I will forever love Sally Hepworth. A massive thank you to Gary at book club who told me I had to read The Mother-in-Law a few years ago. Now, I get my hand on every Hepworth novel I can. The Soulmate is coming out next year, and I was lucky enough to get my hands on a copy! Thanks, NetGalley!

The Story

From New York Times bestselling author Sally Hepworth, comes a twisty new domestic suspense novel in The Soulmate…

Gabe and Pippa Gerard have just moved into their dream house: a cliffside cottage in a sleepy coastal town outside Melbourne. It’s a fresh start to their marriage, and the perfect place to raise their two young daughters. But the house’s perfect façade hides something more sinister: The Spot, where the tall cliffs have become a popular place for those wishing to end their lives. After talking someone down from the ledge, Gabe becomes a local hero, saving person after person… until one night, he doesn’t. And Pippa sees Gabe the moment after it happened, standing alone at the cliff’s edge, arms outstretched, palms facing out.

The death is ruled a suicide— Gabe said it was a stranger devastated over her husband’s infidelity. But when Pippa discovers that Gabe knew the victim, she has more questions than answers. Plus, the woman’s husband swears she wouldn’t have jumped. Why would Gabe lie about not knowing her? Why would she have been at The Spot, if not to jump? And did she really jump… or was she pushed? As Pippa works to uncover the truth, the foundations of the life they’ve built begin to crack and their deepest secrets start to unravel.

The Soulmate is a twisty domestic suspense novel that proves nothing—and no one— is ever as it seems.

My Thoughts

After The Younger Wife, I was feeling a bit flat on Sally Hepworth. It didn’t quite live up to her other novels, so I wasn’t sure what to expect from The Soulmate. Luckily, I was surprised!

The story is told from two perspectives, in both present day as well as flashbacks. The mix of timelines and perspectives was only confusing a couple of times. It didn’t help that both perspectives were women, but it was fairly easy to differentiate.

I really appreciated the epilogue. This might be a bit of a spoiler, so proceed with caution. It was nice to see a woman make a difficult decision that was for her own benefit. Remember: No matter what you may do for someone else, you don’t owe anyone anything (except for maybe money if you’ve borrowed it). Coincidentally, this is a theme in another book I’m reading at the moment, The Girls Who Disappeared.

To me, Gabe was immediately unlikable. However, I don’t trust a female author who writes a male character as “perfect.” You just know she has something up her sleeve because no man (or woman, honestly) is perfect. He had a bit of that “you owe me” mentality, which was COMPLETELY misplaced.

For more sensitive readers, this novel does deal with some mental illnesses and misdiagnosis. It’s a sub-plotline, but it’s worth mentioning. Hepworth did it justice.

The Soulmate is out in the U.S. on April 4, 2023, but you can pre-order a copy now!

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