Tuesday, September 24, 2013

HELP FOR THE HAUNTED: A NOVEL (JOHN SEARLES)

 
 
Story Description:
 
HarperCollins|September 9, 2013|Hardcover|ISBN:  978-0-06-077963-4
 
It begins with a call one snowy February night.  Lying in her bed, young Sylvie Mason overhears her parents on the phone across the hall.  This is not the first late-night call they have received, since her mother and father have an uncommon occupation: helping “haunted souls” find peace.  And yet something in Sylvie senses that this call is different from the others, especially when they are lured to the old church on the outskirts of town.  Once there, her parents disappear, one after the other, behind the church’s red door, leaving Sylvie alone in the car.  Not long after, she drifts off to sleep, only to wake to the sound of gunfire.
 
As the story weaves back and forth through the years leading up to that night and the months following, the ever-inquisitive Sylvie searches for answers and uncovers secrets that have haunted her family for years. 
 
Capturing the vivid eeriness of Stephen King’s works and the quirky tenderness of John Irving’s novels, Help for the Haunted is told in the captivating voice of a young heroine who is determined to discover the truth about what happened on that winter night.  
 
My Review:
 
I found Help for the Haunted a bit too drawn out and long.  I kept thinking the author just kept adding information just to make the book long enough to call it a novel. 
 
The story was eerie enough and sort of had you looking around the room and a times I wasn’t sure I wanted to go down into our basement alone again.  Although the storyline was good, this just wasn’t my cup of tea.  One thing the book did for me was to ensure I never have “dolls” in my house.  Can’t tell you why but you’ll understand once you read the story.
 


No comments:

Post a Comment