Photo by Hypnotica Studios Infinite, used under Creative Commons licensing. Photo by Hypnotica Studios Infinite, used under Creative Commons licensing.

This week marked the publication of the paperback edition of Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation by Dan Fagin, which tells the story of a sleepy New Jersey seaside town. In the 1950s, the chemical industry came to Toms River, and nothing has been quite the same since. In the excerpt below, Fagin sets the stage for his epic of dumpers at midnight and deceptions in broad daylight, of corporate avarice and government neglect, and of a few brave individuals who refused to keep silent until the truth was exposed.