about the book
In 1989 in the small town of Dundalk, Maryland, the phone rings during the night in the middle of a howling February blizzard. The phone often rang in the dead of night in this old ramshackle house. Sylvester and Rose Mason were celebrity ghost hunters and exorcists, and those spirits rarely paid attention to time or weather.
Self-righteous Sylvester believed in demonic possession and praying away the evil. Gossip and suspicion followed the Mason parents and children everywhere. Their basement was a museum of the occult, filled with gruesome items, a place where frightened strangers came to rid themselves of violent spirits.
That night, Sylvie, fourteen, woke to the ringing phone and, listening intently, realized the caller was her sister Rose. Named after her gentle mother, Rose was nineteen, wild and angry. She had stormed out of the house days earlier. That night, she decreed if her parents ever wanted to talk to her again, they had to meet her at the old church on the edge of town.
Sylvie stayed in the snow-covered car as her father and mother followed the single set of snowy footprints into the church. Dozing, she jumped when two shots rang out! She rushed into the church as a third shot thundered! Sylvie woke in the hospital, an orphan.
Shunned by everyone, Sylvie was left in the neglectful care of her sister. Since Rose was not found at the church, Sylvie omitted telling the police about her involvement. Detective Rummel was not satisfied with the girls’ statements, a reporter hounded them, and a social worker complicated their life. And who is this enigmatic woman who has frightened both Sylvia and Rose?
Determined to find the truth, Sylvie uncovers the family’s dirty secrets. Can she come to terms with her altered life and the truth about the parents she never really knew?
about the author
John Searles was raised in New England. When he was a teen, his father, a long-haul truck driver, decided to “make a man out of him” by taking John on the road. Quickly bored, John started reading voraciously, mostly books picked up at truck stops. Those years may have not made him “a man” but they turned him into a reader and a writer!
After high school, John was determined to be the first person in his family to attend college. Working in a factory during the day and as a telemarketer at night, he saved enough to go Connecticut State University. He majored in business because that was the practical thing to do. He minored in writing because he loved it so much.
While in college, John lost his younger sister Shannon to a childhood illness. It spurred him on to write more seriously and to go on to earn a master’s in creative writing at New York University.
His first novel was quickly rejected. He waited on tables, continued writing, and found a a job in the book department at Cosmopolitan. He remained there 15 years, eventually becoming the Editorial Brand Director, launching a very successful book line and the magazine’s website. He continues to work there as Editor-at-Large.
When his second novel, Boy Still Missing, became a bestseller, his career as an author blossomed. His articles and reviews are featured in many magazines and newspapers, and he frequently appears on television morning shows discussing promising new books.
Help for the Haunted is loosely based on Ed and Lorraine Warren, famed religious ghost hunters in the ‘70s and ‘80s. The character of Sylvie was inspired by John’s sister Keri. After his sister Shannon died, his parents divorced and Keri was basically left emotionally abandoned. Her resilient spirit can be found in Sylvie’s character. John has always been obsessed with scary things, and if pushed, admits that he can’t help but believe a little in the supernatural!
Sources:
Author website
Author interview: Amazon
Author video interview
Book trailer: Help for the Haunted
Also by John Searles:
Strange But True. William Morrow & Company. 2004.
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