Old Soul - by Susan Barker (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"Sinister, mysterious and gorgeously realised, Old Soul is as good on the horror and subliminity of love (and its shadow, loneliness) as it is on nerve-flaying visions of the vicious supernatural." -- Kaliane Bradley, author of The Ministry of Time

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--a trail of shattered souls that eventually leads him to Theo, a dying sculptor in rural New Mexico, who knows the woman better than anyone--and might just hold the key to who, or what, she is.

Part horror, part western, part thriller, Old Soul is a fearlessly bold and propulsive tale about predation, morality and free will, and one man's quest to bring a centuries-long chain of human devastation to an end.

Review Quotes

A Book Riot Best Book of the Year
A Vulture Best Horror of 2025
An NPR 2025 Book We Love

"Barker has a gift for the kaleidoscopic novel . . . Old Soul is a novel of great variety, leaping from the gothic dampness of rural Wales to the sun-bleached Mojave to the urban gleam of Japan, but the connective tissue thrums with uncanny currents. It's a quiet, unsettling triumph." --Vulture

"Every subplot is a beautifully complete, historically accurate little world of its own. . . Rendered so bleakly that H.P. Lovecraft would be envious. . . Do not miss Old Soul, the most satisfyingly grim supernatural novel in years." --Wall Street Journal

"Barker ups the tension one bit at a time, unspooling the horrors slowly while maintaining a firm grasp on the emotional stakes within each victim's narrative. . . [A] thoroughly pleasurable read." --Los Angeles Times

"Mesmerizing. . . Old Soul is dark, thought-provoking and wholly original--a must-read for gothic horror fans." --Seattle Times

"A lovely consideration of loneliness." --Chicago Tribune

"If you, too, are a sucker for books that follow a central mystery through the stories of seemingly disparate but ultimately interconnected characters, this one is a must." --NPR

"Susan Barker's Old Soul beguiles, terrifies, and utterly seduces you as swiftly and slyly as the mysterious woman at its center. It's at once a thriller, a postmodern mystery, and an existential horror tale, but perhaps most deeply it speaks to our current moment: the drift and terrors of loneliness, the risks of intimacy and a piercing nostalgia that never lets us go." --Megan Abbott, author of El Dorado Drive

"Old Soul is perfect read for the chilly depths of winter: a clever, spooky metaphysical mystery that spans continents--and even planets. Susan Barker's novel kept me guessing until the end. You'll never look at Venus quite the same way again." --Chloe Benjamin, author of The Immortalists

"Barker skillfully moves back and forth in time to chronicle the woman's deadly deeds. The ominous atmosphere and dread-inducing supernatural details make Old Soul an unforgettable reading experience." --BookPage

"Barker's finely written novel is super-sophisticated horror, as indebted to literary fiction (David Mitchell, perhaps?) as it is to gothic gore. If the Booker prize judges are open to genre titles, it wouldn't be too surprising to see it on their longlist." --The Times

"As insightful and emotionally rich as it is sinister and unsettling." --BookBub

"Right up the alley of fans of supernatural thrillers." --Conde Nast Traveler

"An immersive, stunningly weird tale that closes like a trap round the reader." --The Guardian

"I love me a good paranormal literary horror, and this one scratched that itch and then some. Smart, original, creepy and lyrical." --Ms. Magazine

"This outstanding, genre-defying novel will ruin your life but in the best way! . . . Part horror, mystery, and 'OMFG', this upsetting, brilliant novel has an ending that will haunt your days, and you'll thank it for it." --Book Riot

"I'm going to recommend this one relentlessly. This might just be my favorite book I've read this year." -- Clay McLeod Chapman, Capes & Tights

"Old Soul is everything you could desire from the genre: spooky and thrilling, gory and macabre, the mystery at its core kept me reading into the night even as I burrowed under the covers (for protection, ya know). I need you to read this one so we can talk about it!" --The Southern Bookseller Review

"A haunting story of grief and ghosts and the ways the past stays with us." --Lit Hub

"A chance meeting at an airport in Osaka sets off a domino effect in this unique horror tale . . . compelling." --Booklist

"Readers might keep their tissues at the ready as they buckle in." --Library Journal

"'Extraordinary . . . This is a novel that extends its reach some distance beyond its chosen genre and takes pleasure in challenging not just its own moral imperative, but the motives of its monstrous protagonist, too." --The London Magazine

"[A] sweeping work of literary horror. . . The slow-burning tension and lush, atmospheric prose build a creeping sense of dread that lingers long after the final page. Fans of both the deeply personal speculative horror of Carmen Maria Machado and the subtle, character-driven mystery of Haruki Murakami will be enthralled." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Old Soul is a genuine page-turner. Marketed as horror, it is as ambitious and profound as any literary fiction being published today." --Cha Journal

"[A] marvel . . . It's going to be difficult to take a break from Susan Barker's unnerving, ambitious new work. Don't even try. Just give in to it, for Old Soul is an ingenious and startling, well, 'killer' of a book." --Anniston Star

"Old Soul is classic literary horror. Engrossing, fable-like, fringed with eerie profundity, it reminded me most strongly of Michel Faber's Under the Skin." --The Sydney Morning Herald

"Old Soul is like nothing else I've ever read...I loved how it made me feel: like I'd woken up after a long sleep to see for the first time how terrifying and strange the contemporary world has become. This is 21st century horror: the kind of story you tell around a campfire as the lights of civilization begin flicker out around you; a global, intelligent, and ambitious archetypal nightmare." --Kristen Roupenian, author of You Know You Want This

"Smart, taut, and twisty, Susan Barker's Old Soul deftly delivers the chills." --Karen Joy Fowler, author of Booth

"Beautifully written and at times terrifying...I was completely swept up in the atmosphere of the book and the plot continues to haunt and unsettle me, in the very best of ways." --Emily Midorikawa, author of Out of the Shadows

"Old Soul is a mesmerising story brilliantly told. The way the novel slowly reveals its dark secrets as it moves with ease and elegance across continents and eras is hugely impressive." --Ian McGuire, author of The North Water

"Delicious, disturbing WTF-ery. . . [A] singular reading experience you need to have for yourself. . . Incendiary literary horror. . . My idea of a perfect novel, one that is so compelling and criminally well-written that you can't put it down, and also weird and fucked up in a way that feels like it's ruining your life, but in the best way. I can't stop thinking about it, especially the ending. I think I'll go read it again right now." --Book Riot

"Barker's writing in Old Soul pulls the reader in and doesn't let go. It's an unsettling slow burn that did a great job of getting under my skin." --Engadget

"Old Soul is an utterly addictive and completely immersive novel. Beautifully written and filled with engrossing characters and unforgettable landscapes, it is the most propulsive thing I have read all year." --Lara Williams, author of Supper Club

"Sinister, unnerving and nightmarish. Old Soul will sneak into your dreams and haunt you." --Claire Fuller, author of The Memory of Animals

"Susan Barker's diabolically haunting novel begs to be read over and over, its intertwined stories a feat of literary prestidigitation. Darkly magical and irresistible, Old Soul feels like it reveals a truth that's been long buried in our collective unconscious." --Alma Katsu, author of Red London

"Susan Barker is a tremendous writer and Old Soul snags the reader in its claw and mesmerises from page one. I often wondered if I was devouring the story or vice versa, I was so engrossed. It is not an option to put this book down." --Monique Roffey, author of The Mermaid of Black Conch

"Sinister, mysterious and gorgeously realised, Old Soul is as good on the horror and subliminity of love (and its shadow, loneliness) as it is on nerve-flaying visions of the vicious supernatural." --Kaliane Bradley, author of The Ministry of Time

"Susan Barker's Old Soul is as brilliant as it is terrifying, a master class in character development and the art of slow dread. Immortality is an addiction in this literary horrorscape, and Barker's genius is in creating stories within stories until we are so engrossed in the spiral of characters that the novel becomes impossible to put down." --Rachel Eve Moulton, author of The Insatiable Volt Sisters

"Old Soul is an extraordinary achievement. A brutal interrogation of art, connection, the meaning of and impulse toward life itself. I couldn't put it down." --Beth Underdown, author of The Witchfinder's Sister

"Old Soul is the kind of brilliant, horrifying book I'm desperate for other people to read, so I can talk about it with them and get it out of my head." --Evie Wyld, author of The Echoes

About the Author

Susan Barker is the author of four books. Her third novel, The Incarnations, was a New York Times Editors' Choice and Notable Book, a Kirkus Reviews' Top Ten Book of the Year, and was shortlisted for the Kirkus Prize for Fiction. An excerpt from Old Soul won a Northern Writers' Award for Fiction in 2020, as well as funding from Arts Council England and The Society of Authors. Susan currently lives in Manchester, where she is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University.