The Trap

The Kinship Series #2

by Robin Lamont

On a rare vacation out west, animal rights investigator Jude Brannock fulfills a lifelong dream of seeing wolves in the wild. The wonder of the moment is shattered when she learns that a wildlife trapper has been murdered and the main suspect is an ALF member and a man she once loved. Jude’s search for the real killer takes her undercover where she collides with a government agency that is methodically destroying the wildlife she is determined to protect.

258 pages, Paperback

First published June 7, 2015

About the author

Broadway actress - private investigator - Assistant DA - and now novelist.

Robin Lamont worked as a Broadway actress and singer, playing lead roles in Godspell, Grease, and Working. Her original cast recording of "Day by "Day" and her film version of the song have drawn fans from around the world. Utilizing her acting experience she became an undercover investigator for a PI firm in New York City that specialized in investigations into counterfeiting. During that time she went to law school and later practiced as an Assistant District Attorney in New York.

Now an award winning novelist, Robin draws on these diverse careers for her work, infusing suspenseful plots with character-driven drama.

Her work has garnered awards and recognition, including Suspense Magazine’s Best of the Indies and a Gold Medal in the Independent Publishers Book Awards for If Thy Right Hand. Her novel The Chain, which introduced Jude Brannock to readers, was a Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Finalist.

Reviews

[Mansi Bhagwate · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is why I love fiction. Fiction has the power to look at all sides of the argument and get inside peoples--and animals--heads. I loved the concept of the book. The plight of animals whether in slaughterhouses or out in the wild needs to brought forth for the world and what better way to do this than through fiction?
The book is well researched and it is horrifying and immensely saddening to experience what animals are going through at the hands of humans. Robin has done a great job about that aspect. But I felt that the characters were a tad unidimensional, except maybe Ben McIntyre. Also, I would like to see the heroine not as goody two shoes as she has been portrayed. The dialogue at times was banal as well. But the book has its moments of deep thought and unanswered questions.
My most heart wrenching part was when the coyote was trapped in a leg trap. It will stay with me forever.
Overall, this book was an eye opener as far as hunting of predators goes. (I am surprised the US government allows these huntiing derbys to happen. Thats horrendous.) I will keep reading the Kinship series and other books that Robin writes. Way to go!

[Martin Rowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This second volume in the Kinship Series has our heroine, the estimable Jude Braddock and her trusty hound Finn, moving on from investigating malfeasance around a pig-slaughtering facility in Pennsylvania (Volume 1) to Idaho and malfeasance taking place in and around Wildlife Services. The plot moves along briskly and efficiently, and along the way we get a detailed and frankly horrifying description of the government's war on wolves, coyotes, foxes, and other animals on behalf of ranchers. If anything, the thriller is a little lopsided, since Lamont is understandably eager to relay this truly depressing and shocking state of affairs (which I have no reason to believe is untrue), and this leaves the human drama of the story somewhat under-developed—although I welcomed the arrival of a love interest, and I would be keen to see the sleazy Cashman not take his rejection quietly in forthcoming volumes. That said, I am a big fan of Lamont's consummately professional storytelling. It's my expectation and hope that Volume 3 allows itself to be expansive, baggy, and open-ended. I would hope it places Jude in much greater danger, and gives our heroine, who's still a little opaque, more grain, backstory, and a tic or two. I also anticipate that we'll begin to see the outlines of the Enormous Evil Entity that lurks behind the exploitation of animals and which The Kinship tries to take on. As it is, this series shows a lot of promise and I recommend it highly.

[Shel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second book in a promising series! The Trap, book two of The Kinship Series pulls the reader in and leaves her wanting more.

In the first book, The Chain, Lamont introduces her detective protagonist Jude Brannock, an undercover investigator at a meat packing plant. The Trap explores the conflicts between hunters, trappers, and advocates for wolves. In this second book, Lamont hits her stride.

Looking forward to Lamont's next book "The Experiment" and following the unfolding story of Jude Brannock.

Recommended for: fans of Nevada Barr, author of the Anna Pigeon series of mystery novels set in national parks in the United States—Lamont reads like the Nevada Barr for animal advocates; readers who are animal advocates

Quotable: "I'm beginning to think that maybe you and your animal comrades love what this country stands for more than the rest of us because you want to hold America to a higher standard."

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great installment in this series. I was a little hesitant to read this since I have a particular dislike for hunting and trapping, and I thought my blood might start boiling at some of the scenes, causing me to want to thorw the book and smash something. Happily, Lamont knows just when enough is enough, and while there are some graphic depictions of shot and trapped animals, and the infuriating casualness with which hunters and trappers do these things, she pulls back into a different scene, giving the reader time to breathe.

My biggest peeves with this one are that, at some point, one of the activists uses a Kleenex, which is not only a more expensive brand than a generic papr tissue, but a company that tests on animals and has destroyed Amazon rainforet for toilet paper (I haven't looked this up in a while, and those policies may have changed but it is doubtful to me). I would have thought folks at The Kinship would understand that. Also, seriously, what is up with Jude and the casual way she puts Finn in danger all the time whengoing undercover? Yeah, here she was in vacation first, but that is no reason for her to accept an assignment - I mean, honestly, if you have companion animals or kids, undercover work is probably not the smartest job to take. I was worried half the book that Finn would end up in a trap himself, and why, om several occasions, Jude lets him run freely ahead of her in areas known to have leghold traps seems incredibly stupid and callous.

That stuff aside, this book opens up a little more of Jude's life to us and she is basically a very likeable, relatable character, although I get the feeling Lamont maybe didn't have all of Jude's life laid out when she started writing the series, because though I can't remember them now, there were one or two jarring thngs that I feel were important enoug in Jude's life that they could have been mentioned then and were not (I think it is partly the romance with Colin and ALF, and the fact that she went to college, which I did not get from reading the first book at all). It is a pleasure getting to know Jude, although and I wish we had a little more. The characters do need a little more depth, somehow; they need to be more than vehicles for activism. That said, I find the characters not totally three dimensional, but not one-dimensional, either. Somewhere in between. I like Jude's romantic past coming back to haunt her, and the debate between direct action/animal liberation and slower, methodical steps to changing the (mal)treatment of animals is laid out pretty nicely. The debate doesn't distract from the story but enhances it.

I didn't know whodunit, which is always satisfying to me. I think the end scene in Congress is perhaps a bit Pollyanna, but we all need some hope so it is nice to think things could turn out that way. Overall a very good, easy read with a nice mix of politics, suspense, and romance. I recommend this series.

[Mark Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a brave and important piece of work. Like her heroine, Robin Lamont has waded into the deep waters of public land and wildlife mismanagement and uncovers a host of ugly truths. In the West the government agencies that are charged with protecting the land and wildlife have been largely captured by the folks the land and wildlife needs protection from. The secretive US Government Wildlife Services is run by the USDA for ranchers in a way the public would never tolerate if they knew about it. "Shoot, Shovel and Shut-up" is their slogan regarding wolves. Like all Western states, the Idaho Fish and Wildlife Agency is paid for by hunting licenses and run not to protect wildlife but for hunters. In the Western conservative red states much of state legislative agendas are set by the Tea Party's private American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Many rural folks who live near our public lands don't seem to realize that Little Red Riding Hood is not a true story. Hunting psychology is about dominion and is justified in much the same way of that of a rapist. With the lifting of Federal protection for wolves that states have taken over and now hold killing derbies to see who can kill the most wolves and coyotes. Recreational hunters routinely claim without irony that wolves are the only animal that hunts for fun.

The issues are all there and nicely wrapped up in a page turning tale. I read my copy all in one sitting. The protagonist works for a small animal protection group and the books opens with her visiting the gorgeous Lamar Valley in Yellowstone and having the life changing experience of observing wolves in the wild. It is here that she first learns of ranchers and hunters laying in wait at the Park's borders to shoot any wolf that crosses over. A murder is discovered in nearby Idaho of a Wildlife Services agent who appears to have been shot and trapped in his own animal trap. The heroine is sent to investigate and her love for animals and her dismay and disgust at what she learns as she does so keep compelling her to dig in deeper into ever more personal danger. The reader won't know they are being taught an important wildlife management lesson, they will just keep turning the pages to find out what happens.

We need more of such work. Kudos to Lamont for her talent in getting her own work out there. Do the planet a favor, buy this book, read it, then tell two friends to do the same. You will make the world a better place.

[Peacegal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. I read a lot of animal advocacy fiction (well, not a lot, as not much exists yet), and with some books, the author's heart is in the right place, but his/her writing skills are sub-par. That's not the case with Robin Lamont. Not only does she care about our fellow beings, but she is also an awesome writer to boot, crafting a top-notch mystery that will keep you guessing.

When an infamous government trapper is found dead in his own wolf trap, the residents of a tiny Idaho town immediately suspect animal rights radicals. Others suspect a rival trapper may be settling an old score. Animal rights investigator Jude Braddock isn't sure what to think when she arrives to unravel the mystery, but she does know immediately she will have to disguise her history and values in order to gain trust in this wary little hunting and ranching community.

When it comes to weaving real-life animal issues into the narrative, Lamont certainly knows her stuff. It's also refreshing that she doesn't stop the action to lecture her readers, which is another trap that other cause-oriented writers frequently fall in. She weaves facts seamlessly into the fiction, and her characters are multi-hued and believable. It seems to me that Lamont must have grown up around, or spent a lot of time with, hunters, as she really gets a feel for values, beliefs, and culture of hunting enthusiasts. I had to chuckle when Jude enters a fictionalized version of a hunting mega-store such as Cabela's or Bass Pro Shops, and struggles to maintain her cover story while privately looking for an exit to this "supermarket of death and suffering for animals." I'll have to remember that the next time I find myself in one of those godforsaken stores.

We live in a carnist society that, for the most part, sees animals as objects for humans to use as they wish. We're surrounded by these values every day, and most books naturally reflect the animal-use mindset. For me, and no doubt many other animal advocates, it's simply refreshing to read a book that questions this casual killing and exploitation, rather than reveling in it.

[Vicki B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only just started reading this book 2 days ago. It was so good I couldn't put it down! I HIGHLY recommend The Kinship Series and I already can't wait for the next installment!!

[J.L. Fields · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thought-provoking, suspenseful take on what "animal protection" really means. Can't wait for the next book in The Kinship Series!