100 Pages A Day...Stephanie's Book Reviews

Hogg County North Carolina is known for its hog production industry. In the area, Martin Farms, Inc. owned by Owen Martin contracts and controls the majority of the hog industry for smaller farmers. On the day of a violent Carolina storm, two young boys, Paulie Reavis and Hank Grier are playing in Mitchell Creek below Wallace May's hog waste lagoon. When the storm proves too fierce, the lagoon breaks and the boys are swept away in a mix of water and hog manure. Paulie Reavis dies and Hank Grier is seriously injured. For Lana Reavis, the death of her son after the suspicious death of her husband Paul Sr., is too much to handle. Especially because both deaths were suspicious accidents connected to Martin Farms. Chief Deputy Will Moser is on both cases, especially since Paulie was like a son to him, and some local folks are beginning to blame the Griers for Paulie's death due to the color of their skin. As Will begins to dig deeper and question those involved in Martin Farms, he finds a lot of new information. For Lana however, she now seeks justice in another name- revenge.

Justice By Another Name opens with the most beautiful description of the outdoor environment of eastern North Carolina and a very realistic scene of young boys at play that instantly grabbed my attention and allowed me to picture everything perfectly. Then, quickly turned into one of the most terrifying death scenes I could imagine- drowning in pig manure. From here, I was intrigued by Will's investigation into the hog production industry and Lana's involvement into the veterinary side of hogs. Learning about all of this was really interesting to me, especially about how the pigs are treated and different diseases that they carry. Will's investigation brought out the seedier side of the industry and what farmers might do in order to cover up when something goes wrong. The suspense and mystery of the book was not so much who caused Paul Sr. and Paulie's deaths, but the reasons why they were killed. Will's journey into the mind of the killer and Lana's sophisticated way of revenge lead to an exciting and thrilling ending.