Redemption, morality and blurred lines with light and dark: When Diwali falls on Halloween

It's interesting to think that on October 31st this year, light and dark won’t just coexist in the literal sense, but in a spiritual and philosophical way too.

That weird overlap kind of reminds me that darkness actually plays its own role in transformation and redemption.

As a thriller writer, I'm always diving into themes of redemption, morality, and those blurry lines between good and evil, so the fact that Diwali and Halloween fall on the same day this year really hits home for me.

Both of these festivals symbolise forces that seem opposite but are deeply connected—light and dark, good and evil, life and death—just like the complex characters and situations I love writing about.

In my thrillers, Seven Sins and 'Til Death Do Us Part in particular, the big question is always how far can someone be pushed before they cross the line from good to bad, or from bad to beyond saving? I explore those morally grey areas, where characters hover between decisions that could either save them or send them deeper into darkness.

The whole idea of light and darkness existing together mirrors those inner struggles: can someone who’s done terrible things ever be redeemed? Or can a "good" person, under the right circumstances, lose themselves to the dark side?

Halloween, with its themes of death, spirits, and the unknown, taps into our deepest fears—not just about death, but about who we might become when things get really tough.

Diwali, on the other hand, celebrates light triumphing over darkness, suggesting that even when everything seems lost, redemption is still possible.

This is a lot like the characters in my books who wrestle with tough moral choices and either find their way back to the light—or get consumed by the dark.

When I look at my thrillers through this lens, they almost feel like an exploration of human duality. That fine line between good and evil? It’s never set in stone. It shifts based on the character’s situation, choices, and inner conflicts.

Much like the way Diwali and Halloween overlap, my stories show that good and bad aren’t always complete opposites. They’re often wrapped up in each other within both people and society. One big question my work keeps coming back to is: can someone redeem themselves after crossing into darkness? And if they can, what does that redemption even look like?

This overlap of the festivals also reflects the idea that light and dark need each other. My characters’ darkness might represent their failures, sins, or mistakes, while the light of redemption could be about more than just being forgiven—it could mean coming to terms with those mistakes internally. In thrillers, this fight between good and evil is messy, because the line is rarely clear, just like how Diwali’s celebration of light assumes there has to be darkness to overcome in the first place.

The moral struggles my characters face reflect the deeper questions we all deal with: Can we truly escape our darkest selves? Is redemption even possible, and if so, what are we willing to sacrifice to get it? And what is "good" if there’s no potential for evil?

This tension makes my writing richer, because redemption—like Diwali’s light—doesn’t come easy. It’s something you have to fight for, often from a place of deep darkness. The heart of my stories lies in whether my characters have enough light left inside them to pull back, or whether the darkness will completely take over.

Read Seven Sins or 'Til Death Do Us Part to see how darkness plays a part in redemption.

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