I hate to say it but I really didn't enjoy this. I recognize the artistry and the quality of this book, but it just was not for me at all. I am echoing a sentiment I saw in another review that said each chapter felt like a short story if its own- I totally resonate with this. Additionally, I don't like short story collections! I just really couldn't bring myself to be invested and everything felt so disjointed. I do think this was all down to personal preference though.

Old Soul is a book that starts strong and compelling but I felt it went on way longer than it should have done. I felt a bit of a lull in the middle.

This book is about the story of a woman who is involved in a series of mysterious deaths spanning decades. At the same time, Jake, is trying to make the connection and solve the mystery of this woman after he meets someone who’s brother died in a similar way to his friend,

From the blurb, I thought I would love this book, but I only liked it due to the supernatural element, and the story going on and on. I enjoyed the sub stories but I don’t think we didn’t as many in detail as given. They felt a bit repetitive,

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy for an honest review.

Old Soul by Susan Barker is a haunting, multi-layered mystery that follows two strangers, Jake and Mariko, as they uncover a chilling connection between their loved ones’ deaths. Both victims encountered a mysterious woman before their untimely demises, and her presence ties together a series of deaths spanning across time and continents. As the two embark on a journey to unravel the truth behind the enigmatic woman who never ages, the novel explores themes of grief, loss, and the unsettling forces that linger just beyond understanding. With eerie suspense and a thought-provoking plot, Old Soul keeps readers questioning what is real and what lies beyond life’s mysteries.

Living is her art. Photography is a means to sustain it. And she has a lot of names to go by but one thing is for sure: if you meet her, you will fall under her spell and it won’t end well.

I really liked the premise of this book. It starts with a chance meeting between two strangers, Jake and Mariko, who soon realise that people they cared about died in very similar, gruesome circumstances albeit 6,000 miles apart. Whilst Mariko cannot bear to think about the circumstances in which she lost her brother, Jake is determined to get to the bottom of what is going on. We are taken through a journey not only spanning countries and continents but also time and we slowly start to piece together what is going on in this gothic story with a huge evil at its centre.

In all honesty, I was a little lost at first as to who was who and how they were linked to each other (and I ended up having to reread sections and then decided to make a few notes in the end - probably the disadvantage of reading it on a Kindle with stories like this) but before too long, I settled into the story and I was intrigued to find out how it would all end.

Unfortunately it got a bit repetitive for me at one point but I carried on to find out how it would all be resolved. Whilst I think the ending was probably the right choice for the book, I wish it could have been different.

I love the concept of this book and the gothic vibes that it has - I just think it's not my specific vibe.

This was eerie and spooky and atmospheric and I loved it! I wish that I had found out about this one sooner.

Although the blurb of this book sounded really interesting and I really enjoyed the start, the book lost its way and me the further into it I got. It felt repetitive and was very confusing as there were no speech marks through the book. I managed to get to 50% but then gave up and unfortunately its is now a rare (for me) DNF.

The three star rating is for the good start

The Synopsis of this book really intrigued me and the beginning of the book did captivate me in some sense as I soon realised it wasn't like any book I've ever read. There's definitely a crossover of genres- supernatural, thriller and horror. I love a good thriller read but halfway through this book i just found myself a bit bored and confused. I liked the development of characters and the mixture of timelines but found that there were too many characters to keep track of at points. Saying all this I do rate it 3.5 stars as I definitely needed to see how it was all going to come together in the end and I was satisfied with the ending. If you like strange and twisty thrillers then you may enjoy this but i think it's just not the right mix of genres for me.

I first discovered Old Soul after reading Susan Barker’s contribution to the Of the Flesh anthology last year. Her originality and sophisticated writing style immediately stood out, making her upcoming novel an automatic addition to my reading list.

The novel begins with two strangers, Jake and Mariko, who meet by chance at an airport. Both are haunted by devastating losses—Jake has lost his best friend, while Mariko mourns her twin brother. Both deaths were surrounded by eerie circumstances, including the appearance of a mysterious dark-haired woman. Determined to uncover the truth, Jake embarks on a relentless pursuit to identify this enigmatic figure and her connection to the tragedies.

From this chance encounter, Barker crafts a sweeping supernatural thriller that spans continents — London, Japan, Germany, and New Mexico — and transcends time itself. At its core is a chilling tale of an immortal entity who lures people to their deaths to fulfill her dark desires. And Jake is determined to stop her.

Old Soul delivers everything I seek in a modern Gothic novel. It evokes the spirit of classics like Frankenstein and Melmoth the Wanderer, while standing alongside more contemporary masterpieces such as The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. Barker skillfully blends elements of Gothic fiction, historical intrigue, and the supernatural thriller into a seamless and compelling narrative.

One of the novel’s greatest strengths is how it interweaves the modern world — with its Polaroid cameras and YouTube influencers — with an ancient, malevolent force. Barker’s decision to explore the entity's origins and motivations adds depth and complexity, evoking an unexpected empathy from the reader.

Old Soul is expertly written, gripping, intriguing and immensely satisfying. I loved it.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I thought the beginning was very intriguing and engaging . Jake and Mariko meet in the airport when they both miss their flight . They start talking and realise that Jake’s friend and Mariko’s twin brother both die in mysterious circumstances, each coming in contact with a German photographer. Jake sets out to find out who she is . We then have a number of testimonies where this woman encounters various people who end up dead. I thought it got very repetitive half way through and I found it hard to keep engaged. To be honest it’s not really my type of genre , it’s creepy with elements of supernatural bordering on horror. I thought the characterisation was good and very atmospheric., but struggled to finish .

I was really intrigued by the synopsis and couldn't wait to read it. Unfortunately I really struggled to follow it and ended up DNF.

Having read Susan Barker's The Incarnations and 'Fight, Flight, Freeze', her excellent contribution to Of The Flesh, I knew she had a penchant for the dark, but Old Soul steps it up to another level. This satisfying horror novel tracks a mysterious, ancient woman who leaves a trail of death and destruction in her wake as she targets her victims. It starts with a chance encounter at an airport near Osaka and Kyoto, where Jake, a British man travelling back to London after visiting friends, meets a Japanese businesswoman from Tokyo. Talking over dinner, they realise that they share the same horrifying story; they each know somebody who suddenly died after meeting a strange woman and claiming they were possessed, and the post-mortem found that their internal organs were completely reversed. Jake sets off on a journey to track down others who have had the same experience, and, ultimately, the woman herself. Old Soul alternates between this series of vignettes and a section set in the 'Badlands' of South Dakota as the 'old soul' of the title pursues her latest prey. While the stories follow a similar pattern, Barker cleverly avoids repetition as she gradually reveals more and more about the mechanism of these people's fates, shifting settings and time periods. It's chillingly effective, and I adored how the feel of the novel moves from urban legend to Ring/u-style curse to Faustian pact to cosmic horror. My only note would be that I wanted something a tad more resonant from the ending; I loved the twisted Calvinist morality of Sarah Perry's Melmoth, with which this shares some DNA, and I'd have liked more of a sense of the logic behind the woman's/entity's actions. But this is gripping and genuinely creepy - classic literary horror.

With thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an advance review copy.

I have quite mixed feelings about this book. I got very close to not finishing it several times, but I persisted. Am I glad I did? Meh.

This is a horror story in the vein of Japanese tales like Ringu. A chance encounter between Jake and Mariko brings to light an event they have in common - losing a loved one soon after the loved one in question had encountered a mysterious woman who had taken their photograph. The cause of death in both cases was ruled to be a reversal of all the internal organs, a vanishingly rare congenital condition, but the deaths happened subsequent to a few days or weeks of behaving extremely erratically.

The encounter prompts Jake to start investigating his friend's death by digging deeper into her and Mariko's brother's history. The novel is structure in alternating sections: Testimonies, where Jake seeks out others who have similar stories, and Badlands, where the mysterious woman is preparing to prey on her next victim.

The first couple of Testimony sections were interesting, but there are seven of them which all (bar the last one) become really quite repetitive. The Badlands sections too go on a bit, though at least they are leading up to a climax. I tried skipping testimonies after the third one, and reading only the Badlands bits as a sequence, but the seventh testimony merges both strands so I ended up going back to fill in the gaps, and I was really rather annoyed at myself for falling into that trap. The main problem is not with the story, which would make a great film, but with the writing which is pedestrian and unimaginative. I have seen a newspaper review which reckons this book should make the Booker longlist but I will be surprised and disappointed if it does. On balance, I'd say there are better novels to spend your time on.

Horror isn't my usual go to choice for a book however the blurb definitely capture my attention. I did like the way it was written and I really enjoy book with multiple POV, I like the pace it creates and how it helps to keep my attention. However, the second half of the book lost me a little bit. I did finish it and thought it was a 3 star read.

I liked the way old Soul was written. It was a collection of stories brought together from the research of the main character., although it could feel a little repetitive at times.
I would say it is artistically written, and manages to be unsettling rather than full on scary.
I would definitely recommend it.

A Woman through time, never with the same name. She appears and Jake will have to try and work out how to stop her. Spooky tale, which ambles across time following her exploits. Knowing what she is may not be enough to stop her. Atmospheric settings and storytelling.

This is a brilliantly written super-creepy literary horror with real depth. Unusually the only consistent character in this novel is the antagonist and she is excellently evil and scary. The way Barker writes this through interconnected short stories allows the supreme talent of her writing to shine with excellent gothic descriptions and well-fleshed out characters. This novel is smart because, although it is really readable and a very enjoyable horror, there are deep underlying themes about humanity, the evil aspects of humanity from which it feels like there can be no escape contrasting with enduring beauty through art and creation.
This honest review is given with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

A paranormal literary thriller, I can honesty say that I wasn’t expecting to be gripped by Old Soul as much as I was, but the opening story lured me in.

The book opens in Osaka where we meet Mariko and Jake, polar opposites whose chance encounter when they both miss their flight means they discover they have something unusual in common - both have lost someone close to them in a gruesome death, after their loved ones were visited by a mysterious, charismatic woman with long hair and a camera. Jake’s quest to find out who the woman is takes him around the globe and into the dark web.

The book reads as a collection of short stories woven together by a narrative in the present day set in the Bisti badlands in New Mexico, where the enigmatic woman is accompanying a 17 year old aspiring influencer on a hike. And it’s here that the story reaches its horrifying climax.

Dealing with themes of mortality, the paranormal, the devil and such like, this isn’t one I’d usually go for but the writing was excellent and the book gave me nightmares! 3.5-4/5⭐️

Old Soul will be published next week by @penguinbooksuk @vikingbooks. Thanks to @netgalley for the arc. As always, this is an honest review.

Old Soul by Susan Barker
⭐⭐⭐ 3.75 stars
Publication date: 6 February 2025

Thank you to Viking Books and Netgalley for providing me with an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In Osaka, two strangers, Jake and Mariko, miss a flight, and over dinner, discover they've both brutally lost loved ones whose paths crossed with the same beguiling woman no one has seen since. Following traces this mysterious person left behind, Jake travels from country to country gathering chilling testimonies from others who encountered her across the decades.

I love multiple timelines and multiple POVs, so the structure of this book was always going to work for me. I really enjoyed reading through the testimonies gathered by Jake; I loved the tension, menace and sense of inevitability of those stories; some of them were really disturbing, while others were sad and tragic.
I was less keen on the present timeline in the Badlands, and I didn't wholly like the ending of this storyline - not necessarily what happened as a final outcome, but rather how it happened (which is as clear as mud, but I can't say more because of spoilers.) The epilogue, though, which a lot of people said they didn't like in their reviews, absolutely blew me away - the prose and imagery were both immaculate and gorgeous!
Overall, I enjoyed the writing, the story really grabbed my attention and it only took me a couple of days to read this. I definitely would love to read more from this author.

A single soul is reborn multiple times by delivering another soul to the Tyrant – Susan Barker delivers an unnerving and sinister slant on reincarnation and the desire – desperation - of one person to live forever. Undeniably eloquent writing depictss one determined, cruel, and mesmerising personality through many lives, with disturbing descriptions of modus operandi, which compelled and impelled me to keep reading. And just when you think the Old Soul will meet her comeuppance …