This book really surprised me. I read a few of the authors other works. Her books for me are hit or miss. This was a definite hit. I thought it was very well written and I loved the characters.

I love Sally’s writing. It’s riveting and captivating. I didn’t know what to expect next. Just when I think I knew what was next I was wrong and that ending was so far off my radar it was very unexpected. Loved it.

Loved the concept but not the execution. I was intrigued by the idea of a woman witnessing her husband at the edge of a cliff when another woman suddenly--jumps? Falls? Or was she pushed? But as the story developed, I unfortunately never developed any feelings of attachment for any of the characters, and the plot was sluggish and disjointed.

Let's start with the characters, because I think that's where the book's biggest problems lie. The main wifey character, Pippa, is probably the worst. She's a long-suffering victim of another annoying character, her idiotic and mentally ill husband, Gabe. Gabe frequently cheats on her with bar maids, even bringing home his illegitimate child with one for her to raise, stays out all night, loses jobs, and has violent outbursts. That said, Pipps still somehow thinks she is just soooo lucky to be with him because he is super hot and St. Pippa can't possibly think of leaving him! Come on woman. Grow some ovarios!

Next there's the "suicide" (or was it??) victim, Amanda. Amanda was poor but now is rich because she married a rich guy named Max, who is creepy Gabe's boss. Max has some shady business dealings but is otherwise uninteresting and I wasn't sure why he was there until the end, and then it's like "oh, so he's there pretty much to act as a patch to try to tie this whole soggy mess together? Mmmkay." The book toggles between Pippa and Amanda's perspectives "then" and "now," and the way it does gets pretty confusing. And "now," keep in mind, Amanda is dead, so apparently she is just kinda hovering there, narrating this novel to us. It's just ... disorienting.

Lastly there are many sections of the book with little kids running around, sometimes wildly close to the cliff. Why? Why is anyone ever close to the cliff? Back up people! Put up a fence maybe? And whyyyyy would you possibly have a big house next to a dangerous cliff that's a known suicide spot if you have very young children??) Also, why make your readers suffer through discussions re: dropping them off at the parents or feeding them a sandwich or whatever? They are not drivers of the plot in any way. You know, no matter how much the book might want me to care about these fictional little kids, with descriptions of how cute they are, I just don't care. They only serve to annoy me, especially in a book that's just ... not about kids.

Another big problem was the ending. I didn't like it, not one bit, and there's only so much suspension of disbelief I will tolerate in a thriller. Here, the characters' motivations simply don't make sense, I don't buy it, and I don't like the outcome. Nothing else though so I don't spoil it.

Lastly, the book is just not a thriller. There's no sense of danger or suspense or lurking doom or anything interesting. I would call it more of a soap opera, or a dysfunctional family story, or something else, but it is not a thriller, domestic or otherwise. I found it to be extremely slow pacing and it took me a very long time to finish the book, even when I'd reached 80% through. Usually the last part of a thriller has that burning pages under your fingers feeling. This really did not.

To sum up, I've liked some of Sally Hepworth's other novels, I like books set in Australia, and I like domestic thrillers/psychological thrillers, etc -- but this one is a big no for me.

QUICK TAKE: very dark concept and I thought Sally did a really nice job with the book. I liked the alternating POV, and the mystery kept me turning pages from start to finish. It's not the most memorable thriller I'll read this year, but it's a solid recommendation from me.

I love a Sally Hepworth book! She does family drama and unique thrillers so well. We knew from the beginning that it wasn’t a suicide but seeing all the twists and turns to what actually happened on the cliff was a wild ride. The chapters alternating between Pippa and Amanda (the woman who died) and the time shift from present day to before worked really well. It could have been confusing but it really wasn’t and helped to slowly reveal information in a fun and creative way. If you’re looking for a fun, different kind of thriller I recommend this one (and any other Sally Hepworth!)

Anything by Sally Hepworth is an automatic read for me. I was super excited to receive an arc of "The Soulmate" as I've enjoyed Hepworth's domestic thrillers in the past.

It should be noted that "The Soulmate" does contain some trigger topics including suicide and infidelity. While I enjoyed the novel it was not one of my favorite's of Hepworth. I personally found the main characters frustrating and wasn't able to connect.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my digital arc in exchange for my honest review.

While this one was not my favorite by this author I still enjoyed reading this one. This story follows a couple who purchase a house next to a well known suicide spot and the husband tries talking to them to get them to back away from the ledge. One night when he goes out there to talk with a woman he doesn't save her and when the wife looks up she is not sure what she saw. I really enjoyed certain parts of this story especially the flash back chapters of the woman who jumped. There were a few twists, some I saw some I didn't. If you have read and enjoyed any of this authors other works than I would recommend picking this one up as well. Thank you St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for my gifted copy for review.

I put this one off for a while and now I'm kicking myself. This was an awesomely twisty, gripping family drama and the dual POVs provided one of my favorite literary devices. I was engaged from start to finish and truly enjoyed Hepworth's latest success.

Sally Hepworth is one of my favorite authors. Many of her novels are on my favorite reads list. I will read and/or listen to anything she writes. Once I start her books, I find it difficult to put down until I'm finished.

The Soulmate is an exciting story about love, marriage, loyalty, and secrets!!

Gabe and Pippa have a terrific marriage and are the parents to two wonderful little girls. They now live in the home they have always dreamed about. The view on the cliffs is gorgeous. Unfortunately, there are people using the cliffs as a place to end their lives. Until recently, Gabe has been able to save people from following through on the plan to end their lives.

What was different this last time? Why wasn't Gabe able to stop the woman from jumping?

You know what they say...

Things are not always what they seem.

Sally Hepworth's novels usually have great twists and turns that keep me guessing. The Soulmate was no different. The story had clever twists that took me by surprise. I thought the characters were well developed and the story flowed very well. I really liked the alternating points of view.

I was thrilled to be able to read and review both the audiobook and e-book for The Soulmate. This may not have been my favorite from this author (The Good Sister will be hard to top!) However, I still thought it was a great read .The audiobook was very well performed. The reading style of both narrators was excellent. In my opinion they brought even more life to an already enjoyable story.

The Soulmate was another terrific domestic suspense novel from Sally Hepworth.
I am on pins and needles waiting for more from this very talented author.


I'd like to thank the publisher for providing me with a copy of this novel. All opinions are my own.

The SoulMate
by Sally Hepworth

review
I read this book in 2 days on the boat. There was no better way to spend a day in the sun on our boat than with this book!

This was from multiple POV which is my favorite. It did not disappoint! It was all in the present tense. I loved how she added Amanda's POV was also included. I wasn't sure where this was book was headed but as I read the book the sequence of events were twisty but they were plausible. I really enjoyed that aspect of the book. Sometimes I just need a book to take me on a ride that could legit happen IRL. This book was exactly that for me.

Read this Book If:
You want a book that invloves shady business dealings
You want a book involving a cliff

TW: suicide

On my Scale of Buy, Bargain, Borrow, Bud & Bust: I'm rating this one a Buy/Bargain just depending on how much you love a good thriller.

I know this book is out now and I'm approx 10000 years late to the party but thank you to for an eARC of this book!!!

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
I have previously read 4 books by Sally Hepworth: "The Younger Wife", "The Family Next Door", "The Mother-in-Law" & "The Good Sister" & really enjoyed reading her twisty psychological books so I couldn't wait to request a copy of her latest book, "The Soulmate".
Once again, Ms. Hepworth had me glued to my kindle trying to wrap my head around all the twists, turns & secrets.
The story was smart, original & addictive.
I loved how she told the story using dual timelines (before & after) & the point of views from the 2 wives.
I can't wait to read what she decides to write next!

Sally Hepworth’s domestic thriller The Soulmate unfolds through two voices: Pippa, a married ‘wills and estates’ lawyer, and Amanda, the wife of a billionaire. Amanda sacrifices everything to support her husband in his career and often turns the other way in order to ignore some shady business dealings. Pippa is married to Gabe, a stay-at-home dad who looks after the couple’s two children. Pippa tells everyone the two little girls are “Irish twins,” (less than a year apart). At first glance, Pippa and Gabe would appear to have an idyllic marriage, a idyllic clifftop beach home and an idyllic life. The one wrinkle on the horizon is that their clifftop home is actually a well-known suicide spot, and since they moved in, there have been numerous would-be suicides talked down by Gabe.

One day, Pippa and Gabe notice a woman standing on the cliff edge. Gabe rushes out to talk to her while Pippa calls the police, but before the police arrive the woman falls to her death. There was something about the interaction between Gabe and the woman that bothers Pippa–the way that Gabe appeared to argue with the woman, the position of his hands after the woman’s fall. …

From this point, everything starts to unravel. The story unfolds through Pippa and Amanda’s voices, in two time frames. Amanda, it turns out, is/was the wife of Max, Gabe’s one-time boss, and she’s the one who jumped to her death. Gabe tells the police a foolish lie–that he didn’t know the woman who threw herself off the cliff. Given that it’s going to be easy for the police to discover that Gabe knew Amanda, the lie seems … well… as suspicious as hell.

The tawdry tale is told by two women who reveal through their voices, now/then, the inner unhappy workings of their marriages. I am not fond of narrators who are ghosts/dead as questions begin to dart through my head. Can they see everything? Are they in limbo? Plus it seems like a type of narrative cheating in a way. For this reader, Gabe was an incredibly annoying person and Max was one dimensional. As for Pippa… I can understand someone telling themselves (or others) that their lives are great, etc, but Pippa’s delusions are something that need to be addressed by a professional. The book started out strong but then petered out into people being stupid. Looking at online reviews, it seems that many fans were disappointed.

Review copy

Love love love this book. One of my first books by this author. This book kept me wanting to read more. What a page turner! I loved the plot and the suspense throughout the entire book. This book definitely makes me want to read more books by this author.

Remember that line from Shrek where Ogre says to donkey "ogres are like onions; they have layers"? That's sort of how I felt about this book.

It started off as a sad tale of a suicide. A woman jumps off a cliff despite a man's best efforts to help her. Living on said cliff, this man has been in this position before but has always succeeded. What makes this time different? I'll tell you what; lies, secrets, dysfunction, miscommunication, and mental health issues.

And so the story goes. With each page, with each chapter, another layer is revealed and more twists, turns and connections are built into the story. More miscommunications and lies are brought to the forefront and the ugly underbelly of the relationships is revealed. You'd think that would be a big win for a thriller but something about it just felt a little "meh." It needed a little polish to make it shine but I can't tell you exactly what that would be. Not helpful, I know.

The story is told from the perspective of Amanda - the jumper - and Abigail - the wife of the "hero" - in two different timelines. While I thought that part was handled well, I never felt truly connected or invested in either character.

Big trigger warning; I felt like the mental health component of this story was huge and potentially quite painful for some readers because the way Gabe's issues were handled was just so awful...and maybe that was intentional?? Yes, Gabe was receiving professional help but it seemed lacklustre at best. His own wife seemed mostly ok to bumble along and make excuses for his bad behaviour rather than address the gravity of his situation.

That said, it is still a good story and I don't regret my time reading it. I have enjoyed Sally Hepworth books in the past and this wasn't one that would turn me off her writing. It's pretty bingeable, written with short chapters and concise structure. The two POV and two timelines also kept the action moving. By the end, there's a lot going on and some twists to unravel; because of the layers, I feel like once you've started you've got to see it through to the end.

Thanks to netgalley and St. Martin's Press for my e copy in exchange for my honest review.

I love stories by Sally Hepworth and enjoyed this one but I did find it a bit dry in places and another thing this started out so strong and then got sort of repetitive which slowed me down and took me a while longer to read than it should have. I'm not saying it was bad at all! I can't really even put my finger on what bothered me....but I do think most of it was I would grow so impatient with Pippa. So naive and I can't even say I liked her. Towards the ending I can really say she just didn't impress me much at all. She came across as a silly pitiful woman who always needed saving/coddling.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for this copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

#netgalley #stmartinspress #sallyhepworth #thesoulmate

While the suspense was great, I just wish there was more to the ending and it all was not as simple. The things we do for love and self-preservation are astounding but Gabe simple only cared about himself. The title of the story was fitting but I wanted more for Amanda and Max

I blew through this one I’m two days. It’s fast paced with alternating POVs and timelines. Short chapters that makes it an easy and quick read. The end I thought was a tad anticlimactic but I enjoyed it overall for a domestic thriller.

Interesting secondary characters!
Pippa and Gabe have been married for seven years and have two girls that are both four years old. They see a woman walking by the cliff edge near their home and Gabe rushes out to talk to her and keep her from jumping in case she’s feeling suicidal. He has saved several people before but this woman, Amanda, falls off the cliff. Pippa wonders why Gabe had his arms out and palms forward as she fell and questions whether or not he pushed her. The story gradually unravels the mystery behind Gabe, Pippa, Amanda and her husband Max. Mental illness and unsure circumstances create uncertainty in Pippa’s marriage but she and Gabe stay honest with each other through it all. I didn’t become invested in the main characters Gabe and Pippa as much as I cared about Max and Amanda. Abrupt transitions made it difficult for me to love this book. The best parts are with Amanda because there’s suspense involved in her story. 4 stars!

I couldn't put this book down. I hink his was Sally's bet book yet. The story is told by two narrators, Pippa and Amanda. Pippa's husband has a talent for talking people off a cliff and Amanda just happens to be the one person he wasn't able to talk down. The story jumps back and forth between the past and present and all the pieces come together and wait until the end. It is fabulous.

Pippa and her family — her dreamy husband Gabe and their two little girls — just moved into a house on a cliff with a breathtaking view. It also happens to be the area’s go-to spot for people looking to end their lives. When the family sees someone alone out there, Gabe goes to meet them to try to talk them down while Pippa calls the police and distracts the girls. Then one day, Gabe’s efforts are unsuccessful and a woman dies — and Pippa is left to question why her husband’s hands were extended out as if he just pushed that person to their death.

But the woman isn’t a stranger, and as the truth unfolds, Pippa has to confront her husband and his lies — as well as her own role in the series of events that led to the death on the cliff.

I love Sally Hepworth so much. Her books always involve some delicious and salacious twists and turns — always reflecting some dramatic family dynamic. The chapters are super short and alternate perspectives and timelines — it made for a quick read!
A solid read, not too spooky, but TW for suicide and mental illness.