A slow supernatural horror about an entity that possesses people after they look at a photo of themselves taken by a mysterious and alluring woman.

We hit multiple points in the past where this entity posssesses different people, and someone in current day connecting all of these people together. I think the body horror in this story really worked for me, but it got a little repetitive and slow with how many possessions we wittnessed.

A chance meeting and a disturbing connection between two strangers at an airport in Osaka, Japan, lead a man down a strange, dark path where a mysterious, ageless woman waits – a path with frightening revelations at its end…and there are implications for all of humanity.

This is going to sound strange, but Old Soul is exactly the kind of horror novel I sometimes crave: one that embraces nihilism, offering up utter devastation and desolation without a speck of light or hope to be seen; one that demonstrates the visceral nature and range of horror and how deeply and widely it can affect the reader’s emotions. Old Soul is not traditionally scary, but it is one of those gut-punch sorts books – the kind you finish and then have to sit with for a while, or that makes you want to curl up in a ball as you work through your thoughts about it. Susan Barker’s writing is atmospheric and literary, combining impeccably detailed writing and textured character work with elements of body horror and existential horror. The woman at the center of the story is such a compelling and frightening character – clearly a villain but one that, throughout the course of the book, you come to understand and almost sympathize with.

Barker raises some thought-provoking questions about the meaning of life (quality vs. quantity) and art as a form of immortality, as she explores themes surrounding addiction, sacrifice, mental health issues, friendship, parenthood, and symbiotic/parasitic relationships of all kinds. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book quite like this one before, and the concept was so brilliantly executed that Barker had me hanging on every word, even through parts in the middle that became somewhat repetitive. This was my first book by Susan Barker, and I can’t wait to dig into her backlist. Thank you to G.P. Putnam’s Sons for the early reading opportunity.

A mysterious woman takes their photo, and not long after, they’re dead. Jake, childhood friend of one of the deceased, meets a woman who has a similar story about her brother, setting him off on a journey to track down and collect similar stories. Meanwhile, the woman is still out there, taking people’s photos.

This one was a little weird, even for me. I loved the concept and the mystery of how this woman seemed not to age over many years of photographing her victims. They die soon after meeting her, but by this point she’s long gone and hasn’t laid a hand on them. It’s a fascinating riddle. However, some of the things described in the book were gratuitous and didn’t do anything for the story (for example, mysterious woman’s yeast infection… no thank you).

I liked the book, but I think most people I know would be put off by the writing style (quotes without quotation marks, gratuitous descriptions of gross things). It would make a great movie, though.

This was such a fascinating mix of literary fiction, horror and supernatural mystery. The story jumps to different moments in time, following different people, but still pursuing the dark tendril that connects all of them.
At first I found the lack of quotation marks in dialogue a little distracting, but I quick got used to it and found that it helped with the eerie vibe of the book. Though it was a slow reading and different from what I usually read, I really enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review.

The best way that I can describe this story is an eerie folktale. I couldn’t escape the feeling of sitting aside a fire while an elder told this tale of their people. At the onset, I was unsure if this was for me, but I kept on and glad that I did. So many layers that found their way to the end in a way that was just as it should have been.

I wrote this when I was about 3/4 of the way through: “I am very intrigued by the whole premise, and how these people are connected. I really enjoy the stories of the folks who have been affected by this… woman? Entity? Whatever. Anyway, they all have some pretty messy and compelling stories. The book does feel longer than its pages imply, but it isn’t a huge deal. It may be that I am interested and want to decipher all the clues so I am reading extra carefully. In fact, let’s go with that.”

So to say, I was quite enjoying it! Even though it felt long, I did like it a lot. But you know what I did not like? The ending. I think some other readers may appreciate it more than I did, but alas. That isn’t to say the book wasn’t worth it, but… be prepared. If you need an ending that won’t make you stabby, this may not be it.

Bottom Line: It’s very well and intricately developed, except I need a redo on the ending.

The writing in this book is stunning. Much of my rating is a reflection of this. While the premise is fascinating, I was, unfortunately, disappointed with the plot.

A woman achieves immortality through a very specific ritual sacrifice. Over several decades, she has left a trail of victims behind, one of whom was Jake's best friend, Lena. Jake was always suspicious of Lena's death, and a chance encounter with a woman who claims her brother died similarly sends Jake on a mission of revenge.

Part of the story is told from the woman's point of view as she prepares for her next sacrifice. The rest is formed from witness interviews Jake collects as he finds other people who have encountered the woman and subsequently lost a loved one to mysterious circumstances. At first, the testimonies were interesting, but the woman's process is identical in every scenario, so this collection of statements quickly became repetitive and boring.

Some weird plot points didn't make a lot of sense. For example, a thread about the dark web seemed to have been added because the author needed a lifeline to connect the characters.

The idea of this book was very unique, but it would have worked better as a novella than a full-length novel.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher, for an advanced copy.

Thank you Netgalley for this arc. The cover to this had me really interested in what this was going to be about. I really enjoyed reading it, it was a ride. I would highly recommend reading it and I'd rate this a 4.5 stars.

'old soul' is kind of like addie larue but make it horror? jake meets mariko in an airport when they both miss their flight connection and they discover that they have both lost loved ones in the same mysterious, tragic circumstances. this sends jake on a spiral as he follows the trail to figure out what happened to them and the subsequent other victims that he uncovers throughout history.

the premise of this was really cool, but the punctuationless stream-of-consciousness writing style didn't work for me as i was trying to puzzle through the mystery told through the eyes of multiple narrators. the testimonies jake finds felt repetitive and it was sort of a slog to get through them until you finally get to the story that actually reveals the source of the killings and the cursed being that is committing them.

exciting premise and an interesting conclusion, but overall the writing style and the storytelling made this an unexciting read for the entire first half of the book. not for me, i think.

A chance encounter between Jake and a stranger reveals they have something in common: a now-dead loved one who crossed paths under very creepy circumstances with a mysterious woman. This starts off a manhunt for Jake as he tries to entangle a thread that goes back decades, even centuries. Who is this woman? And how can he stop her?

This was delightfully creepy. It’s a slowly building but gripping story, told through multiple viewpoints. Each testimony is a little gem. I usually do not stay up late to read, but I stayed up to read this one.

I personally found the ending and the explanation for the woman’s actions very dissatisfying, though I can understand why that route was chosen at least for the former. Another reviewer on Goodreads likened it to seeing an alternate ending for the director’s cut of a movie and recognizing the purpose and ingenuity while still being happy another ending was selected. Spot-on comparison.

There are also some interesting choices about how to tell the story that I’m still mulling on. Roughly half of the book is told from the perspective of the mysterious woman as she interacts with her latest potential victim, which doesn’t exactly humanize her but tugged me between horror and sympathy for the horror of having one’s body decay around oneself. It’s an interesting exercise. The rest of the book is a mix of first person narration from Jake, stories from others, and the contents of a journal. I found the journal the most disorienting part and an abrupt break from the rest of the content. I wish there had been a short vignette from Jake to serve as an introduction.

Some reviews comment on the lack of quotation marks. The book is still easily readable. I wonder if this choice serves to emphasize that nearly everything we read is told to us by someone else– we aren’t seeing this happen in real time.

But ultimately I’m quibbling. I really, really liked this.

Wow. What an ending! Absolutely a literary horror novel - which is my personal favorite. Excellent prose, although it may take some getting used to. Well-paced. I never had any idea where it was heading. This one will sit with me for a while.

Many thanks to NetGalley & the publishers for the ARC!

⋆⋆⋆⅞ — old soul is the first book without quotation marks that i've read and actually enjoyed. i'm rating it lower, however, because i do feel that it's not sufficiently creepy/unsettling/gripping at all. for context, i've read maybe three horror books ever, and i scream at the most childish jumpscares in horror movies. i'm not really a horror veteran by any means, so this not unsettling me is, well, unfortunate. it's still quite fascinating, and i like how it's structured with the testimonials. the characters are very vibrant and lifelike, despite each appearing in one single chapter (except jake and the woman, ig). you could conduct a feminist analysis of the woman's arc and the epilogue, but i am not nearly eloquent enough to actually write it out, so leaving this here.

This book is not easy to get into - many reviews point out the lack of punctuation in dialogues, and it definitely throws you, but once you get used to it, it's alright. For me, it was harder to accept the abbreviations and weird language of the first paragraph, which I only later realized was a part of the artist's private diary, hence all the shorthand.

The main thing is - this is a creepy, well-written story that creates a claustrophobic, eerie space where no one is safe once the strange woman takes their photo. Some of the scenes in the final chapters were a bit shocking, but I suppose we were due for graphic violence at that point. Kinda sorta wanted a touch more hope in the end, but it also strangely works, so what do I know.

Yes, it could be considered a dark take on the likes of Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and A Short Walk Through a Wide World.

Thank you, NetGalley and Penguin Publishing Group / G.P. Putnam's Sons, for sharing an advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review. The book is out on January 28.

Thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Books, Penguin Random House, and Putnam Books for this copy of "Old Soul."

This creepy, eerie book will leave you very wary of befriending anyone who wants to take your picture!

Jake meets Mariko when they're both late for their flight and unable to board. Over drinks, she shares the story of her twin brother Hiroji and his nonsensical ravings before his death. Uncannilly, Jake's childhood friend Lena had also said similar things before her death and it has haunted Jake.

Also both Hiroji and Lena had met a stranger with whom they'd formed a bond right before their deaths.

Why does Jake feel driven to find out more? Is there any chance of finding the stranger that Lena had met? Will he be able to get answers?

3.5 stars. Old Soul is quietly creepy and unsettling, a slow burn horror about a woman who keeps popping up around people who die strange and tragic deaths. Her name is never the same, but nothing else about her seems to change. The narrator, Jake, who lost a friend to this woman, is travelling around the world collecting testimonies from others whose loved ones have encountered her, as he gets closer to actually finding the mysterious woman.

The first testimony, from a Japanese woman named Mariko, whose twin brother was killed, was especially creepy and unnerving to me, but there is a bit of sameness to the stories as the book goes on, though you do eventually learn much more about her back story. Things do culminate in a gruesome climax, so if you're patient and like a slow burn, you may find this book very rewarding.

In Old Soul, Susan Barker does a masterful job of introducing each piece of the puzzle in the form of “testimonies” from characters spread across the globe and many years, building up to a very satisfying conclusion. Even now that I know “what is going on”, she has created such a rich world and populated it with distinct characters that I would read a whole series of the testimonies like the ones in Old Soul.

Wow! This book blew my mind! Incredible and can’t even pin down what genre it is. Like no other book I’ve ever read. Highly recommend it!

Well, that was unlike anything I’ve ever read before. This was a slower paced book but it was also one that I had a hard time putting down, finishing it in less than 24 hours after I started it. It’s very bleak, dark, tense and heartbreaking. I loved how the story was told over testimonies and how it all came together in the end.

Solid: well written and well told. The multiple "testimonies" work here, as the POV continues to rest, in the subtext, with main character, Jake. The pacing of multiple timelines also works here, and, more importantly, makes sense--a story told over centuries because it IS a story of centuries, as opposed to a plot device to mask a twist ending. Baker's new titles lean horror and she's killing it!

This is not the type of book I'd normally pick up. In fact, when I began read it, I couldn't remember what prompted me to request it in the first place! But I'm glad I did, and I'm grateful to the publisher, G.P. Putnam's & Sons, for providing me with an advance copy.

The structure of this novel is quite genius. The story begins in an airport in Osaka, Japan. Jake has misread his boarding pass and finds himself running to catch a flight that he thought took off two hours later. Unfortunately, the gate is closed when he arrives, and he's not allowed to board. One other passenger - a Japanese woman named Mariko who Jake has never met before - is right behind him and is also not allowed to board. Irritated, the two meet up in a bar and as they talk, they learn that, against all odds, they have both lost dear ones who encountered the same mysterious woman. Jake lost his best friend, Lena, and Mariko lost her twin brother. Mariko is a no-show for the rebooked flight the next day, but Jake finds a phone number for a woman in Berlin - Mariko's sister-in-law, Sigrid.

From there, Old Soul is told as Jake travels the world, starting with Sigrid in Berlin, collecting "testimonies" from grieving people who have encountered the mysterious woman. He learns she always looks the same, never ages, and has a pungent, rancid odor. Of these testimonies, my favorite is Bedwyr, a father in Angels Singing, Wales who lost his daughter, Ceridwen after they allowed "Liesel" to photograph Ceridwyn. Bedwyr's testimony is compelling, his and Ceridwen's characters so developed, and their story so unfortunate, that this testimony could be read as a wonderfully written short story.

Interspersed with the testimonies, which all involve Jake bearing witness as victims tell their stories, we find the mysterious woman with Rose, an aspiring influencer with a New Age schtick. The two travel to New Mexico's Bisti Badlands (or De-Na-Zin, as the Navajo call it), where the woman promises to help Rose produce some amazing new content.

Interwoven, these stories paint a picture of the woman, the dangerous, enigmatic titular "Old Soul." This book is all things at once - scary, sad, unbearably tense and propulsive. I haven't read Susan Barker's previous novel, The Incarnations, but I think I will. I can't recommend this book enough. For those who like to read spooky stories in autumn, this is perfect. If you can't wait that long (and I wouldn't), read it before this period of winter bleakness is over. You won't look at strangers in the same way afterwards.