What readers have been saying about
Elliott Light's Chain Thinking

"When a writer attempts to introduce a social issue into his fiction, he can almost be sure that he will be accused of some kind of proselytizing. In Chain Thinking, the issue is animal rights, and the fiction is the story of Kikora, a chimpanzee, and Shep Harrington, a lawyer and detective manqué, and his battle not only to solve a murder, but to save the chimp from experimentation. Elliott Light has managed to weave these two parts together, and do it seamlessly."
--MARTHA GRIMES, BEST-SELLING WRITER OF MORE THAN 20 MYSTERIES, NOTED ANIMAL RIGHTS ADVOCATE, AND WINNER OF THE NERO WOLFE AWARD (BEST MYSTERY)

" Those who think that stories about legal rights for nonhuman animals have to be boring, tedious, complicated, or abstract are in for a treat. In Chain Thinking, the plain truths about our inhumanity to other beings with whom we share our world are told in a way both exciting and funny. What animal rights lawyer wouldn't want to be like Shep Harrington (except for the part about going to jail)? And I guessed wrong about whodunnit!
-- STEVEN M. WISE, LECTURER, HARVARD LAW SCHOOL, AND AUTHOR OF THE BOOKS RATTLING THE CAGE: TOWARD LEGAL RIGHTS FOR ANIMALS AND DRAWING THE LINE: THE CASE FOR ANIMAL RIGHTS

Entertaining and enlightening.
-- BOOKLIST (THE MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION)

" Chain Thinking's story, which I enjoyed, unfolds at a quick pace and raises a number of issues related to vivisection, such as the chain-of-being philosophy, the inapplicability of animal test results to humans, and alternative test methods. Author Elliott Light also introduces the reader to current legal theories which the main character develops to assert the legal rights of chimpanzees. I hope PETA members will order the book from our website store and pass it along to their mainstream fellows. Chain Thinking's success in the marketplace could mean that many people not necessarily in tune with the issue of animal use in laboratory testing will develop a more thoughtful attitude about the whole sordid mess -- animal incarceration, suffering, and death for second-class science at best."
-- LORI KETTLER, ATTORNEY, PEOPLE FOR THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS (PETA)

Within this mystery, Elliott Light's reluctant but interesting detective, Shep Harrington, makes his own case for the need to break ‘Chain Thinking' and morally look at an important topic for discussion -- the way we treat our fellow creatures.
-- NEVADA BARR, BEST-SELLING MYSTERY WRITER, AND ONE OF THE MOST ACCLAIMED MYSTERY WRITERS OF OUR TIME ( WASHINGTON POST)

Chain Thinking is two books in one. On the one hand, it's a wonderful introduction to the plight of captive chimpanzees. On the other hand, it's an engrossing murder mystery that's hard to put down. Both elements are packed into a quick and thoroughly enjoyable read.
-- ROGER FOUTS, CO-AUTHOR OF NEXT OF KIN, MY CONVERSATIONS WITH CHIMPAZEES, AND DEBORAH FOUTS, DIRECTOR, CHIMPANZEE AND HUMAN COMMUNICATION INSTITUTE, CENTRAL WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, ELLENSBURG, WA

Elliott Light's Chain Thinking is refreshing in the way it offers up a fast moving crime plot wrapped around the fundamental issue of animal rights. Although not all animal rights activists will appreciate the lead characters' penchant for most things meat, it's an exciting read and a great gift idea for those whose minds are not so open on animal rights and the use of animals in scientific experimentation.
-- ANGIE STEPHENSON, VICE PRESIDENT OF ANIMAL LIBERATION, NEW SOUTH WALES (AUSTRALIA)

Watching the murder storyline play out to its climax made for great reading… But it was the story's second aspect that intrigued me even more. The story contains plenty of details on the behavior of chimpanzees and the battle being waged as labs worldwide continue animal testing. You see this from two angles. The first is from the chimps' eyes. They are locked in cages, subjected to test after test, injected with deadly diseases, and rarely experience love. The facts presented tug at your emotions. However, on the other hand, if the work done on chimps could save the life of your child, how can you really make that choice? The author poses these two questions through his colorful characters, including the headstrong Shep Harrington, making Chain Thinking a book that I will be
pondering for the weeks to come.
-- TRACY FARNSWORTH, ROUNDTABLE REVIEWS

In Chain Thinking, a follow-on mystery to the meaty and fascinating Lonesome Song, Elliott Light proves that he is not a one-book wonder, and indeed has improved with age. The topical, ripped-from-the-headlines theme of whether humans should exploit our closest biological relatives - chimpanzees - for biomedical research raises immense ethical questions without the usual politically correct claptrap. Regardless of how you feel about the issue, this is a thoughtful and well-written read.
-- LEWIS PERDUE, AUTHOR OF THE ACCLAIMED MYSTERY-THRILLER DAUGHTER OF GOD

" The more Shep Harrington (small town lawyer-turned-detective) meddles in the affairs of a self-interested biotech CEO and a murdered star scientist, the more intriguing things become. At stake are life sentences for an accused animal rights activist and a group of laboratory primates that are supporting what might be considered less than essential medical research. Chain Thinking is both an entertaining read and an invitation to seriously consider how we conduct our affairs with our closest genetic relatives."
-- ROBERT A. HOLT, PHD, HEAD OF SEQUENCING, CANADA'S MICHAEL SMITH GENOME SCIENCE CENTRE, BC CANCER AGENCY

In Chain Thinking, Shep Harrington, the lawyer turned amateur sleuth, struggles to find out the truth behind an impenetrable cover-up, and of the animal rights crusader set up to take the blame for the much ballyhooed murder of a prominent pharmaceutical researcher. And while his story greatly entertains us, Chain Thinking also lays out – in simple, understandable terms -- the legal and ethical issues surrounding human exploitation of our next of kin -- chimpanzees. You don't have to be an animal rights advocate to enjoy this engrossing mystery. But after you turn the final page, you'll definitely have something important to think and talk about.
-- MARY LEE JENSVOLD, PH.D., CHIMPANZEE & HUMAN COMMUNICATION INSTITUTE (CHCI), CENTRAL WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

" Chain Thinking is a superior read! Setting a fascinating, under-examined moral and political issue within the context of a gripping mystery, it gives you much more to consider than whodunnit? In the tradition of Lonesome Song, Shep Harrington has returned in a real page turner!
-- ANDREW LIGHT, MANAGER, CUSTOMER SERVICE AND TRAINING, SYNCRA SYSTEMS, INC.

Without being preachy, the position of the animal-rights activists is made abundantly clear, in a very persuasive manner. While some of this is done in a quasi-lecture form, we nonetheless never feel we're being ‘lectured at.' Both sides of the issue are presented, in a fair and balanced manner. [I guess it's ok to use that phrase now, right?] The chimp Kikora, Shep Harrington discovers, has qualities usually thought of as being in the exclusive domain of humans, e.g., the ability to empathize, as well as communicate via ASL, experience pain and anxiety, etc. The characters in this novel are ones we quickly learn to care about, none more so than Kikora herself. The book was well-written, and the story an engrossing one. This is the second in Mr. Light's SmallTown Mystery series, the first being Lonesome Song, and I will certainly look for the earlier book, and look forward to the next in the series.
-- GLORIA FEIT, 4MYSTERYADDICTS

I just finished Chain Thinking today. I am not a purely objective observer when it comes to the issue of using chimpanzees for biomedical testing. Even so, I was caught up in the story. The Dr. Doring character made my skin crawl. And I kept wishing that Shep and Heather would get together -- maybe in a sequel. But as one who is dedicated to the cause of captive chimps, I want to thank author Elliott Light so very much for writing this novel. He is an answer to my prayers; I have always felt that a good novel dealing with the subject of primate experimentation is necessary to bring this issue to the general public. Let's hope that millions read Chain Thinking.
-- LYNN PAULEY, FOUNDER, PRIMATE FREEDOM PROJECT

This second of Elliott Light's Small town Mysteries was even better than the first, and I thoroughly enjoyed the debut. The legal issues posed by Shep Harrington and chimp Kikora in Chain Thinking caused me to think hard and long about our legal system -- how it deals with the truth, and what the basis of that truth may be.
-- JON L. ROBERTS, J.D., PH.D.

Chain Thinking is a great read! Light not only weaves an entertaining yarn, but teaches us something along the way about us, our next of kin, and how we might do better to expand our thinking beyond the immediate protection and benefit of our own species. Light clearly did his research on the current status of chimpanzees in the biomedical and legal worlds, and it shows. Bravo!
-- LIZ CLANCY LYONS, DORIS DAY ANIMAL LEAGUE

" In Chain Thinking, a great and lovable novel, Shep Harrington demonstrates the ability of one solitary person to make a difference, in his case by effecting change in the lives of animals. For those of us involved daily in saving animals in the real world, Chain Thinking serves as a wonderful affirmation. Those not yet involved in that essential enterprise, I hope, will see it as an engaging open door."
-- TAMMY SNEATH GRIMES, FOUNDER, DOGS DESERVE BETTER: NO CHAINS!

Elliott Light writes with an elegance that most of us can only manage by quoting others. Luckily, I'm a lot funnier than he is, or I'd have to give up this whole mystery novel thing and take up upholstery. I hadn't read his previous Shep Harrington novel, but now I'll have to go back and start from the beginning. Elliott, you've gained a fan.
-- JEFFREY COHEN, AUTHOR OF FOR WHOM THE MINIVAN ROLLS: AN AARON TUCKER MYSTERY , AND A FAREWELL TO LEGS: ANOTHER AARON TUCKER MYSTERY

Shep Harrington, the lawyer hero of Elliott Light's first book, Lonesome Song, is conned into solving the murder of an unlikeable scientist in order to save an animal rights person from jail or worse. He holds no brief for either the victim or the accused. Yet, because he is a man of conscience and an ex-jail bird with a cynical regard for prosecutors, he insists on finding out what really happened and why. In his search for the truth, he plows ahead with indomitable persistence, savvy, and a little bit of luck and help from a signing chimpanzee. Light is a clever writer who has a droll sense of humor, considerable knowledge and insight into the social scene, and an uncanny ability to deal with the nuances and motivations of individuals from different walks of life. This book is, indeed, a worthy successor to his first book, and I suspect we will be reading about Shep Harrington for a long time to come. Incidentally, animal rights people will love this book.
-- ED DAGER, PROFESSOR EMERITUS (SOCIOLOGY), UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND

Chain Thinking is a worthy successor to the first Shep Harrington SmallTown Mystery, Lonesome Song. The book has everything a series reader could want: a fascinating, plot driven whodunit; a familiar small town setting with a familiar cast of local characters; and a host of new characters. The book strikes a perfect balance between Shep's quest to find a murderer and the book's central theme--the plight of a chimpanzee named Kikora who faces certain death as a biomedical test subject. If Chain Thinking is any indication of where this series is headed, I can't wait for the next one and the next one and.........
-- KATY CASELLI

If you like murder mysteries, you'll love Chain Thinking. Drawing on current scientific knowledge about the minds of chimpanzees, the novel weaves a compelling story about murder, power, and the mistreatment of our closest genetic relative. I quickly found myself rooting for an ex-con, an accused murderer, and a chimpanzee named Kikora. But more than just an entertaining story, the reality depicted in Chain Thinking is both compelling and disturbing. Like Uncle Tom's Cabin, Chain Thinking is fiction that shocks the conscience. It is nothing less than a must read.
-- RICK BOGLE, FOUNDER, PRIMATE FREEDOM PROJECT

As an admirer of Elliott Light's first novel, Lonesome Song, I looked forward to reading Shep Harrington's next adventure, Chain Thinking. I expected it to be good, and I was not disappointed. Beyond the quick pace and neatly wrapped-up ending, both of which I'd anticipated, I also had an unexpected and delightful experience -- I learned something. The treatment of primates in captivity that is one of the book's central issues compelled me to wrestle with moral questions I hadn't previously considered. This is entertainment and then some!
-- ARLEN WILSON, COUNSELOR, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE (RET)

" Imagine opening your front door to an unusual woman who knows you're a lawyer and demands help. With some persuasion, you agree and find yourself charged with the care of a baby chimpanzee, obviously stolen. So begins Chain Thinking, the second Shep Harrington SmallTown mystery. When Shep eventually learns that the scientist who cared for Kikora the chimp has been murdered, Shep find himself in the middle of not only this murder mystery but a battle to save Kikora as well. When books have an agenda, there's usually a point in the story where the agenda takes over and the story becomes secondary. Fortunately, this is not the case with Chain Thinking. The animal rights aspect blends effortlessly with the story. It is as an important aspect of this novel, but not the whole. The murder mystery is front and center and Light delivers the mysterious goods!"
-- ELIZABETH BALDWIN, BUYER, MYSTERIOUS GALAXY BOOKS (SAN DIEGO, CA)

First-novel authors have no rep to ride on. But Light's second Shep Harrington mystery, Chain Thinking, already has the jacket approval of bestselling author Martha Grimes.
-- BILL RUEHLMANN, BOOK COLUMNIST, THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT