"A galloping good tale about runaway slaves and a tortured soul who hunts them against his better nature...(A) vividly imagined historical novel... (White) writes colorful, muscular prose and knows how to keep a narrative cantering along... His greatest accomplishment is Cain, the conflicted Southerner who goes through the moral reckoning that all Americans were soon to face in the Civil War and its aftermath. His contradictions remind us that when it comes to race, things have never been black and white in this country."

- Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"Michael White transports readers to the chaotic years before the Civil War in Soul Catcher ... Reminiscent of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn - both in subject (slavery) and in combining an arduous physical journey with the protagonist's interior moral journey - the story gallops with action yet also examines such themes as race, honor and redemption... Michael White's eloquent prose rarely draws attention to itself, and his extensive historical research creates evocative descriptions of the people, places and even products of the mid-19th century... Soul Catcher is an exceptional novel from an experienced literary craftsman."

- Charlotte Observer

"A sweeping novel spanning the tumultuous time in American history... White has created a complicated and deeply scarred protagonist looking for salvation in a dark vision of human bondage... Very convincing and well wrought."

- Library Journal

"Soul Catcher strips bare the myths of the antebellum South and exposes the corrupt society it truly was. In a brilliant homage to Paradise Lost, White examines the moral dilemmas of human existence through protagonist Augustus Cain: The slave-catcher must decide whether he will have a heaven or hell on earth. This novel is destined to join the ranks of great Civil War literature."

- Booksense, Editors' Choice Selection

"(A) heartbreaking story... Devastating in its final impact."

- Booklist

"Captivating and enlightening... A pre-Civil War saga historical saga that quickly becomes a page-turner... With Soul Catcher, White has penned a historical adventure, a romance, a perceptive commentary on slavery's ills and a thoughtful character study - all wrapped up in this highly recommended novel."

- BookPage

"Soul Catcher (is) a good, old-fashioned page turner, with shootouts, ambushes, and horse chases that honestly will have you reading late into the night to see what happens next... a thoughtful exploration of a nation living with a brutal institution that contradicts its highest ideals. However busy you may be, you won't regret making time for this book."

- Boston Globe

"(White's) dialogue and good use of detail lend an authenticity to the characters and the era. And he sets up a beautiful page turner."

- Associated Press

"Soul Catcher has as many twists and turns as a good thriller; most readers will probably be unable to predict what happens in the final pages."

- Connecticut Post

"Sweeping... The trek becomes a means of redemption for both the 'soul catcher' and his captives, and paints an unsettling portrait of a nation on the brink of civil war... Vivid... The book succeeds in presenting a fractious era and a host of moral quagmires. Cain - a flawed and coarse antihero - become emblematic of a historical moment under White's sure hand."

- Publishers Weekly

"With Soul Catcher, White has penned a historical adventure, a romance, a perceptive commentary on slavery's ills and a thoughtful character study - all wrapped up in this highly recommended novel."

- Bookpage

"White teaches us the power of strong characterization and breathing new life into common human situations. He brilliantly brings the violence and divided loyalties of the antebellum years to life."

- Historial Novels Review, Editor's Selection

"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... Cain makes for a strong morality tale."

- Bookcrossing.com

"His dialogue and good use of detail lend an authenticity to the characters and the era...a beautiful page turner."

- Associated Press