Old Soul, the fourth novel by Susan Barker, a British novelist, is a story of the paranormal. In the mould of vampire tales like Dracula, but adapted for the 21st century, its premise is the age-old myth of a demon in human form who steals the souls of mortals and inhabits their bodies to enact its revenge.

With its themes of horror and sinister acts, the story promises a thrilling, edge of the seat read. It begins strongly enough with the first “testimony”, that of Jake, who meets a woman called Mariko at an airport in Japan when they both miss their flights. In a conversation over dinner, it’s revealed they both lost people close to them in similarly eerie circumstances, their fates seemingly precipitated by a mysterious woman who appears to have had an evil influence over them. Jake then sets out to investigate what he believes is far more than mere coincidence.

The rest of the book takes the form of “testimonies” Jake takes from those who knew other victims who fell prey to the woman/evil spirit. Unfortunately, this recounting of the same old story from other perspectives adds nothing new nor does it advance the story in any effective way. While there are alternating chapters called ‘Badlands 1, 2, 3, etc.’ purportedly of the woman/evil spirit in another guise setting up another victim, this device similarly isn’t revelatory enough to distract from the tedious structure of the other chapters.

Barker writes well, but her prose is let down by the unworkable nature of the premise and structure of the book.

Reviewed by Anne Green

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Susan Barker is the author of four books. Her third novel, The Incarnations (2015), was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and Notable Book, a Kirkus Reviews’ Top Ten Book of the Year, was shortlisted for the Kirkus Prize for Fiction, winner of a Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize and a Waterstones Bookclub pick. 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.

Visit Susan Barker’s website