Help For the Haunted

Help For the Haunted is a novel of suspense by John Searles.  Even as I was midway through I was already telling friends that this was a book they needed to get their hands on -  this was a story I just didn't want to put down.

Sylvie Mason's family is regarded with wary suspicion.  Her parents are demonologists, helping souls find peace.  Sylvie's older sister, Rose, rebels, causing problems wherever she goes.  When Rose phones home and requests her parents come to a church so they can talk late at night, the Masons quickly go to meet her, bringing Sylvie along with them in the car.  Mr. Mason goes in first, and when he doesn't return, his wife goes in to the church, too.  Sylvie drifts off to sleep, only to awaken to the sound of shots being fired.  When she enters the church she sees the bodies of her parents.  

Now in the months after her parents' murder, Sylvie and Rose live together in their home, existing on meals of popsicles and snacks.  Sylvie lied to the police for her sister, never telling them that it was Rose who phoned her parents the night of their murder.

Both girls avoid the basement, with the light that remains lit, the location their parents used to treat their patients.  

But secrets can't be kept forever, and Sylvie begins talking to a reporter who wrote a book about her parents' work, causing her to question much she once believed.

The suspense within this novel had me wanting to sit home and read instead of go to work, looking for a free moment as soon as I got home to continue reading.