‘Dakota’ by Martha Grimes

  Author Martha Grimes has been a supporter of animal rights for decades and often taps the subject for her books.
  Grimes’ “Biting The Moon” introduced readers to Andi Oliver, an amnesiac who rescues trapped coyotes in the mountains of New Mexico.
  In “Dakota,” Grimes brings back Andi, this time having her work on a pig farm after making her way to Kingdom, N.D.
  The local townsfolk are suspicious of Andi from the get-go, especially since she walked into town with a beaten donkey she’d “rescued” from a nearby farm.
  A local widower takes pity on her, allowing her to move into his home after he hires her to exercise his horses. Andi settles into farm life, enjoying the familiarity of the family setting while not being able to remember her own.
  Andi, always ready to help an animal, takes a job at Klavan’s, the local hog factory. She’s repulsed by the conditions she finds and heartbroken when the animals are taken to the slaughterhouse. Grimes goes a little overboard with this story line, at times getting a bit preachy, but Andi is a likable enough character and the mystery of her past is enough to keep readers turning pages.
  “Dakota,” though a sequel, can stand alone. There is enough explanation of previous events for readers to piece together what happened in “Biting The Moon.” For those who did read the first book, this should be a welcome return of a scrappy character.
  Andi’s determination is admirable in this novel as she tries to save piglets and even sick hogs from slaughter, but I’m still not giving up my breakfast sausage.