I adore the cover. I call it arresting. I love those electric green eyes. I’m looking for someone who can turn the doll’s face into an animated gif that blinks (and clicks as it does so). That would be creepy. That would be great!The book is about a doll—a porcelain portrait doll--and a little girl who disappeared with it. Forty years later, the doll comes back.
The main character is that little girl’s older sister, now in her forties, who still feels responsible (she was supposed to be watching her sister.) At long last she has a chance to find out what happened. Maybe even find her lost sister.
Maybe.
I promise you, the dolls in this book are not creepy. Well, maybe a little. And, okay, I admit, the doll parts are—legs, heads, eyeballs. A little.
Why do we find dolls so creepy? And why is it, the more realistic the doll, the creepier it is? I suppose it’s of a piece with masks and clowns and mannequins. Human but not. But why don’t robots engender the same response?
The official pub date for the book is June 6, 2017. These weeks in the run-up to that date are fraught
. It’s excruciating… waiting for the first readers to weigh in, for the early reviews. Believe me when I say every insecurity an author has balloons. Which reminds me: those Macy’s Thanksgiving Day blimps are also terrifying.
Giveaways and down-pricing
The good news is that my publisher is pulling out all the stops, down-pricing my earlier books and giving away advance reads copies of the new one.
YOU’LL NEVER KNOW, DEAR Win one of 10 advance copies
Deadline: May 5 12 PM EST! Enter for a chance to win!
NEVER TELL A LIE
Goodreads giveawayMy first standalone suspense. A young couple are about to have their first child. A woman from their past shows up at their yard sale, goes inside the house, and never comes out. A starred review in Publisher's Weekly called it a "deliciously creepy tale of obsession."
Enter by 4/27! We’re giving away 25 print copies!
Bargain priced! NEVER TELL A LIE e-book
Until April 24. Bargain priced ($1.99) and comes with a preview of You’ll Never Know, Dear
CLICK HERE, then pick the retailer of your choice.
Today's question: What were you afraid of? Dolls? Clowns? Mannequins? Or did your fears run more to amphibious creatures and bugs?
And one more giveaway! An advance readers copy of You'll Never Know Dear to one lucky commenter today!
Oh, I definitely do not like bugs!
ReplyDeleteAs for dolls, our youngest daughter, who collects dolls, has proclaimed my toddler Shirley Temple doll creepy, but I have trouble understanding why she says that. I like dolls.
On the other hand, clowns . . . and clown dolls . . . are truly give-me-shivers creepy.
Hallie, I am really looking forward to reading “You’ll Never Know, Dear” . . . .
Thanks, Joan - There's one Shirley Temple doll that's VERY valuable - I learned that doing the research for the book. And Yes, clown dolls, clown masks, clowns in general. EXCEPT Grandma the Clown from the Big Apple Success. But then she's just in makeup not a mask.
DeleteJoan - Have you seen the movie trailer for Stephen King's IT? Terrifying! Can't wait - LOL.
DeleteFortunately, Jenn, I seem to have missed seeing it . . . .
DeleteHallie, I'm looking forward to You'll Never Know, Dear's release!
ReplyDeleteDolls are usually not a problem for me, except for maybe that Chucky doll in the movies!
Some creepy crawly bugs are a problem...spiders are the worst!!
Yup, Chucky. And wasn't there a ventriloquist dummy that showed up in a horror film, or was that a Stephen King story.
DeleteWeirdly spiders give me no problem - we harvest them from the house and release them out of doors. But the our spiders don't bite. I don't think....
I was never afraid of dolls, clowns etc. I'm not a recoil in horror kind of person regarding reptiles, though I'm not a fan. And bugs are the worst because you never know when they are going to show up and where.
ReplyDeleteYes, like the ant I found in bed with me the other evening. Sign of spring.
DeleteWolf spiders that get in the house and come creeping up the stairs..... Anything can creep me out in the right context--dolls, an old armoire with one door slightly open, a shadowy corner in the barn.... titles of books (You'll Never Know, Dear!)... you see why I don't read horror....
ReplyDeleteI already know I'll have to read You'll Never Know, Dear in broad daylight, with one eye closed just in case... ;-)
Really, it's not scary! But Flora you should be a writer :-) -- those atmospherics are great.
DeleteFlora - you gave me the shivers!
DeleteFlora and I might have been soul sisters, back when we were kids. Spiders really freaked me out then, although I don't mind them now. I was also freaked out by weird shadows in the middle of the night, because even when I was a very young child I dealt with bouts of insomnia. The biggest fear I had when I was little was that the house would burn down, or I would somehow be trapped in a fire. I have no idea where that came from. Handmade dolls and stuffed toys have always intrigued me, although that's not a universal thing in my family. When I reclaimed my ancient, much-loved teddy bear, after my mother died, my niece was startled to see it in my house. "You kept the scary bear!" she cried. Apparently old Ted had weirded her out when she was very young. Didn't my sister ever read her The Velveteen Rabbit? Your book sounds deliciously creepy, Hallie. I can't wait to read it.
ReplyDeleteOne of my daughters was terrified about fire, too. We had to do fire drills for her. I confess, I've never been creeped out by a teddy bear. By a My Buddy doll, yes.
DeleteDolls don't creep me out at all, although the baby doll from my childhood definitely freaks out the man I live with (and it's in a glass-fronted cabinet!). I have my own doll collection and a few of my mother's. Snakes and wriggly things, though? Eek! I can't wait to read the new book, Hallie.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Edith. Wish you could post a picture of that doll... blogger has its limitations.
DeleteLove dolls, all sorts of dolls and I am neutral on clowns. However I collect nothing but dust and inscribed ARCs, 1st editions, and occasionally compliments.
ReplyDeleteI do know someone who make those very lifelike dolls, which I find completely creepy because they remind me of dead babies.
http://www.reborns.com/item/58212/1
Click on link at your own peril.
I had three boys and a fearless girl plus a creek in the back yard. So bring on the snakes, frogs, toads, lizards et al. You can't make me scream.
I dislike spiders that bite and wasps that sting, and I'm having second thoughts about that robin who has built her nest in the garage, right over my car. Yes, we are leaving the door open.
Hallie darlin', so exciting about the new book with the creepy cover xox.
Finta, you've hit on someething... the MORE lifelike the doll the creepier it is. Absolutely. But then why do I find faceless(!) mannequins creepier than ones w/ faces??
DeleteThis is such a good book! It's fabulous! I don't dolls are creepy though, except for like, Chucky. Is Chucky a doll, anyway? . Actually, maybe isn't so much creepy as stupid. Anyway enough about Chuckie.
ReplyDeleteHooray for Hallie!
THANK YOU HANK!
DeleteAnd I used to be deathly afraid of spiders. Now, I kind of think they're interesting. If they are not ON me. But you know what is creepy? Spider WEBS.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, in the summer walking through my garden first thing in the morning I hold one hand in front of me just in case a spider has diligently strung a web across. Those webs are beautiful though, when the sun catches the and they're sparkling with dew.
DeleteWhen I lived out in the country I kept an old hoe handle by the door, which I called my spider stick. It was for waving around in front of me, when I took the path through the tall grass out to the well house. It took down all those big spider webs before they could get me. Sometimes I wouldn't see a a web until I walked into it, which is how I learned that they made a distinctive crackling noise when I broke them. Spider sticks are good to have.
DeleteGood idea, Gigi!
DeleteI agree, Hank, this is her best yet! And the cover is fabulous.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lucy!
DeleteCongrats, Hallie. That cover is awesome.
ReplyDeleteI'm okay with dolls. Except for that My Buddy doll in the 80s. Remember him? The one that looked like Chucky?
Spiders now...
Mary/Liz
I so remember My Buddy. Though the crisis in our house involved my buying a knock-off My Buddy which had to be immediately returned. My daughter still believes I was being cheap when the real reason is they'd sold out of all the nearby stores. Really. I think.
DeleteI was too old and my sister just a shade too young for My Buddy. Thank the good Lord.
DeleteWe did, however, have Cabbage Patch dolls. In fact, I think mine are still in the attic.
Mary/Liz
"Arresting" is the perfect word for the cover, Hallie. That's what will get my attention and make me pick up a book. I can't wait to read it, especially since Hank and Roberta/Lucy say it's your best. So far, my favorite is still "There Was An Old Woman." Mina and Evie have stayed with me. : )
ReplyDeleteThanks, Michele!
DeleteI love this cover, even though dolls like this are creepy. When my aunt the nun moved to the retirement home for nuns, the room next to hers was empty except for a row of dolls sitting on the floor along one wall. This was probably 20 years ago, but my daughter, now 25, remembers my aunt telling her the dolls were often given to nuns who were anxious or dying, so they could cuddle with them. As soon as we walked out the door, my daughter wailed, "Why did she let me PLAY with them?" I still shiver thinking about the doll room.
ReplyDeleteMary, that is terrifying...xo
DeleteMary, oh my goodness what a riveting image. Dolls cuddled by dying nuns. You can't make this stuff up. But if I'd heard it I'd have figured out a way to shoehorn it into my book. Riveting.
ReplyDeleteThere was a movie made back in the 1970's with Karen Black about a scary voodoo doll with a knife that chased her all over her apartment. It terrified me (knives and voodoo dolls do that). I'm also afraid of "clingy" bugs -- bugs that hop on you and stay there -- june bugs in particular (they also crunch when you step on them, which is a whole other phobia -- crunchy bugs). Dolls with eye issues can be creepy -- I love your idea for the gif of the doll blinking her eye with a click.
ReplyDeleteI'm very much looking forward to reading You'll Never Know, Dear. I like the cover, not sure if I'll keep it face down when I'm not reading it....
Oh, Karen Black! I remember her in Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean with her and Cher and Sandy Dennis. Google says the movie with the voodoo doll was Trilogy of Terror. Sounds terrifying.
DeleteOh yes. June bugs. They don't bother me at all but they freak out my granddaughter when she comes down from Ohio to Texas to visit. I think it's more the noise than the dumb bug.
DeleteYes! Bugs that jump on you. Ahhhh....
DeleteHallie, your cover is deliciously creepy. If that doll head did blink and click I would absolutely jump scare - big time! Full disclosure - everything scares me and I love it. I love haunted houses, love horror movies (not the gore as much as the suspense), love thinking something is out there in the dark, watching and waiting. You can almost hear it breathing...
ReplyDeleteAnd I am the opposite! I fast-forward suspenseful TV shows shows. Love my ROKU.
DeleteSo excited for you, Hallie! And for us, who get to read another Hallie Ephron book.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that really, truly creeps me out is the many-legged insect that I can never remember whether it's a millipede or a centipede. Living in an old house, we get them periodically, and their wiggling legs after they've been smashed give me the shivers.
Dolls, though, don't bother me. Luckily. Because we still have my daughters' American Girl dolls here. They used to be lined up and sitting on the shelf in one daughter's closet, because "they'll be scared in the dark if we put them in boxes!"
They're such charming dolls, though. I can't imagine anyone being afraid of them. The doll on your cover wouldn't be so creepy without the dirt smudges and the chips in the porcelain, don't you think?
Oh those many legged creatures freak me out, too - Every once in a while one shows up in a bathtub or sink. So I know where they live... eek.
DeleteI know they've visited with you several times at our house, Hallie:)
DeleteWhat bothers me are snakes. I am terrified of these creatures. Dolls are appealing and special. The cover is dramatic and effective.
ReplyDeleteWe have very few poisonous snakes here in New England fortunately, because I'm with you. In Los Angeles there are a ton of rattlers. They freak me out.
DeleteDolls never bothered me but sea animals, and crawlies do. Your books sounds intriguing and unforgettable and the cover is eye catching.
ReplyDeleteSea animals? I can do without jellyfish. But snorkeling is one of my favorite things.
DeleteI assume I liked dolls as a baby. I have seen a few pictures of me holding dolls and looking happy. I'm sure that all changed when I was five or six and the move Magic came out. In case you don't know the plot - evil ventriloquist doll. Need I say more?
ReplyDeleteWith siblings a decade plus older than I a,. I saw A LOT of inappropriate movies at a young age. Jaws, Magic, The Exorcist are the ones I remember, although I am sure there are more.
I distinctly remember fearing that dummy, Fats was its name, was hiding in my closet (probably something from the movie but I'm never watching it again to confirm) and I had to make sure the door was closed so I could see it open in the light from the streetlamp that streamed in to light up only the door. I would watch it until I finally, exhausted, fell asleep.
Shortly after I received a Barbie from someone and I knew just what do to with her - remove her head and limbs to make sure she couldn't come after me like Fats.
Is it any wonder I'm a writer with this much childhood trauma to mine? :D
Fats! I remember that movie... looking it up. MAGIC. Anthony Hopkins (we all know what he went on to play) is magician/ventriloquist Corky and the dummy Fats.
DeleteSo, to be clear, I will buying this book and ripping the cover off. No offense, Hallie.
DeleteCongrats, Hallie. Can't wait to read it!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Laura, and thanks for visiting with us yesterday!
DeleteI love dolls. But the cover is also creepy -- it is the noir feel of it, the haunted doll. And the idea of the lost girl and her doll. A child's favorite doll (or stuffed animal)is alive to them. My six year old granddaughter adores her little blanket that has a animal head (she calls it Nye Nye) -- she has created stories about how they were born together. She has been given similar little blankets (a good idea since she tucks things away in hidden corners) and they are sometimes acceptable, but she has a name for each one and can tell you how it is related to the original (sibling, cousin).
ReplyDeleteA child disappearing with her doll is not alone -- the doll reappearing without the girl.
Creepy, scary, and I can't wait . . .
Our granddaughter loves her dolls too, Denise - even the armless mermaid doll and headless Barbie. My daughter, so smart, purchased 10 'blankies' -- when she was born and fortunately Franny has been willing to accept any of them when she's tired and needs comfort.
DeleteDenise, your granddaughter sounds like a future writer! Such imagination!
DeleteI don't usually find dolls creepy. Or clowns. There are exceptions, and that cover is on the creepy side of things, which is good for a suspense novel, right?
ReplyDeleteI agree, Mark, dolls and clowns aren't creepy... except when they are!
DeleteThat cover is creepy AF, and if I were in a bookstore I wouldn't be able to stop myself from picking it up!
ReplyDeleteI collected dolls from around the world as a child traveling with my military family, and Youngest has expanded on that collection with many historical dolls - you know, the Madame Alexandre type. We're so used to seeing them massed on display in her bedroom it's like background noise, but when one of her friends sees them for the first time she inevitably says, "That's so creepy! How do you sleep in here?"
THE DOLLS ARE WATCHING YOU! Yup, I'd have a problem with that.
DeleteI always liked dolls, especially baby dolls but I agree that cover is kinda creepy. Doesn't stop me from wanting to read it though. That story sounds great. I've been trying to think what sort of things scared me when I was growing up. I remember being afraid of almost everything, but not spiders or snakes. I was afraid of the dark and of being alone. For some reason my biggest fear was that some bad guy would "get" me. When I mentioned it to my mother and grandmother - I really should have known better - they just laughed and said not to worry that as soon as the bad guys got me in good light they'd bring me right back. That was no comfort at all!
ReplyDeleteHow cruel! I mean, seriously.
DeleteHallie, I love the cover! "Arresting" is a good description. I wouldn't be able to resist picking it off the shelf even if I knew nothing about it. AND IT'S SO GOOD!! I'm 40 pages from the end, so had to bring it downstairs with me to finish during the day because I couldn't wait until bedtime:-) I think this book is your best yet!!
ReplyDeleteI don't remember ever being afraid of dolls, but I didn't particularly like them, either. I did have a baby doll when I was very small--I remember my grandmother sewing clothes for her--but I much preferred my stuffed animals.
I was a tomboy (or what ever the politically correct term is now) and I grew up running wild on acreage with a creek, so have no fear of bugs and am only wary of poisonous snakes. The only thing that makes me go "eek" is our Texas roaches. "Waterbugs" they are sometimes called, but they are huge, and they fly, and they dart out of drawers and cabinets. Ugh. Which reminds me I need to buy roach traps. It's that time of year.
At our Kentucky farm there are giant wood roaches, which are huge. And fly. And love woodpiles Like the one my husband created right outside the house when we first bought the place.
DeleteOne night we went over to a friend's for a cookout, and came home to the house, where we'd left lights on inside, full of flying cigars. I was completely unnerved. I spent about an hour killing them, and then lie awake the entire night, worried to death one would land on me.
Hallie, YNKD is next up on my bedside table, and the cover hasn't freaked me out, but after this conversation, I may have to take your daughter's advice! I love the green eyes on the doll!
ReplyDeleteDolls don't bother me, but remember the "Seinfeld" episode when George is in his girlfriend's bedroom, and there's a doll that looks exactly like his mother? That was creepy and hilarious.
Snakes and spiders are fine, as long as there's a healthy ratio in terms of our relative sizes. I had better be much bigger than the critter in question. The thing I hate? Rats. They freak me out. Yuck.
"Texas roaches" are formidable. Particulary airborne. And they're fast. And too big to squash (ick).
ReplyDeleteCover doll has beautiful eyes! Not creepy at all. My dolls suffered unknown fates when Mom passed them along to younger sisters. And their kids. I got back a couple of dolls minus their heads a few years ago. I think I'll give them back to the niece responsible when she has a daughter. Ha! I find clowns and ventriloquist dummies creepy. Really creepy. Although Paul Winchell's Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smith didn't bother me at all. In fact I had a chemistry professor who looked like Knucklehead Smith. But the "It" clown and those creepy dummies that always move themselves, no! Critterwise snakes disturb me if they are within ten feet of me before I see them.
ReplyDeleteThis is reminding me of the wonderful Edgar Bergen and wearing suit and tails Charlie McCarthy - but the one I loved was Effie Klinker! Now I wonder if she's the inspiration for writing all the older women that I like to write.
DeleteVentriloquist dummies for sure. No explanation needed. And potato bugs! Aaaack..so ugly! When I was first married, a potato bug came in through an open screen door and proceeded slowly across the floor towards where I was seated. I drew my feet up in abject fear that it would jump at me. Not knowing what it was, or if it could jump, just intensified my horror. I finally drew the courage to upend a glass over it but it kept bumping up against the side of the glass and that creeped me out further. By now, city girl that I was, I was convinced it was a scorpion. When my husband got home he just laughed and took it outside. My hero!
ReplyDeleteI probably haven't seen three potato bugs in my life, but Stephen King could keep me up at night if he featured them in a story.
a potato bug! Those are the ones that roll up into a ball? And crunch when you step on them. Bwa ha ha ha ha...
DeleteNo, those are pill bugs. Potato bugs are bigger.
DeleteWendy, are you sure you aren't talking about June bugs? They are attracted by light, and are about 1/2" long, and brown. And the click or whirr. I've never seen a potato bug away from potatoes. Usually mine, the little creeps.
I hope I'm not to late to throw my hat in the ring for an ARC, Hallie. I've been looking forward to this book since you first posted a picture of the doll hospital a while back. The cover is spectacular, and I do hope you find someone to do an animated version of it.
ReplyDeleteI loved dolls as a child. I don't ever remember being scared of any dolls. It wasn't until I was an adult that I found some dolls creepy, probably due to the crazy Chuckie movies. Clowns don't scare me as much as annoy me. They are too invasive of personal space, and that coming from someone who hugs a lot.
Bugs are a different story. My older brother used to chase me with grasshoppers, trying to put them down the back of my shirt. As a result, I don't want anywhere near them, still. Crickets are almost as bad, but at least I can sneak up on them better and smash them with the flyswatter. And, yes I know all about it being bad luck or whatever to kill a cricket in your house. I don't care. If you are a cricket and you cross my doorway, you are fair game. Roaches or water bugs are rather disturbing to me, too. Spiders, oddly enough, don't freak me out. I think it's because they don't usually hop at me.
Creepy crawlies, especially when for some reason you happen to look up and there sits this ugly thing on your wall - spider, bug, centipede!
ReplyDeletekpbarnett1941[at]aol.com