This was an excepted and wild ride that took me places I never would have guessed. Old Soul takes the trope of a beautiful woman who passes through time, think Addie LaRue and The Age of Adaline (why is it always that name)? Instead of taking the turn we have come to except from a character of this caliber, Susan Barker gives us a more complex and sinister character and delves into a myriad of horror aspects.

I absolutely love the way that this is written from the prose to stylistic techniques and even point of view. We have a present point of view that is a thread throughout the book while each rotating chapter gives us a testimony from someone who was affected by our ghoulish antagonist Eve. It is written like a crime procedural in this way without ever being boring or making me wish we were in present day again. I truly cannot tell you which aspect of the book I loved more as the testimonies were so unbelievably riveting while adding context to the agonizing present day storyline that had me at the edge of my seat/bed.

It was a weird, in a good way, choice to give us an antagonist with no true main character. There were a slew of characters introduced that could be considered a “main” but our Eve was the antagonist to humanity in general and I loved that perspective.

The ending isn’t a miss for me but WOAH, it was harsh. It reads like a gothic thriller or a ghost story so it could be slower for some but give yourself over to the plot and enjoy what is in front of you otherwise you’ll be missing out on a true gem. I will definitely be checking out previous and later releases from this authour, I’m hooked.

I have to admit that I was a little skeptical about this book prior to starting it. It's tagged on NetGalley as “horror” and “literary fiction,” and while I do enjoy a good literary fiction read from time to time, I don't normally want my horror to be highbrow. And I can definitely see why this novel is labeled the way it is – its very … I dunno … artistically written, I guess? Kind of fancy-ish? (My alma mater's English department would totally revoke my degree if they could see the unscholarly way I talk about literature these days.) Everyone in this book is very artsy and poetically tortured, and even the villain is very … what's the word I'm looking for? … civilized, maybe? Basically, it just feels a little “deeper” than your usual run-of-the-mill supernatural thriller. The text doesn't include a single quotation mark, if that tells you anything.

But, with that said, this book isn't an inaccessible slog. It's rather light on the horror – I'd consider it more unsettling than outright scary – but it is gripping. The chapters switch back and forth between the stories of “Marion's” past victims (facilitated by Jake, a man searching for answers regarding the death of his best friend) and her present-day attempt to lure in her newest sacrifice. The present-day storyline takes place in under 24 hours, but with the frequent flashbacks in time it becomes a much slower, more meandering tale. Who is this woman and why does she seem to drive those around her to their deaths?

I particularly enjoyed the storyline involving the Sculptor (Theo). Can you truly say you love someone if you're willing to sacrifice aspects of their future in order to secure your own?

The ending made me want to scream into the void. I think that's a good thing. Probably. When it comes to horror novels, anyway. And then the epilogue is hands-down the creepiest part of the entire book and is straight out of a dark, dark high fantasy novel. It feels so different from the rest of the story but I loved it.

My overall rating: 3.95 stars, rounded up. If you're a fan of literary horror (and can handle dialogue that lacks proper punctuation), definitely consider giving this one a read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review. Its expected publication date is January 28. 2025.

I don't know what it is with this rash of books recently that choose to forego quotation marks, but it really makes for a miserable read. This book and author may be simply too good for pedestrian writing conventions, but I wouldn't know, because eschewing them blinded me to this book's finer qualities completely.

Thank you @netgalley for the ARC of Old Sour by Susan Barker. This was a creepy sad story with great imagery. I liked the back and forth between Jake and the characters, but sometimes felt like it was hard to keep track of who was talking. The idea of people taking multiple forms that cause death is a terrifying concept.

Jake’s best friend and Merika’s twin brother die in similar circumstances thousands of miles apart. Jake races to see if he can stop the Old Soul before she kills again.

This book is amazing! It kept me on the edge of my seat, eagerly turning each page to find out what happens next. The premise is so unique, and I had no idea what the characters were going to do. The intricate details were a slow burn of each victim's encounter with an evil force that led to tragedy. I'm left wondering if there's more to the story. This force seems unstoppable. True horror/thriller at its best.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Publishing Group for an e-arc in exchange for an unbiased review.

This messed me up very quietly and slowly. I'm still emotionally wobbly about, it but also enamored with all the ways Barker portrays loss and close relationships, even though so much of it was bleak. More literary than horror, there's a true sense of creeping dread throughout and a visceral rot that grows as each new tale within the overarching narrative unfolds. I'm also just a sucker for the Badlands, so I was in based on that setting alone. Gorgeous and dire, Old Soul is exactly what I want from literary horror.

I have so many thoughts about this book, so many emotions attached to it. This is the pinnacle of literary horror, in my humble opinion. It follows two strangers who meet by chance in an airport after their flight is cancelled, and the revelations of their past introduce a woman who seems to be connected to the tragedies of their lives. Who or what is this woman? That is the answer they seek. It's a read that makes you think long after you have turned the last page. (Original rating: 4.75)

2.5 stars. A multi-layered narrative weaving together the lives of characters across continents, united by a mysterious force. The story opens with Mariko who has a chance encounter with Jake. Their meeting sets the stage for a series of interconnected events marked by eerie similarities and unsettling occurrences. Mariko's twin brother, plagued by a disturbing sensation of something moving inside him, after an encounter with a woman, warns her against letting "the women" in. This cryptic message resonates with Jake, whose friend Lena experienced the same phenomenon. In a seemingly separate testimonials, people encounter the same woman before their deaths. As these threads converge, a tyrant figure looms. Jake goes on a quest to find this woman and stop her from causing more harm.

Let me start by saying this was the first time I read a book by this author and their writing style was really something. The writing, the structure, and the character development, in my opinion, were really good and interesting.
I'd say this is a heavy character-driven story. So don't expect a fast-paced narrative or an action packed story. Susan Barker takes her time to construct her story with alternate characters and timelines, focused mainly on an English man named Jake, who misses his flight at the Osaka airport and then meets a total stranger woman who also missed her flight and while they chat they realise they have something more in common besides missing the same flight: they both had lost someone due to the same eerie circumstances. Soon Jake suspects that that woman is way more mysterious than he could have thought, and that's when Jake goes on mission to finding out who she really is and what is the meaning behind the horrific death of his partner.

I'll be honest: I was expecting a different kind of horror. To me, this book reads much more of a literary fiction with a touch of mystery than horror. Even though I liked somethings about this book (more about the author's writing skills other than the plot itself), I ended up not getting what I was hoping after reading the synopsis.
I'm sure other readers will appreciate this book more than I did.
I do recommend it to readers who like different stories, unique stories with a character-driven narrative.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher G.P. Putnam's Sons, for providing me with a free eARC of this novel.

Thank you to Penguin Publishing Group and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy.

I was extremely excited to received an advanced copy of this book. The premise sounded so surreal and WEIRD that I couldn't resist, and in some ways Old Soul really delivered! I found myself, unfortunately, a little disappointed with the final picture, however.

Just to get it out of the way. There were a few strange editing choices, but I believe they're going to be changed or resolved later as this is not the final version of the text. There is no punctuation on any of the dialogue, but I think the conversations flow naturally enough that being confused was pretty rare. It might've been once or twice that I had to re-read a small section to see who was talking. There are also moments where the dialogue is formatted like a script. I think this would be interesting if the character telling their story had a relation to the film industry, but it happens across characters and feels a little unnatural.
I'm not using any of this to mark down the book's score. Just noting it.

The story itself is fascinating. It's less of a full and complete novel, and instead an anthology of the path of this very strange woman and the lives of those she's affected through her actions. There are a few characters and anthologies that connect across time and come together for the finale which I thought was extremely exciting. However, these anthology sections are quite short, so I didn't build much of an attachment to any of these characters. They also became quite repetitive because the woman operates in a similar way, a similar ritual, with each victim.

Our main character is Jake, and although we learn about him and his path through his memories of his friend who became a victim of this woman, he is ultimately a little unimportant in the end. Jake isn't even present for the climax of the book. I feel like there's a theme to be seen with each of the stories. In one, a father's overprotective love for his daughter. In another, love with the right person in the wrong time. There's something about the novel that makes me WANT to like it more than I do.

The most fascinating story is that of the woman and the Sculptor. I think there's an interesting theme between these two character's juxtaposed positions. The woman is willing to do whatever it takes to stay alive, to experience every part of life no matter who gets in her way, but the Sculptor is willing to give up her dreams for a different life. It's genuinely interesting.

I liked the woman as a character, and the lore of the "monster" that builds around her. The victims seem to be tormented by something invisible and supernatural, and when they die it's discovered that all of their organs have been reversed! So intriguing. We're introduced to the woman as she's literally falling apart, rotting from the inside from all sorts of diseases and bacteria. The descriptions of her falling apart are visceral and vibrant. I obviously loved them. She's guiding a seventeen year old girl to a location, waiting for Venus to rise to perform a ritual. It's a great hook, and I really wanted to know more. The pace at which the story delivers information is really good as well.

The ending was something I think I'll be thinking about for a while. The epilogue is extremely poetic, and epic in the Grecian sense, but the final chapters were so tense. It left me feeling really melancholic, and a little defeated, but in a way it was the perfect ending for the themes presented.

It's a good book, and I keep wavering between giving it three or four stars. I've changed my mind a hundred times, and I'll probably change it a hundred more. I think if there were one or two stories cut, and the rest were expanded upon it would make for a fuller, more cohesive narrative.

I would recommend this book if you like a surrealist horror, almost cosmic. If you like a little ambiguity and unique locations, this is the book for you.

Old Soul blends elements of horror, western, and thriller, crafting a fearlessly bold narrative about predation, morality, and free will. It chronicles one man's relentless quest to bring an end to a centuries-long chain of human devastation, challenging readers with its profound and unsettling questions about the human condition.

I couldn't put this down! Old Soul is very well written and grabs your attention immediately. I was easily able to imagine everything Susan Barker put in front of me.

Old Soul follows Jake, a British school teacher visiting Japan, as he tries to unravel the mystery and strange circumstances surrounding his best friend's sudden death after a chance meeting with a woman who lost her husband the exact same way. Jake's investigation leads him to many other with friends and family members that met the same fate. They all had one thing in common, meeting a mysterious woman and having their photo taken just days or weeks before they died.

But Jake doesn't realize that the woman will do anything to stay alive.

This book is part horror and thriller, and I didn't want it to end. I was a little perplexed by something that happened at the end but maybe I just need it to marinate now that the wild ride is over. I don't think you'll regret picking this one up.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Publishing Group for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC.

A chance meeting of two strangers traveling abroad reveal they both have experienced losing a loved one and the same seemingly medically impossible way. Realizing their stories all start and end with a mysterious woman Jake begins his journey of investigating who this woman is in hopes of discovering what really happened to his lifelong friend. Through testimonial accounts of those left in the wake of tragedy the encounters with the woman who defies the laws of natural life begin to emerge.

I found this to be a beautifully written story. The testimonials felt like real relationships between actual imperfect humans. Which we all are.

What a fantastic read!! Truly have not read anything like this. I was captivated by the lore of the Old Soul and left feeling so disturbed. The horror of this book was so subtle and unnerving, I legit had some serious heebie jeebies! I loved the way the story bounced around from present day to testimonies/stories of the people that suffered at the hands of the Old Soul/Tyrant. Knocked off a star because I could have done without maybe one or two of the testimonies, a couple began to feel repetitive, but I do see how they were necessary for setting up the end. They just were VERY lengthy. And I wish we got a bit more backstory on the Old Soul rather than the brief explanation towards the end, but overall, really liked this one!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

A haunting story which in the surface is a horror story but ultimately becomes a story of loneliness and finding your own power but realizing it comes at a cost. Thoroughly heart breaking not only hearing the stories of each life the “Woman” has destroyed but also the collateral damage left to the people around the events. The build up to the truth became kind of tedious to be honest which is why I gave it 4 stars not 5 but once more was revealed it seemed to escalate quickly. It reminded me a bit of an anthology where some stories are stronger than others which is the case here but they were all compelling just some more memorable than others. I feel like there was also an underlying message about female empowerment and the oppression of women by men that ultimately came to nothing because the one women who did take her power back ended up with a very unhappy story. I feel like that could have been explored better but the author was trying for a melancholic ending and leaned hard into that versus fleshing out the allusions that were given. Would still recommend though!

Gratitude and thanks to the Netgalley, the publisher, and Susan Baker for an ARC of this incredible work!

It all begins with Jake meeting Mariko at an Osaka airport, and the two recount their experiences losing loved ones in the eerie manners after a chance encounter with a mysterious woman. From this point, Jake then begins to interview and uncover details from friends and family of the supposed accidental deaths of those who have come in contact with this woman. As the novel weaves through the stories of 7 people throughout different generations and cultures, the reader is tasked to determine the effect meeting this woman has had on their lives. Will this be enough to end the deaths of countless more victims?

This novel was DEEPLY unsettling and I don't think I've been spooked this much reading a book in a while. Baker is so verbose and crafts her language in a way that reflects her skill. This novel checks off all the boxes for me in terms of: character development, plot, syntax, and style. The way she transcends genres shows her mastery of utilizing the aforementioned elements to bring forth a masterpiece. This book is for those who enjoy a slow burn that unravels all the pieces like a puzzle. I can't wait to read more of her works.

“Evil . . . has its ways and means.”
📚
When Jake and Mariko have a chance meeting at an Osaka airport, they realize they have more in common than a missed flight: they live under grief’s shadow, having lost loved ones under similarly strange and horrific circumstances. So begins the winding epic of a strange and enigmatic woman. Seemingly immortal, she’s a bringer of death who has many names. And as Jake embarks on a quest for truth, he must follow sinister breadcrumbs across the world and through time to solve the enigma. Who is this mysterious woman, what has she done, and why? And if Jake finally exposes her secrets, will he be able to stop her?

Unfolding via a series of interconnected stories, Old Soul is an eerie and captivating tale of life, death, and those left behind. Immersive from the first, it exudes tension and dread, pulling the reader into a slow-burning, onion-like narrative gradually unveiling terrifying layers, while the interconnected stories are compelling, forming a frightening, visceral, and twisty puzzle. The Historian (one of this reader’s all-time favorites) is an excellent comp, as Old Soul imparts the same depth and scale of story, history, mystery, evil, and darkness.

It’s a sumptuous and atmospheric tale of choice, manipulation, and lies; perception, morality, and predation; freedom, humanity, and something else entirely — something old, dark, inexplicable, and entirely insidious. A fantastic literary horror work where the truth is terrifying and no one is safe.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Publishing Group/G.P. Putnam's Sons for sending this forthcoming release (which is scheduled for publication in January 2025) for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I received this book as an ARC from Putnam Books and NetGalley. A truly disturbing tale of a woman determined to live forever and the lives she touches and destroys while serving an otherworldly evil. Excellently written and a page turner to the last. I highly recommend this book!

Susan Barker’s “Old Soul” begins intriguingly enough, with two strangers who’ve missed a flight coming to find out, as they exchange histories while awaiting the next flight, that they both had personal acquaintances who died under mysterious circumstances including, bizarrely, their organs having been reversed. And in both cases, the deaths were preceded or perhaps brought about by the appearance in their lives of a mysterious woman who indeed even later showed up on the doorstep of one of the two delayed fliers as she huddled inside.
A doozy of a premise, in short, Barker’s novel, with a propulsive enough narrative drive to keep a reader reading, though to my mind it loses some of its force as the novel expands its focus to include enough other victims of the mysterious woman that it becomes difficult or even irritating for a reader to try to keep all the characters straight (there’s a reason for the call for unity of action in art).
Or at least that was my reaction to a novel which, to be fair, was not my cup of tea to begin with, with my strong preference for realistic or literary fiction, but its blurb so grabbed me that I couldn't resist. And, as I’ve indicated, even with my quibble with its expansive cast, it wasn’t without considerable appeal for me, especially with how it seemed to hold out promise of having greater literary or artistic ambitions. But in the end it turned out for me to be pretty firmly lodged in the horror genre, which is perfectly fine if that’s a reader’s thing, and indeed the novel is one of the better instances of a genre not usually known for the sort of narrative elaborateness that Barker brings to it.

Another amazing book by Baker. I really enjoyed her first book, but this one absolutely blew me a way. I hope this book ends up getting the deserved recognition it has earned. It's really a great , creepy read.