Every once in a long while a book comes along that stands out from the crowd due to its distinctive nature. The Slave Catcher's Woman is one of these.

The reader is immediately transported back in time to the antebellum South where cotton, slaves...and slave catchers, are the norm. The people and events depicted are very real as is the language. One gets swept up in the delightful colloquialisms and flow of speech.

The story itself at first repels. Modern man does not care to confront the realities of life where humans escaping bondage, fleeing for their lives, are tracked down by men with shotguns, whips and bloodhounds. However, the hero of the novel, Coswell Tims, is not Simon Legree. He finds himself in the business of tracking but does not seek pleasure in another's pain. With raw racism abundant around him he provides the reader with a fresh outlook. The slave catcher comments on the institution of slavery, duplicity of mankind, love and life from an objective point of view. His homespun philosophy grows on the reader, as Tims would say, like moss.

The action scenes are real and compelling. The history is real. However, the book will be remembered for what it says about race, humanity and the good that is within people. It truly is one of the most remarkable books ever penned. I highly recommend it.