an unveiling. This one really creeped me out and for me, that's the perfect sign of an amazing suspense novel. The ending I truly did not see coming and it's true that there is always more to the story than what you see. I rate this one a 4.5 out of 5 stars and look forward to many more novels from John Searles in the future.

This was one of those reads where I found myself sneaking in pages whenever I could, reading on my kindle app while waiting in line at the grocery store or while stirring dinner on the stove. It's a solid piece of storytelling, with just enough of a tie to real people to add a rather delicious dimension to some of the characters, though obviously the events are fictional. Very compelling.The reveal of the whodunit (and the identity of whodunit) didn't quite work for me, unfortunately. (view spoiler)[I didn't like the interview at the prison with the back and forth between Sylvie and Lynch. It felt very contrived to me, each holding out on each other, doling out little pieces of the truth, then time running out. And then, the fact that it was Rose's girlfriend, a character introduced very, very late. And the reason they sent her away was because she was a lesbian? Eh. Disappointing. I know they were very religious, but somehow the groundwork for that wasn't strong enough for me in the parents' characters. (hide spoiler)] Despite that, I really enjoyed the book and look forward to more from Searles. I wouldn't say his style is particularly like Stephen King's, but reading this reminded me of those delicious summer days when I was a teenager, sitting poolside with a horror novel in hand, losing track of time. Good stuff.

Help For the Haunted by John Searles is not really about ghosts. It's not very paranormal. It all supposition. Rose is guardian for her younger sister Silvie since their parents murder. Silvie was in the church when her parents were murdered. She told the detectives what she thought she remembered. They have a man in custody to stand trial for the dual murders. The story moves from the past to the present with a smooth fluency. Rose's phone call led their parents to their death. Sylvie never told that to the detectives. Headlines read "Demon Hunters Found Murdered in Church". Rose is acting strange, spiteful and mean. She's resentful at times with Sylvie. She's narcistic. There's a book published that debunked her father He gets angry. After an interview with the detective they arrange for Sylvie to meet the the alledged murderer. She then asks the author to drive her to her uncle in Philadelphia. They live in Maryland. Her uncle and dad own a run down movie theater. Her uncle is renovating the theater to make it a venue for concerts. Sylvie meets her uncle and he tells her a story about him and her dad. She comes away believing her father to be a hoax but she still questions why he believed so much. Her mother did not ike the publicity while her father liked it. See how Sylvie solves the murder while doing her own investigating.