Pippa and Gabe have the perfect life. The fairy tale marriage, successful careers, two beautiful daughters, a stunning home on a peaceful cliff that overlooks the waves like a majestic castle - but their love story has been marred by death and desperation as the cliffside they call home keeps turning into the final resting place of lost souls taking their own life.

Gabe, her prince in shining armour, has saved seven of those lost souls, talking them away from the ledge and offering them an ear, a shoulder and a hand to guide them back down. Until Amanda. He doesn't save her.

Pippa has no reason to doubt him when he says Amanda jumped, that he couldn't save her. But everything seems wrong - and something about the way he's acting makes her look closer, looking for hidden chapters in their story that she's not sure she wants to read. Because once she does, once she knows what really happened, she has to decide - can she stand by her soulmate no matter what, or is this the end of the story?

"People always talk about love like it's a magical thing, a gift from the gods, a sunbeam of euphoria from above! But it's horrible, being in love."

An electrifying, cinematic thriller set against the beautifully unsuspecting backdrop of peaceful skies, sunny days and crashing waves.

We move between now and then, between scenes of domestic bliss and calm and anxiety and fear; between the confusing current day and those early years of rose-tinted happiness. Pippa acts as our main narrator, leaving us just as in the dark as she is, letting us stew with her thoughts and feelings and slowly forming a relationship with her. We also hear from Amanda, a person we never really get to meet exactly before her untimely demise but get to learn about retrospectively, a refreshingly interesting method of allowing a character to become a central storyteller after their passing. For me, I didn't really like Amanda being used to exposit, it felt vaguely forced at times and as a narrative tool it made me uncomfortable, knowing a key source of information came from someone who wasn't alive in a world that isn't full of ghosts and magic - but it was definitely interesting and gave me chills reading from her perspective.

We only see Gabe through the eyes of others, and at times he really does seem perfect, to the point he made me cringe. But as we get further into the story, you can't be sure anything is true. A shadow of doubt creeps across the entire cast and leaves an air of mistrust. As Pippa investigates, moves from suspicion to doubt, you can see this goes deeper than the surface, forcing us to constantly reframe our ideas about if anyone is to blame, and for what exactly.

This is a suspenseful slow burner, that plants little seeds of concern every so often and makes us anxiously wait for something to grow from the disjointed little clues we get along the way - the pace picks up its intensity towards he end, and although there was a little bit too much telling instead of showing for me, I couldn't have seen the final nail in the coffin coming, it finally being revealed with a surprising amount of heart. Regardless of a few things that didn't quite do it for me, Hepworths stories are always full of mystery and fun to read.

A tense and twisty thriller full of dark secrets being handed down through generations, this will make you ask yourself - what would you do for your soulmate? Would you lie? Steal? Forgive? Kill? Die?

Enjoyed a few books by this author was was excited for this book - Gabe and Pippa have the most idyllic life living in their beach house with fantastic views - enjoying the sunshine with their two daughters life couldn’t be better . The downside of their dream home is that their view includes a notorious cliff where people come to end their life’s - to date Gabe has managed to calm and talk the individuals down but not on this one day ….
A good few twists and turns this book is a very enjoyable read with a great ending

Sally Hepworth is one of my favourite authors and The Good Sister remains one of my all time best reads.
I was therefore super excited to read this new book and it definitely didn’t disappoint.
The plot is unique and I loved the writing style that went between each character. I finished it last week but it’s definitely stuck with me.
This is another great book by this author and one that I’d definitely recommend.

I only discovered this author recently,and had read just one of her books,but I enjoyed it very much and was pleased to receive this ARC of her latest title ,thanks to the publisher and NetGalley.
It’s about Pippa and Gabe,who seem to live an idyllic existence with their two little girls in a house near a cliff edge by the sea. However,it gradually becomes apparent that everything isn’t as it seems,when Gabe,who has become well known for preventing several suicide attempts from the cliff,is unable to prevent a woman from jumping.When it turns out that she is the wife of Gabe’s former employer,a media mogul,events take a turn for the worse and the couple’s life changes dramatically.
The story is told from the point of view of Pippa,and from beyond the grave by Amanda,the woman who died,both before and after the event. It deals with the topic of mental illness in a sensitive and sympathetic way, but the story is gripping and the plot develops by only gradually revealing details.
I enjoyed it very much and I’ll definitely read more of Sally Hepworth’s books.

unfortunatley gave up half way through this one ,not for me at the moment but i may try it again at a later date .

4.5 rounded up

Pippa and Gabe Gerard live in a cliffside house in exclusive Portsea, two hours from Melbourne. It’s evening, Gabe has just messily made dinner, Pippa washes up the multitude of pans when she sees someone out there on the edge of the drop. Gabe goes out to ensure it doesn’t end badly....except it does. What exactly does Pippa see from the kitchen window? What is going on with Gabe, the love of her life, surely he’s not lying? Why on earth are the family living in such an obviously dangerous spot? The novel backtracks filling in the gaps, how the couple meet when the universe speaks - Gabe and Pippa are soulmates, aren’t they????? The story is told in alternating points of view by Pippa and Amanda, the latter being a very intriguing perspective as a detached observer. Thank you Amanda, we sure learn a lot from you!

The excitement, the anticipation of the latest Sally Hepworth is always sky high for me and straight away I’m all in for the shenanigans. This one has you on the edge of your seat throughout which could prove dangerous as there are twists that knock you off balance. There is much to admire here, the characterisation is excellent and you keep changing your opinion as each new piece of information comes in and dots start connecting. The relationships we are privy to are fascinating with dynamics constantly changing. It becomes patently obvious that loyalty is at stake, trust wavers and guilt rushes in with danger levels and fear rising.

It covers a lot of ground and issues in the storytelling and it’s doesn’t do so superficially either in a well thought out, clever and briskly paced plot. The mystery deepens, you feel perplexed and puzzled and yes, your jaw does thunder to the ground on more than one occasion. It’s dangerous reading a Sally Hepworth novel so take my advice and strap yourself well in!!! She sure knows how to chuck revelation bombs into the narrative and leave her readers reeling. This has world wide bestseller written all over it! Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially huge thanks to Hodder and Stoughton for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

I have read all of the author's previous books and yet again, Sally Hepworth has knocked it out of the park! What shines through most in her writing is her understanding of people and the complexities of relationships. The behaviours and actions of all the protagonists were believable and so plausible.
The Then and Now timeline is adeptly employed, alongside the narrative perspective of two main characters - Pippa and Amanda. Had I been aware of the 'ghost' narration aspect I would have been more reluctant to read this, however I found it extremely compelling, especially with how the story it so effectively tied up at the end.
The title is also both catching and clever, as it is unclear until the end, who the soulmate is.

This is the second novel I've read by the author and overall it was an enjoyable read. Pippa and Gabe have moved to a cliff top house, a stunning location that is also tragically a favoured spot for those taking their own lives. After Gabe is unable to persuade a women not to jump from the cliff, Pippa becomes suspicious of her husband and the couple's secrets are soon revealed.
This was a fairly gripping and well paced read but I did find that the author's style of writing jarred with me, hence the 3 stars.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

Sally Hepworth is auto buy/ auto read author for me. I have read several of her other novels and really enjoyed them so I was delighted to get the opportunity to read this.

Firstly, that cover! It's beautiful, so eye-catching and will draw attention easily on bookshop shelves.

I raced through this one, a really compulsive read . I really enjoyed the two viewpoints from the two characters and the jumping timelines and the way the back story was unveiled as the story progressed. There is a certain quirkiness to Hepworth's writing which really elevates her books from standard suspense reads. Well drawn, interesting characters coupled with the brilliant pace made this impossible to put down.

The ending was deeply satisfying, it could have gone so many ways and I loved how it did play out. Was it 100% believable? No. Did that matter? Absolutely not. A fitting ending to a great story.

Wishing the author every success with this one, a great read and one I will recommend.

4.5 stars

I've read a few Sally Hepworth novels now, and really enjoyed them, so I was happy to get my hands on an advance copy of The Soulmate.

Pippa and Gabe, with their two young daughters, live near a well known suicide spot; Gabe has talked several prospective jumpers back from the brink. But at the beginning of this story, a woman - Amanda - goes over the cliff edge. The Soulmate follows events both before and after her death. It's really a story of two eventful marriages - Pippa and Gabe, Amanda and Max - gradually uncovering what led up to Amanda's suicide (or was it?) and what really happened on that cliff edge.

There are basically four strands/timelines: Pippa (then), Pippa (now), Amanda (then), Amanda (now). (Amanda (now) is narrating from beyond the grave, so that's a bit odd. It suggests a supernatural vibe, but that's not really reflected in the rest of the story.)

The ending was unexpected, sad, but also satisfying.

I like the cover, too - it has a noir-ish vibe which feels a bit different.

A great read, recommended.

Was this believable in anyway? No. Was it readable? Yes. Could not put it down. Another great book by Sally Hepworth.

Compulsive..
Pippa and Gabe seem happy living in a nice house on the cliff side with their two young daughters. Had that particular cliff edge not become quite so popular with those wanting to end their lives then all would, perhaps, have remained perfectly idyllic. Or would it? Gabe has become rather a local hero in recent times - his ability to talk people down has become legendary. That is all about to change. Wholly immersive and quickly compelling this domestic suspense has a plot peppered with twists and unexpected surprises and populated with a credible and well crafted cast of characters. The strength of this author is believable character creation which attests to the success of this overall tale. Compulsive.

this was very engaging. i couldn’t stop reading. intense at times. the ending was bittersweet.
this was my 4th read by this author and The Good Sister remains my favourite.

thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the free copy.

I’ve not read any books by Sally Hepworth before and I need to rectify that asap, this book kept me gripped from start to finish wanting to get to the bottom of what happened that evening