Baby Shark
Robert Fate
Reviewed By Barb Radmore
Kristen Van Dijk's life is a bit unusual for a 17 year old girl in the
1950, going from pool hall to pool hall with her pool hustling father.
But it all ends in a rural bar when a group of bikers show up to get
revenge over a lost pool game. When it is all over Kristen's father and
the bar owner are brutally murdered, the owner's father, Henry, is left
for dead and Kristen herself is barely alive after a repetitive
beatings and rape. But the police are in no hurry to solve the
murder of a lowly pool hustler or the rape of a girl who, by even being
in a pool hall, must have asked for it. The murder of the Chinese bar
owner and the fact that they burned down the bar does not seem to
matter much to the local lawmen either. The lost report on the whole
happening is even more suspicious.
Henry brings Kristen home with him to recover in peace, hidden away on
his back country ranch. There they decide that the killers of their
family members must be brought to justice- if the law will not do it
they will take care ofn it themselves. Kristen works to get her
strength up both physically and mentally. She runs, learns to shoot a
gun and, to become Baby Shark, play pool like a pro. With the
help of PI Otis Millet they begin to track down the bikers who did the
killings. But someone is definitely trying to protect the bikers,
especially the one they call Blue Eyes, and it is up to Kristen,
Otis and Henry to figure out who is interfering with their plans. And
Kristen must discover if she can carry through on their plan for
revenge.
This book should cause quite a discussion with its unusual heroine.
Robert Fate has used first person voice to pull the reader into
Kristen's world. This works to not only raise his audience's
sympathy for a cold blooded killer, but causes them to stand up
and cheer for her. The style of writing is cool and sparse to
match the tone of the story. The characters are well defined without a
lot of background to clutter up the pace. This makes it a full out run
to the end, no stopping reading in between chapters.
This is an exciting debut for this author and we are glad he is not
done here. We are now looking forward to spring of 2007 for Baby
Sharks' Beaumont Blues and later for Baby Shark's Sooner
Weekends. It will be interesting to see how Robert Fate continues
Kristen's story after she has exacted her revenge. Maybe a chance for
romance? But it is hard to imagine Baby Shark settling for a life in
the mainstream.
(Wonder how long it will take movie producers to get ahold of these
rights? Perfect combination of chick flick with blood gushing action-
something for everyone. )
Congratulations on the Anthony
2007 nomination for Best Paperback Original!