I think this is the classic thriller while still possessing qualities that are different and one of a kind. I love that you also get the perspective of the woman who jumped, Amanda, and the couple who helps, you are left questioning if he's really as good as he seemed. It was so intense for 3/4 of the story then the end kind of fell flat. But overall was a great story.

Sally Hepworth writes in this subtle way that is so tricky. I always think I know what's happening and then she blows my mind at the end. This story is no different. I thought over and over that I knew what happened on that night at The Drop, but didn't have all of it figured out. This story of Pippa and Gabe and their life together and apart is so addicting that you will stay up late and ignore the dishes. It reads fast, keeps a quick pace and always makes you want more.

I wound up listening to the book, but I'm sure it would have been great to read as well. Very suspenseful with plenty of twists and turns, it's a story of family and deep, dark secrets. It kept me guessing and I did not figure out the ending. I really liked the Australian accents and the way the narrator did the many character voices in the novel.

Sally Hepworth is always reliable when I want a good mystery/thriller read, and this book was no exception. Although the first half was a bit on the slower side, I was constantly trying to figure out what happened and where things were headed. There were a few "loose" plot points that I am not sure would have gone down that way in real life, but I was able to get on board. I loved the small town coastal setting (rI really want a cafe like Dev runs near me). Despite all my guessing, I did not anticipate the end of this one in many ways, but it worked.

A good mystery/thriller that was both engrossing and disturbing. What really happened on the cliff that night?

The published description:
"There’s a cottage on a cliff. Gabe and Pippa’s dream home in a sleepy coastal town. But their perfect house hides something sinister. The tall cliffs have become a popular spot for people to end their lives. Night after night Gabe comes to their rescue, literally talking them off the ledge. Until he doesn’t.

When Pippa discovers Gabe knew the victim, the questions spiral...Did the victim jump? Was she pushed?

And would Gabe, the love of Pippa’s life, her soulmate...lie? As the perfect facade of their marriage begins to crack, the deepest and darkest secrets begin to unravel."

There is a serious issue in the book that Hepworth portrayed well. The characters could have been developed more though - I never really felt close to any of them. I did like the plot and enjoyed the read. The tension built as the secrets began to unravel.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press through Netgalley for an advance copy. This book will be published on April 4, 2023.

Pippa and her husband Gabe live near a cliff that is a known suicide spot. While Gabe is typically able to talk people quite literally off the ledge, he's unable to do so in its latest visitor. Told from different perspectives, Pippa learns there is more about her husband than she initially realized.

This is my first book by Hepworth and I've heard so much about this book so I was excited to read it. I like the short chapters and the different perspectives (and timelines). Hepworth did a great job of building the suspense and adding in some twists that I wasn't expecting. I'm looking forward to reading more from this author!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

I may be in the minority of opinions here, but this book was not doing it for me. I wasn't invested much if at all in Gabe or Pippa. I started to like the change of POVs from Pippa to Amanda, but the characters were not pulling me in. They were lacking in something. I found myself not wanting to see what happened and it felt mundane and predictable. While this book may be right for some, it wasn't for me.

This psychological suspense/thriller is about married couple Pippa and Gabe, whose house is by a cliff that is a notorious suicide spot. Gabe has literally talked multiple people off the edge, but one night a woman dies - and then Pippa finds out it was not a stranger to them. The book alternates Pippa’s perspective, both in the present and flashing back through her courtship and marriage to Gabe, and the dead woman Amanda, who we not only see in the past, but also is some kind of ghostly presence able to observe what happens after she dies.

This was one page-turning, twisty book which created a great, can’t put it down atmosphere. I did guess a few of the twists, but others took me quite by surprise. And when I say I didn’t want to put it down - well, it’s not uncommon for me to start a book one day and finish it the next. But I can’t remember the last time I started and finished a book in the same day - but I did with this one!

I’m a longtime fan of Sally Hepworth, even before she started writing thrillers, and have read all of her books. This was not my most favorite of her books (that would be The Good Sister of her thrillers and The Things We Keep of her non-thrillers), but it was such a fun read that I am sure fans of hers will enjoy.

Soulmate??? I’ve always had mixed feelings about this word and have often been suspect of it based on the interpretations of it by so many. Hubby says it’s because of the “cautious optimist” in me, which he says he loves😊 Anyway, the book summary is kind of vague and basically just introduces the MC’s and the primary premise.

The story begins with a short history of the suicide cliffs that are outside of Gabe’s and Pippa’s backyard and can be viewed by their kitchen window. It’s the perfect place for people to jump off and kill themselves and over the years, Gabe has managed to talk quite a few people off the cliffs until the night that a local woman, Amanda, dies. Gabe says she jumped but Pippa is pretty sure that’s not what she saw from the kitchen window. This is not a spoiler since it is revealed very early in the story.

After that, we get the Reader’s Digest version of Gabe and Pippa’s whirlwind romance, marriage, and parenthood (thus far) of two, preschooler, daughters. Good grief!!! It became apparent pretty early (at least to me) that Pippa is an idiot!!! Although, some will say that she is just a hopeless romantic the way that she ignored all the red flags about Gabe and their brief courtship. However, these days, it’s just plain stupid for single women to ignore certain character flaws and defects about a date and a relationship. This is also not a spoiler because it too is revealed early in the story.

It’s been nearly 30yrs since I was single and dating, but the kind of behavior that Gabe exhibits is just as suspect now as it ever was back in the early 90’s when I was out there dating. I have single friends and relatives and they would describe Gabe’s pursuit of Pippa as “love bombing”, same old crap as before, just a different name. Don’t even get me started on his behavior after they married, but then Pippa is no angel either. Anyway, I guess the author had to characterize Pippa and Gabe in such a way in order to move the story along.

The entire story flips back and forth between Pippa and Amanda as well as back forth between the present day (after Amanda dies) and the past (before Amanda dies). I’ve always found it kind of weird reading a story where one of the MC’s is already dead and their narration is portrayed like they’re some kind of spirit watching over the living as they tell their story. Even Amanda finds it kind of weird indicating that she can’t tell if she’s in heaven or hell. She also admits, she’s no angel.

Anyway, by the halfway mark, there is clearly a secondary storyline that I won’t mention it because that would be a spoiler. The details of this storyline pop up periodically in the story. By the 60-70% mark, the reader has had a pretty good view of the screwed-up marriages of both Pippa and Amanda to their respective hubby's, Gabe and Max.

In the last 20% of the story, it’s not really a merging of the two storylines since they’ve been merging for a while at this point. It’s more like that slow burn that has finally reached the point of combustion. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that big of a blast or surprise, at least not for me. Even the aftermath (which should have been designated as the epilogue) with its major reveal wasn’t that big of a surprise. I actually liked the aftermath, a lot, and felt it actually brought a satisfying end to the story.

For most of the story, this was really a 2-2.5star read, for me. However, I liked the finale, hence, the 3star rating. For me, a good ending can be the difference between a 2or3star rating. I typically don’t read a lot of these kinds of stories: domestic thrillers where the MC’s are screwed-up, married, couples. Hubby says that my horrible experiences with hubby #1 has probably jaded me in regards to bad husbands, real or otherwise. Perhaps. There’s probably some truth to that😊 However, I also don’t like the way some authors characterize some of the wives in these types of stories as ignorant saps. I’ve said this before and I feel compelled to say it again, my fave MC’s are smart, savvy, strong, bad@$$ women.

For me, the appeal for this book was the blurb in the book summary about Gabe talking people off the cliff that I found intriguing. I’ve always been fascinated with that type of scenario and the people who have the ability to do something like that. Additionally, a couple of GR members I follow really liked the book. I want to thank NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for sending me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

@NetGalley @StMartin’sPress @TheSoulmate

The Soulmate is the second book by Sally Hepworth that I've read and she's becoming one of my favorites. The story revolves around Gabe and Pippa, a couple who moved their small family to a cottage with a oceanside cliff view in Melbourne. The downside to this view is that it's a popular destination for suicides.

Gabe is charismatic and has a reputation for saving those that don't wish to be saved. Hepworth does a great job portraying Gabe as the perfect husband, coworker, and father. Which, to me, causes the other characters to fall flat. The story is told from the past and present of Pippa and the before and after of Amanda, who is the latest to take a fall from them cliffside.

I loved the idea of the plot, but again the characters other than Gabe fell flat to me and I could feel "bad" for any of them or the circumstances they found themselves in. The story had plenty of domestic thriller twists, but I felt that the end was rushed and other plot points were glossed over.

I'd like to thank Sally Hepworth and the generous folks at Netgalley for providing an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I rated this 3.75 stars (rounded up) for the rollercoaster ride, execution of multiple perspectives, and the setting of this book. I'm a new fan of Sally Hepworth and look forward to consuming more of her books. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

Not bad, not great either, Gave 3 stars.

Positive was that the book was fast paced and kept my attention and interest throughout. Negative is that I disliked the portrayal of Gabe's mental illness.

I really enjoyed The Younger Wife last year so I was really looking forward to this one! I enjoyed the dual POVs and timelines as well as the surprising twists. The pacing was fantastic and I was satisfied how everything came together in the end. Highly recommend if you enjoy domestic thrillers!

This tragic tale told by two women-one alive and one dead- takes some surprising twists, including a surprise near the end. Pippa has know there are problems in her marriage and that Gabe has issues (to put it mildly) but he's a good dad. They live at the edge of a cliff, a cliff where Gabe has talked down multiple people but this latest, well there's a bit of confusion as to exactly what happened and what Pippa saw. It was Amanda who went over and Amanda, as it turns out, was the wife of Max, Gabe's former boss and a man with whom Pippa had an affair. Pippa knows there's something more to the story, especially since Gabe isn't talking, and Amanda provides that insight. What starts as a fairly straightforward tale turns quite different,. Hepworth has a good way with characters; even the little girls are realistic and distinct. I felt for both Pippa and Amanda, Gabe not so much. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. The story telling is good and it's a page turner - a very good read.

Trigger warnings: Mental Illness and Suicide

I enjoyed Hepworth's book. I think she hit it out of the park with this book. It is a marriage, murder and love story all in one.

Pipa and Gabe have moved to the beach and live in a house on a cliff. This cliff is famous in a diabolical way. There have been a lot of suicides there. Gabe and Pipa see someone on the edge one day. Gabe goes to talk them down, but something happens unexpectedly.

How well do you really know your partner? How much do you hide from the world about them? How much do you really love them? All these questions are what will go through your head, when you read this book.

Tentative publish date April 4, 2023

Thanks to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the E-ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

😊 Happy Reading 😊

#netgalley
#stmartinspress

I always enjoy Sally Hepworth’s books. This one was no exception. I flew through this one in two days ! It pulled me in and I felt drawn to the different characters, especially Pippa and Amanda. This physiological thriller touches on the the subject of mental illness and suicide. It really was heartbreaking to witness Pippa’s struggles in her marriage throughout the novel due to mental illness. I enjoyed the alternating chapters between the two characters perspectives. The twist at the end was good and I did not see it coming ! Highly recommend this book.

Arc provided by Netgalley and St.Martin’s Press for an honest review. Thank you !

I've enjoyed a couple of Sally Hepworth's other novels, so I was looking forward to checking this one out. The story started strong right out of the gate, but it took a long time to unpack all the secrets and lies. There wasn't so much one big reveal (we knew right away someone died), but rather many small reveals, connections, and twists. Enjoyable book that I read in one evening!

Thanks to Net Galley and St. Martins for the complimentary digital review copy of this title.

Really enjoyed this one! Solid and feisty domestic suspense that I also found moving by the end of it with a few characters

Synopsis: Gabe and Pippa live in their dream house near the sea. Unfortunately, these breathtaking cliffs are also a popular place for people to end their lives. Gabe has made it his mission to talk people down from the ledge again and again. Until, one day, he doesn’t. Questions begin to spiral as more and more secrets are revealed. How well do you really know your soulmate?

This was such a compelling domestic suspense story! The dual POV, including one from beyond the grave 😳, really added to the intrigue. The entire plot was very cleverly written and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it! This is my first novel by Sally Hepworth, but I’ll definitely be reading more of her books!

Special thanks to Netgalley and St Martin’s Press for sharing an ARC with me in exchange for my honest review. This title officially releases April 4th!

This book was great. By chapter 3, I was hooked. Twists, turns, red herrings, etc. The end was heartbreaking but beautiful. I loved the little girls, and how we hopped perspectives between Amanda and Pip. They both were amazing female characters and I loved them both.