Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing Read
Review: I was very impressed and throughly enjoyed Alex Kava's first two novels. Not so with her third book. There was character jumping from chapter to chapter, which made for choppy reading. The identity of the killer is apparent half way through the book. Thank goodness I didn't spent the money on the hardback edition.
Rating: 
Summary: fantastic reading
Review: I'm going to keep this short and sweet. The only thing to be said for and about this author is I wish she could write faster. Her story telling is superb, the characters truly come to life, and the suspense is unrelenting!!! If you start this book, plan to pull an all nighter because I dare you to try and put it down.
Rating: 
Summary: Bit of a bust!
Review: If this were a "stand alone" book I would have given it a higher rating. It was an interesting plot line which held my attention even though I knew who the murderer was halfway through the book. And I really enjoyed Alex Kava's first two books. But---as a continuation of Maggie O'Dell it was a bit of a bust. It was hard to feel any connection with, or sympathy for her. A. With no issues to fight about, why aren't Maggie and her smary, controlling husband divorced yet? Get it over with already! And why is he even a character in the book--who needs him? B. What is with Maggie and Nick Morelli? They had a relationship started, then she tells him she doesn't want to see him until her divorce is over? It's not like she's involved with her ex so what's the deal? She doesn't see Nick for months, or talk to him in weeks. Yet she seems to expect him to hang around, hundred of miles away, pining away for her until she decides to give them a chance? If I were him I'd tell her to hit the highway! C. Maggie is always whining about her mother's drinking and then is always [drinking] up the Scotch herself. Talk about glass houses! D. With all Maggie's emotional problems how is she still an FBI agent. You'd think someone would have noticed and she'd be on leave and in some serious counselling. While this is a fairly decent book I wish I'd waited for the paperback! I'll definitely do so with her next book. And if it's still about Maggie and isn't an improvement, it will be my last.
Rating:
Summary: strong police procedural
Review: In Suffolk County, Massachusetts, the FBI and ATF agents have the secluded cabin surrounded trapping the six cult members inside with a large cache of weapons. "Father" informs the sextet that they must not allow Satan to catch them so they each swallow cyanide capsules just before the bullets fly. However, Eric Pratt spits out his capsule deciding life with Satan is better than no life. Six dead in all counting the hostage negotiation team agent. FBI Special Agents Maggie O'Dell and R.J. Tully investigate the Massachusetts massacre and the related homicide of Ginny Brier near the FDR Memorial. Both are linked by a connection to the charismatic Reverend Joseph Everett. However, this case has personal implications for the two Feds heading up the inquiries. Maggie's mother is a member of Everett's church and Tully's daughter was with the victim of the FDR Memorial killing on the night of the murder. THE SOUL CATCHER is a great FBI tale due to the strong secondary cast though one must wonder why the agents were not excused from the case due to conflicts of interest. Turning a Ruby Ridge-Waco scenario into a real drama works for this novel because the zillion of support characters seem so genuine leading to a plausible, exhilarating plot. Alex Kava transforms the imagery of a monolithic FBI and sheep-like cultists into a series of intelligent human beings who sustain a strong police procedural tale. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Fairly predictable middling thriller
Review: Kava starts out with a fairly interesting premise, "profiler looks into series of serial murders set against the background of a religious cult." Not bad, but it is clear from the beginning that the plot is about as dense as the log line, and the lead character is about as compelling as folding laundry. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out who done it with in nano seconds of his introduction. Maggie's co-workers and friends aren't too well fleshed out either. But what I found really annoying, is in a book about a religious cult, the only newspaper mentioned is the alleged newspaper, The Washington Times (not the Washington Paper of Record) and OWNED by the Moonie religious cult. A huge lapse, which can only be explained by either the author's unfamiliarity with the D.C. area, or her political leanings which are otherwise not discernable by her writing. Bottom line. This is a book for people who don't like to read too much, don't like to be particularly challenged, and don't care if their are plot holes you can drive a Mac Truck through. Also, the writer (or her editors) should be aware that the FBI profiling group is no longer called the Behavior Sciences Unit. But that is nitpicking, but really unforgivable if you are going to write a book about the current FBI.
Rating: 
Summary: Keeps the Cult story fresh and orginial
Review: Maggie is back on the job still dealing with personal issues that leave her jaded. Her first case is the death of a girl who happens to be prominent senator's daughter. Also on this day five young men take their lives in a standoff with the FBI & ATF. As she works both cases that seem unrelated one common denominator keeps appearing they are connected to one cult. This cult is run by a man who refers to himself as FATHER. In reality he is the stereotypical pervert. Kava keeps this stereotype fresh with added twists and unusual suspects. O'Dell works the case methodically and with great detail learns of more murders that could be connected to the cult and it's leader. Everett seems to be the perfect suspect for all the murders but
is someone setting him up for a bigger fall? Only Kava knows and she takes her time in peeling off the multi layered plot. Not as strong as her first novel the follow up remains strong in police procedural and gives the reader a few ice cold moments when you finally determine who is the mastermind behind the sinister plot.
Some elements of Maggie's life was not necessary such as her relationship to her mother, even though it gave credence to the cult ability to brainwash vulnerable victims.
Rating:
Summary: CATCH A FALLING SOUL
Review: Maggie O'Dell returns in this latest thriller from the talented Ms. Kava. Maggie is assigned to investigate the strange relationship between a holdout of a religious cult, and the seemingly unrelated murder of a girl in Washington, DC ... Maggie joins her friend Gwen Patterson, partner T. J. Scully and policewoman Julia Racine in an attempt to catch the culprit. It appears that a serial killer is on the loose.
I liked this book, in spite of some of the things I found either annoying or incredulous. First of all, the annoying. Kava proves that the youth of our society have listened to too many adults and have adopted profanity as their main vocabulary. Almost every other word uttered by the teen boys is "F", and no wonder, since many of the adults use it proliferously too! Not a prude by any means, but there came a point in the book that it became overbearing and annoying to the plot ... Nick Morelli was also underused in this novel. And what about Ben Garrison, the seemingly self-centered, death-obsessed photojournalist. Could he really get away with the photographs he takes and sell them for money?
The characters are stock, but still worth spending a few hours with ... However, some of the relationships revealed do come as a surprise. All in all, this is still a good series ...
RECOMMENDED.
Rating:
Summary: Still searching for the plot....
Review: One good thing I can say about this book is that I did not buy it in Hardcover!! Compared to the authors other two attempts, this book was jumbled and really never decided on a direction. It also left the FBI characters looking like the keystone cops. I think every reader knew by about page 100 who the killer was and, more importantly, what a tripod looks like even when it's folded. One gets the impression that the author felt the need to"dumb up" her characters for some reason? or maybe she felt her "target" readers had dropped a few IQ points for this book. Either way, I found myself skimming through the book and moving right past the predictable parts (which pretty much left page one and the last page). Hopefully Ms. Kava will put a little more effort into her next book and we can again see some of the brilliance exhibited in both A Perfect Evil and Split Second.
Rating:
Summary: 4 1/2 stars
Review: See storyline above. It start's with a standoff between the ATF and FBI and a group of young men holed up in a cabin near Neponset River in Massachusetts. Shots are fired and people are killed. So starts this thriller, written by one of my favorite up and coming authors. Alex Kava has a writing style that will keep you enthralled. I found the involvement of Maggie's mother with 'The Father' to be a little coincidental to the plot, still yet the overall story, along with the suspense and thrills, put a damper on that. Recommended
Rating:
Summary: advantage?
Review: Skimming some of my fellow Amazonians' reviews I couldn't help but wonder if I was at an advantage with this title. The third novel featuring FBI agent Maggie O'Dell was my introduction to both her character and the writing of Alex Kava, so I went in, and came out of this read with no frames of reference to compare SOUL CATCHER with, so I couldn't be disappointed.
Maggie O'Dell is brought into a case when a senator's body if found after a religious rally by the enigmatic Father Everett. Her partner Tully, friend Dr. Gwen Patterson and herself investigate the connection between the murder(which looks like it was done by a serial killer) and an FBI raid on a religious cabin that went south.
I admit I wasn't planning to review this novel as I read so many thrillers that generally (with an exception or two) I won't post review on Amazon unless they are exceptional and I feel I can recommend them to Amazon reading public. Kava drew me into her plot and characters though as I read this novel. I started to feel for Maggie, and rooting for her and her colleagues against the killer. Kava kept the plot's momentum moving with the speed of a lost soul speeding towards the light at the end of the tunnel. The suspense builds towards the climax which I am afraid is a little anti-climatic which is one of the flaws I found with this book.
Is it exceptional? No Kava's writing style seems very straight ahead minus bells and whistles, but she builds characterization into her novel well, so I would recommend this book, maybe not as strongly as some others in the genre I have read but as a fun quick read with a tight plot and likable characters.
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