Leanne Olson

by Sally Hepworth, Narrated by Barrie Kreinik and Jessica Douglas-Henry

Releasing April 4, 2023 from Macmillan Audio

The Soulmate just didn’t work for me, unfortunately.  The beginning was interesting: Pippa and her husband Gabe live on a cliff overlooking the ocean, and people come there regularly to end their lives by jumping off the cliff.  Gabe is a charming man who normally talks them down, saving their lives before the police even arrive.  One day, Pippa sees Gabe out speaking to a new woman, who jumps—but Pippa thinks she may have seen Gabe push the woman.

It seems odd that no one would put a fence or some sort of other safety measure up at this location, especially since Pippa and Gabe have kids, but I went with it.

The mystery goes back and forth between two narrators.  There’s Pippa’s narration in present day, as she grows suspicious of her husband and flashes back to troubles they’ve had in the past.  There’s also Amanda, the woman who jumped, who is narrating her portion as a ghost.

The dead narrator conceit didn’t really work for me, and the mystery of why Amanda jumped or was pushed never really drew me in.  I found most of the characters pretty unlikable, and not in a fascinating way — though I did find Amanda and Max a little more interesting by the end.  

I listened to the whole book, and the narrators were engaging, but it never really caught my attention.  The female protagonists seemed to have very little agency and there wasn’t a sense of danger to really hook me into the mystery.

🌟🌟1/2

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for my review copy of this audiobook.