Review - Help for the Haunted by John Searles

Help for the Haunted by John Searles
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow, I have major book hangover after reading John Searles's Help for the Haunted!
"Most people, they are afraid to believe in ghosts. Me, I am afraid not to believe. Because, well, what then? If there really is nothing else-nowhere to go after this, no way to linger on this plan to finish unsettled business if we must, then that means each moment, each breath, each passing second, is as ethereal as the wind. It means all we do here on earth-the going and coming, the loving and hating-it is all for naught. So, no. Ghosts don't scare me. But no ghosts-that terrifies me.
Sylvie Mason awakes one night to hear her parents on the phone. This wan't unusual, because her parents were in an unusual business. That snowy night they packed Sylvie in the car and headed for their local church where they are murdered violently.
A year later Sylvie, living under her sisters care and an outcast in high school begins to search for the truth about her parents murders and their profession as she seeks to help investigators solve the crime.
Help for the Haunted is a creepy, thought provoking book about our deepest beliefs and family. At times I found this book a bit disjointed in the way the author moved from past to present but by the end I found it to be masterful writing, Searles weaves an amazing tale. The novels last two chapters are its finest and Sylvie was a fantastic main character, the end of her story, left me shocked, shaking and in tears. I loved this book! Pick up this creepy thriller this halloween season!
"Why do the same people who believe in these deities doubt the existence of darker spirits? I ask all of you, how can a person believe in the light but not the dark? How, when all the evidence points to the basic facts of dualities?"

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