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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN num: 9780778325994
ISBN number: 0778325997
Label: Mira
Manufacturer: Mira
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 416
Printing Date: August 01, 2008
Publishing house: Mira
Sale Popularity Level: 186274
Studio: Mira
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Product Description:
For FBI special agent Maggie O'Dell, there is nothing routine about being called in to work these two cases. As an expert criminal profiler, Maggie provides psychological insight on cases that involve suspected serial killers. She can't understand, then, why she has been assigned to two seemingly unrelated crimes.
But as Maggie and her partner, Special Agent R. J. Tully, delve deeper into the cases, they discover there is a connection: Reverend Joseph Everett, the charismatic leader of a high-profile religious sect.
Is Everett a psychotic madman who uses his power to perform heinous crimes? Or is he merely the scapegoat for a killer more cunning than he? Maggie realizes the only way to find out is to use her own mother, a member of Everett's church, as a pawn in a deadly trap.
Amazon.com Review:
When a senator's daughter is murdered at a religious revival in Washington, FBI Special Agent Maggie O'Dell, a criminal profiler, and R.J. Tully, her partner, suspect that it's the work of a serial killer. They soon discover that the girl's murder is connected to the suicides of five young men during a Waco-like standoff in a rural Massachusetts cabin--even if they're not sure how. But then Maggie learns that the minister who seems to have turned her alcoholic mother's life around and Revered Joseph Everett, the charismatic sect leader whose followers died in the standoff, are the same person, and he may have drawn her into his deadly web to get at Maggie herself. Is the serial killer one of Everett's acolytes--and will Tully's daughter and Maggie be his subsequent victims? Kava's third thriller (after Split Second and A Perfect Evil) showcases her gifts of pacing, plotting, and characterization; Maggie O'Dell is a smart, likable protagonist. She and Tully deserve a return engagement. --Jane Adams
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Rated by buyers 
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Alex Kava is talented writer. However, as I began working through the series, I was dissapointed by both her formulatic style and the aggravating lack of an ending. Each and every book by Kava, including Soul Catcher, falls off a cliff at the end, leaving the reader with a multitude of questions and no resolution. This is not "Lost" style intrigue - just a lazy method to try to get readers to pck up the subsequent installment. Can't recommend.
Rated by buyers 
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I have never taken the time to post a bad review about a book and I do read quite a bit. That said, I don't recall EVER having read a book that was as simple and lacking of cliffhanging than this book. I would suggest reading this book if YOU are considering writing a book because the only value in reading this book comes from the realization that, apparently, anything can sell in today's world.
Rated by buyers 
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I really enjoyed reading the O'Dell series by Alex Kava. I can't wait until A Necessary Evil comes out. This is a great book, all of them are great reads. If you do read them make sure you read them in order: A Perfect Evil, Split Second, Soul Catcher, At The Stroke of Madness, and coming in February 2006 A Necessary Evil. These are page turning books that you just can't get tired of reading. They were so good, I read all four within a month!
Rated by buyers 
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SOUL CATCHER continues the saga of FBI Special Agent Maggie O'Dell. This time she and her partner, R.J. Tully are assigned a case where a serial killer's latest victim is a senator's daughter. The daughter just happened to be at a religious gathering in Washington D.C. so the investigation has to tread lightly when the cult closes ranks. When a few bits of evidence don't add up, so begins the journey of O'Dell and Tully as they blunder through more killings.
Alex Kava had the makings of a great mystery but it was clouded with glimpses into the personal lives of Maggie O'Dell and her relationship with her mother. Also tossed in is the tumultuous relationship of Tully with his daughter and ex-wife. Another subplot is the Reverend Joseph Everett and his band of followers who are reminiscent of other cults in the near past, e.g. Waco, Jim Jones, Ruby Ridge, etc. It was a bit too much to have that many correlations in one group - Kava should have chosen one of two, not a slew of them to immulate. All of these subplots took focus off of the murders and left me feeling confused as who what direction this book was going.
Between bouncing between all of the subplots, a lot of the meat is lost and the book is tedious until about two-thirds of the way through. That's when Kava picks up the action and the tale becomes entertaining. Even though it was entertaining in the last few chapters, it was very predictable and calling it a mystery is a stretch.
Character development was at times very well done and at other times lacking. There were so many of Everett's followers that I became confused as to which young person was who. Maggie's mother continues to be described as an alcoholic who's self destructive behavior could finally do her in. Descriptions of her and scenes in this book left me shaking my head and wondering how Maggie could become so successful being raised by someone like Katherine. Tully's ex-wife on the other hand needs a dose of reality. When she runs into him at a revival, and he's one the job, her tantrum about how he's following her and trying to ruin her life was just too much. Someone slap her out of her hysteria, please! The other characters are numerous and none really grabbed my attention. It was almost as if Kava threw them all in to confuse the reader. Didn't work with me - I knew the killer's identity almost from the beginning.
And Maggie's love interest - the drop dead gorgeous hunk from Nebraska was merely mentioned in this book... when will we see more of him? I think Maggie needs to have some personality brought forth and no personal life in this book makes for a very dull Maggie O'Dell!
I thoroughly enjoyed Split Second and A Perfect Evil (the very first two books in this series) and am hoping Alex Kava returns to that kind of performance. This one was mediocre at best.
Rated by buyers 
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I wasn't impressed by her last book, but I liked the preview of 'Soulcatcher' so when I saw a copy in a charity shop the subsequent day needless to say I snapped it up. This was a big improvement, especially since it dropped the tired old 'serial killer who is obsessed with female FBI agent' plot in favour of a much more original story about a dangerous cult run by a charismatic priest. I even sat up late to finish it and found the end quite satisfactory, though maybe it didn't quite live up to the exciting opening chapter.
However, as others have said, Maggie is a major drag - always obsessing about her father's death, her mother's alcoholism (though she seems to be heading that way herself), about some or other victim she could have saved - whatever ... I have to agree with her soon-to-be ex-husband and her mother than she should leave the FBI. She is psychologically unsuited to the job as she appears unable to compartmentalise her experiences and she appears to ignore procedure and makes some very elementary mistakes - including one during her inevitable confrontation with the killer - which costs the life of yet another innocent victim. Alex is much better when she is writing about virtually any other character - perhaps she would be best to drop Maggie and start writing some more original stuff which I'm sure she's capable of. Not that this is likely to happen though when she's created such a marketable franchise ...
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