The Chain

In the first volume of Lamont's Kinship series, Jude Brannock is an animal-welfare investigator who travels to the small town of Bragg Falls to investigate the supposed suicide of an informant from the local meat-packing plant with whom she was working. When she arrives, she doesn't receive a warm welcome%E2%80%94the livelihoods of most of the townsfolk depend on the meat-processing facility. Jude is harassed and threatened, and her dog is kidnapped. With few allies, Jude works to find the truth about her informant's death and what is really going on at the local plant. Lamont paints a vivid, realistic picture of slaughterhouses. However, some of her characters are underdeveloped%E2%80%94perhaps due to the author's heavy-handed efforts to depict the U.S. meat-processing industry's treatment of animals as inhumane. While her message is on point, the prose suffers for it. Still, her novel presents an interesting mystery and will appeal to readers familiar with issues of animal cruelty.