Michael White Soul Catcher

Soul Catcher

Michael White

Morrow, Aug 298 2007, $24.95

ISBN: 9780061340727

Somewhat crippled Mexican War veteran Cain owes a large debt to vicious Virginia plantation owner Mr. Eberly so he accepts the assignment to find and return runaway slaves Rosetta and Henry. As much as insuring the fugitive slave-catcher performs his task as assisting him, Eberly assigns three of his employees to accompany Cain.

Cain follows the trail through New York to Boston where he finally captures the two runaways. However, Rosetta remains uncooperatively defiant as she has decided death is better than returning to the abusive Eberly. Henry is a bit more compliant, but looks for a chance to escape on the trek back to Virginia and hell. As they journey together, Cain begins to see his prisoners as people not beasts of burden, but to liberate the pair means death for him and probably them.

This pre-Civil War historical thriller provides a fabulous account of a nation struggling for its soul. Cain in many ways is symbolic of the non-slave states of the United States in the 1850s as he does not care one way or the other about slavery except how it affects him by allowing him to earn a living until he escorts his latest runaways back to their owner. As he gets to know the pair, he begins to wonder what he is doing to real people. A chance for redemption is his, but the price might prove high. Although much of the support cast seems overly stereotypical, Cain makes for a strong morality tale.

Harriet Klausner