Help For the Haunted by John Searles
Reviewed by Maggie Devero
Do you believe in life after death, souls harboring eternal grudges, or just in general, ghosts of people long past and demons who have never set a living foot on the earth?
Being the second youngest child of semi-famous demonologist couple Sylvester and arose Mason, Sylvie doesn't even question it. Though her parents try to keep her and her sister Rose as far away from their practices and jobs as possible, it's a normal thing to the girls. Sylvia just believes. And then tragedy strikes her, on cold snowy night in February. Her parents are called to a church in the middle of the night by Rose, and suddenly their parents are gone from their lives. They were brutally murdered inside the church, and Sylvie was the one to find them. The problem is that she can't remember much from that night, her own terror blocking the memories from resurfacing. Now about a year later, Sylvie tries to move on in her life, but continues to be stuck. Then she begins investigating the mystery behind her parents murders, and slowly uncovers the deep and awful secrets that have haunted her family for many years.
This was a different type of book than the ones I've been reading recently. And luckily for me, it was a really nice change of pace. It's a paranormal themed story, that isn't super scary, but adds a creepy feeling throughout parts of the story. The characters are very well-developed, and it's interesting reading about the different relationships between them: especially between the family members themselves. And even though the book doesn't pick up with Sylvie delving deeper into the family mysteries until halfway through, the way they lead up to it is captivating. They flip back and forth between present day happenings, and what happened in the past concerning events of the present. It adds a lot of necessary information to the story in a way that doesn't bore the reader. I gave the book four stars, and I hope to find out whether or not the author has any other books written, because I would be very interested in reading them! I would suggest this book to anyone interested in paranormal/supernatural themes.
2 comments:
I'm glad you enjoyed it -- was wondering if you thought it was YA/New Adult?
Here's my review of the book:
4.0 out of 5 stars - "Each of us is born into this life with a light inside of us..."
Sylvie Mason is a bright eighth grader living with her parents and sister in the tiny town of Dundalk, Maryland. They are anything but a normal family, however, as Mr. and Mrs. Mason have quite the unusual line of work -- they help the "haunted" -- souls in need of prayer or something to guide them to peace. Calls often come in the middle of the night -- and Sylvie's parents put on their "costumes" and head out to meet a desperate someone or prepare their basement to receive a guest in need of further intervention. On the night Sylvie hears this particular call, she doesn't realize that her life will change forever and she will be come embroiled in the mystery of discovering what happened to her parents on that fateful winter night. Older sister Rose who has become the legal guardian to Sylvie is abusive and self-centered. Rose and her parents had fought hard and often, and Sylvie senses that Rose has no compulsion to seek answers to how their parents came to be found shot dead in that cold church. Sylvie has a bit of hearing loss as she witnessed the shooting but her memory is faulty and she backtracks to relive the moments that brought them all to the fateful night.
What great characters in this book! I really felt for orphaned Sylvie and detested Rose. Others were not always what they seemed at first exposure. We come to the truth slowly as the narrative is told in the first person by Sylvie and shifts back and forth in time revealing tidbits and teasers. The atmosphere is slightly gothic and there are shivers and chills when certain pieces of information come to light.
I thoroughly enjoyed the writing and think this book will really appeal to teen and young adult readers as well. The only part of the book that fell a notch short was the conclusion; I was a bit disappointed in the whodunit. Despite that, I was quite satisfied with this and I'll be recommending it!
I love the topic of if there is or isn't an afterlife and what that afterlife would be like if it existed so I think I would read this if I found the time. Plus Mrs. Crawford told me about it a hundred times so I'm interested in it and think I would enjoy it!
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