HallieShepherd
Author · Screenwriter · Storyteller
“Call Off the Dark is my favorite kind of thriller: so moving about true love and the aftermath of loss, and at the same time, twisty, confounding and impossible to put down.”— Clare Leslie Hall, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Broken Country
About the BookHallie Shepherd’s Debut Novel
A haunting thriller with a love story at its heart
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The book is now available
“Yesteryear meets The Turn of the Screw in this spooky debut.”
E! News
AUTHOR VIDEO
Behind the Writing Process
Hallie talks about her writing process and some of the inspiration behind her debut novel Call Off the Dark.
What I’m Drawn To
A Note From Hallie On The Importance of Stories
For a long time, I’ve been interested in the subtext and gray area of life. My favorite characters are heroes and heroines who sometimes make messy, questionable, or tragic choices, yet we root for them anyway. Putting a character in a bad situation is one of the most effective (and exciting) ways to find out who they really are.
I’m drawn to narratives that unsettle us and comfort us at the same time. To me, that duality isn’t contradictory, because life so often works that way. The experiences that challenge us or take us to dark places can also show us how to find the light.
One of the things I love about thrillers, fantasy, and speculative fiction is the way their genre elements can illuminate something larger about the human condition. Metaphor and symbolism help us make sense of the world. Fiction may be imagined, but I believe it is also a roadmap to our deeper truths.
“Unnerving and infused with quiet dread, Call Off the Dark by Hallie Shepherd is one of the most beautifully told, unsettling novels I’ve encountered. Shepherd masterfully examines the power of grief, loss, and the ties that bind us long after death. I was transfixed from the very first sentence—a stunning debut.”
Heather Gudenkauf
New York Times bestselling author of The Overnight Guest
Headshot photo credits: M Hajler Photography