SOUL CATCHER By Michael White

Just finished the last page of this book.

Wow.

I just don't even know where to begin to review this book.

One thing I kept thinking as I was reading it - this should be a movie. What a beautiful, terrible, complicated, deeply emotional, violent, romantic, and sad story. The inside jacket says : "a profoundly moving story of love, freedom and a country on the brink of war". Yes, it was profoundly moving in the stories of the characters as well as the condition of our country, as it headed towards the Civil War.

Our main character, Cain, is from Virginia, and has made a career of catching runaway slaves. A "soul catcher" is what his profession is called. As he contemplates giving it up and starting a new life, a gambling debt caches up with him. But since he doesn't have the money to pay it, the man he owes, Mr. Eberly, makes him a deal: If Cain can find and return his two runaway slaves, Henry and Rosetta, he will consider the debt paid. But Eberly says he especially wants Rosetta back. So he hooks Cain up with three of his own men and off they go to find the pair. The tale that ensues is one of the most riveting I've ever read.

To begin with, tension mounts between Cain and one of Eberly's men, called Preacher, who keeps promising Cain that when this is all said and done, they have a score to settle between them. Then there's the difficulty they have once they cross to the North, with Abolitionists looking down at them because they are "Southerners". They also encounter hostility with "blackbirders", who are groups who steal slaves and re-sell them. These in particular eye Rosetta, wanting to steal her at every opportunity. At every turn, Cain needs to watch his back. In addition, throughout the journey, Cain is haunted by memories of his past - of his estranged family and his lost love.

Cain, having been raised in the South, views owning slaves as a southern way of life. He has been taught his whole life that blacks and whites are different. And while he doesn't mistreat or despise slaves, he does see them as property. Of course, he's been taught to respect and take care of his property, such as cleaning his guns, resting his horse, and treating the slaves well. Still, once he left his home, he never owned any of his own. But he understands his fellow southerner's view of having the right to own them.

That's why he feels tormented and conflicted when he meets the beautiful Rosetta. Once the two slaves are captured, Cain, who has always kept a "professional" distance between himself and the slaves he's brought back, begins to know Rosetta as a person, and he discovers the shocking secret that Rosetta hides regarding Mr. Eberly. He understands why she would risk beatings and even death to run away. Now he sees her more than just some man's "property". But Cain isn't the only one who has been raised with a particular outlook on life. Rosetta, who was raised a slave and endured so much under her master, also undergoes a change in what she feels towards white men. But can something so deeply rooted in a person be changed? The epilogue reveals that.

On his website, the author says:

"Soul Catcher came to me several years ago when I was reading Russell Banks’ novel Cloudsplitter, in which he mentions slave catchers going north to capture fugitive slaves. I think we are all fascinated by the nature of evil, and slavery, arguably, has been America’s supreme manifestation of evil. With this as a starting point, I wondered how someone could make a living hunting people down and bringing them back in shackles to bondage. More than this, I wondered how such a man could justify his life, to others but more importantly, to himself. So began the idea for Cain. The next part of the story followed from this: what would happen if a slave catcher were bringing a runaway back to slavery and during the weeks of their journey together an emotional bond developed between them. With that the idea for Soul Catcher was born."

I have to say that it is pretty violent in a few places - although the violence was warranted. And there is some bad language - which I can usually tolerate - But I HATE seeing God' name taken in vain.

But all in all, I would highly recommend this book - it's a story that will stay with you for a long time.