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 …

Actual Rating: 3.5

Going into ’Old Soul’ I was simultaneously nervous and excited. Horror isn’t my go to genre (although it’s one I do want to try and start checking out more) and I was slightly worried that this would stray too far into slasher territory for my tastes at times. Yet the premise infinitely intrigued me and I really wanted to check it out. Happily I can report that this didn’t go down the roads that I feared although I still had a few struggles with it initially. Once I was hooked ’Old Soul’ was a deeply compelling and disturbing read. Yet I can’t deny that it took a fair bit of time for me to reach that ‘must read’ point.

Usually I try to start my reviews off with the positive points of a read then circle back to what I struggled with towards the end. Yet it feels more natural to start with my struggles in this case as they came early on in the book and mostly disappeared as the story went on. The truth is that I really couldn’t connect or invest in ’Old Soul’ for the first twenty or so percent of the book. It had moments that deeply disturbed me but others that I couldn’t find myself invested in at all; and still others that felt somewhat bizarre. Those weirder elements made me fear that this was going to head down a route that I really wouldn’t connect to but thankfully they seemed to fade away, or in some cases click into place, as time went by. If I hadn’t received an arc of this book I probably would have given up on it truthfully but I’m glad I persevered as in the end it paid off.

The style of ’Old Soul’ is rather memorable and one that generally worked for me. It’s split into a combination of ‘testimonies’ and a storyline set within the Badlands. Each testimony details a different individuals experience with the mysterious woman that this book resolves around and the impact that she had upon someone close to them. Some of these segments were highly disturbing and watching the effect upon some of her victims was simultaneously compelling and difficult to watch. The Badlands storyline also engaged me and gave some additional insight into what this woman was ultimately up to. As you read the book and discover these various snapshots everything seems to click into place, painting one highly disturbing picture on the whole.

For me personally the characterisation in this book differed quite vastly at times. One of the first characters that you were introduced to I found hard to wrap my head around yet others were vividly detailed in an often uncomfortable light.

When it comes to what’s actually going on with this mysterious figure and the brutal deaths I was totally caught off guard. Granted I’m not all that familiar with the horror genre but to me it certainly seemed like a fairly unique and unexpected premise. It was chilling to wrap my head around and came with some deeply described stories at various points in times. The fact that you got to glimpse a variety of settings really intrigued me and I also appreciated how everything was gradually woven together.

Between it’s unusual premise and deeply detailed looks into a variety of people’s run ins with the mysterious ‘woman’ it centres around ’Old Soul’ makes for a unique and memorable read over all. Its deeply disturbing and uncomfortable to read at times and doesn’t shy away from the darker aspects of human life. On occasion the writing did seem to go into a little too much detail on background information I wasn’t overly interested in that linked to the characters but didn’t feel truly vital to the plot. It’s pretty unflinching with its depictions of decay too in a manner that I really was not expecting.

Just as a final note of caution there’s a lot of potentially triggering content in this book ranging from things like suicide and mental health to animal violence. I always struggle with the last of these so I wasn’t exactly thrilled that they featured, although it did mostly happen off page with the end results being most of its depiction.

Altogether I’m somewhat torn as to whether or not I recommend ’Old Soul’. As I’m personally glad that I read it and am intrigued enough to want to check out the author’s backlist at some point in time then I suppose I do. But I do feel the need to stress that the start could well be a major struggle for other readers too. The ‘weirdness’ may not bother other people given how vastly taste can differ but I wouldn’t be surprised if others initially found it hard to engage too. If that’s the case I do recommend trying to push on until at least the thirty percent mark as by then I was hooked. Its just a shame that the start was so ropey for me. Yet once I was engaged I stayed hooked throughout and ultimately ’Old Soul’ is a story that I won’t forget for quite some time.

Old Soul follows Jake after he meets Mariko by chance and uncovers a disturbing connection: their loved ones died after encountering the same mysterious woman. Jake follows the bloody trail to her and uncovering her true purpose.
I did find it quite slow which didn't necessarily feel like it was building to a crescendo, just slow pace with a much quicker ending.
This has such a cool concept and I really enjoyed the unnerving accounts that Jake picked up and the impending sense of doom because you knew what was coming. It didn't feel formulaic or like a copy of something else, which I find horror can sometimes do.
The final act pulled all the strings together to a gruesome and action packed finale, exactly what I wanted.

It started off strong, and I was very interested in the storyline, however, it kind of went flat for me. It had so much potential, but this story just wasn’t for it, sadly.

Thank you to Netgalley for my ARC!

This book has been classed as a horror and whilst I cannot disagree with that I found it’s more of an atmospheric horror than a slasher or gory horror. Saying that it is a great book and I enjoyed the way it was written with going through the decades/centuries of “the woman” and her victims from testimonies of those who witnessed her integrating with their loved ones. The MMC Jake is the one gathering the testimonies after a chance meeting with a woman whose twin brother died in a similar way to Jake’s best friend and he sets out on a journey to find out the truth behind the woman who links the deaths of not only his best friend but many others.

The blurb, tagline is what drew me in “The woman never goes by the same name.
She never stays in the same place too long.
She never ages. She never dies.
But those around her do.”

Overall I did enjoy the book and would definitely recommend it. It is creepy and a good read. Thank you to the author, publishers and netgalley for this arc in return for an honest review.

“Old Soul” is a supernatural folk-thriller with a dual POV that started off strong but ultimately didn’t hold my interest.

The beginning of the book really drew me in—I was captivated by the folk spiritual elements, and the combination of mystery and supernatural intrigue kept me turning the pages. The testimonies scattered throughout the story were compelling, adding depth and history to the novel’s eerie atmosphere.

However, around the 55% mark, the book completely lost me. I was hoping for a steady build-up in tension, but instead, the pacing slowed significantly. The writing seemed to put the brakes on just when the story should have been picking up, and I found myself skimming sections rather than feeling fully immersed. The inconsistency in chapter lengths—some being quite long, others very short—also made the reading experience feel uneven.

Another issue I struggled with was keeping track of the characters. There were so many that I found it difficult to picture them, and the text didn’t always clearly indicate who was speaking. Dialogue often blended into the narration, making it confusing to follow conversations. Strangely, this only seemed to be properly addressed in the final chapter, which made me wish the formatting had been clearer throughout the entire book.

Overall, I think Old Soul had a lot of potential, especially with its intriguing premise and atmospheric storytelling. But the slow pacing, structural inconsistencies, and lack of clarity in character voices made it difficult to stay engaged. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work for me, so I’d rate it 2 stars.

When Jake and Mariko meet by chance at Osaka airport and begin to discover that they’ve both lost loved ones in eerily similar circumstances, Jake becomes set on finding out precisely what happened and exacting revenge if necessary.

The poetic writing and creepy, seemingly supernatural start to this novel captivated me at first. Each separate story sequence reveals a little bit more about the strange woman who has different reincarnations for each vulnerable victim she encounters, alongside the ability to remember all her past lives.

An off putting point in the novel was the merging of conversation into the narrative without the benefit of using speech marks. And as I read on, the samey nature of the victims’ deaths and the increasingly confusing text made me less keen to continue with it.

In fact, the repetition of horror, the gratuitous violence, the more we discover about the woman’s background and what makes her tick to the extent that she loses her air of mystery, meant that the narrative became less disturbing and dark and my interest was lost.

A great premise and an inviting synopsis won me over to start with. Although I persevered, despite my later reservations, and finished the book, my initial enthusiasm was dampened. Grateful thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The synopsis of this book really interested me and I was looking forward to reading it but, sadly, I got really confused with the characters and storyline and found it difficult reading without the quotation marks.
DNF - 11%

An unsettling literary horror novel! I really liked the premise and felt pulled in right away. The novel is split into “testaments” from a lot of different characters and a present day timeline following “The Woman” which made this feel more like a collection of short stories rather than a cohesive novel. Especially because our narrator isn’t always present and I felt as if we didn’t get to know any of the characters seeing as we only spend 1 chapter with them, leaving me feeling detached from everyone.

There were some testaments that were fantastic and others that fell flat for me, I often preferred the ones with the most horror/creepy elements.

By the second half, it started to drag and my interest was wavering, especially with the last couple of “testaments”🙃 I also was disappointed slightly in the ending; the epilogue felt unnecessary and feel it would’ve been stronger to end with the final chapter instead. There also wasn’t any dialogue punctuation so it could be confusing at times but eventually I became used to it.

Overall it had a lot of potential and started off well but eventually felt like it went on too long and lost a lot of the horror aspects. I’d recommend this for literary fiction readers as opposed to horror fans seeing as the horror elements get lost in later chapters 🤷🏻‍♀️

TW/CW: death of parent, death, animal death, infidelity, incest? (Implied), cancer, body horror, ableism, alcoholism, depression, suicide attempt (brief mention), domestic abuse, suicide, child murder, drug use, sexual content

DNF @ 30%

I enjoyed Susan's writing but I felt like I was reading through a fog and could not get a grip on what was actually happening. I won't be sharing my review, but thank you for the opportunity.

Dark, sinister and disorienting from the start, this novel is confusing and disturbing, as it gradually reveals the horror of the 'old soul' of the title and what she must do to survive. You are gradually brought along through the novel to see and understand more and more of who and what are at the heart of the terror and untimely deaths of people through the ages. Where it fell down a bit for me was in the repetitiveness of the deaths, which felt like you were reading the same thing again and again, and in the sometimes over-described violence of action as friends and family of previous victims team up to stop the horror in tracks. A novel that is as scary in what it doesn't say as in what it does, let down a little bit by offering too much - information, violence - towards the end.