Customer Reviews

Baby Shark

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Baby Shark, a teenage girl, doesn't have the normal teenage evenings. Baby's are spent in pool halls, where she watches her father shark for a living. But one night, Baby's father bucks the wrong gang. He's murdered, along with the son of the proprietor, and Baby Shark is raped, beaten and left for dead. Most young girls, if they recovered at all, would be traumatized by this for the rest of their lives, probably hover in the shadows, stay close to walls, and avoid the eyes of oncoming people.

Not our Baby Shark. She heals and vows revenge. Housed by the proprietor of the bar that was trashed and burned, the man who lost his son, he secures martial arts and guns experts to mentor his protege, while she seeks out the best pool training in the land. Meanwhile, a sleazy private eye friend of the bar owner has been tracking down the gang.

When she's ready, Baby Shark swoops out of the deep and delivers fatal bites tailored to each participant in the crime.

This is no normal book of revenge. This book seethes; it burns. The reader revels in the cold revenge Baby Shark dispenses. I couldn't put this book down.

The finest read I've enjoyed in many moons. A marvelously spare writing style, tremendous sense of character and a plot that is a compellingly original reworking of a script dating at least to Homer, Baby Shark has a screenplay feel,in the very best sense. The plot stays on message, the dialogue drives the plot, the characters LEAP off the page in technicolor, and the result is even more than the sensational parts. Any man or woman who remembers what it was like to push the bounds of convention in the 50s and 60s will treasure this book. Yet Fate's contemporary style appeals to Gen-Xers as well!

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. )

I just finished this book a few days ago and I'm really surprised that it has turned out to be one of the best books I've read this year. I wouldn't have even heard of it (or considered reading it if I had) if it hadn't been for some people recommending it on the Kindle forum a few months ago.

As I started reading the book I was initially concerned that the "voice" of Baby Shark wasn't feeling quite right for a teenage girl, likely because of the book being written by (presumably) a man. But a few pages into it and that thought never crossed my mind again. The story took off and I found it very difficult to put the book down once started.

The choice to set the book in the early to mid 1950's was an interesting one and at various times added a unique flavor to the story. Yet at other times the story was completely timeless, where it could have been any year in which the events were taking place.

While not terribly complex the characters are still well drawn, and more importantly, interesting. Even the ones I didn't particularly like all seemed to have some redeeming feature. Well, except for the major villains.

The story operates on several levels, and I think this more than anything is what makes it such a good book. There's the issue of Baby recovering from a brutal beating and rape. There's the unexpected relationship that develops between her and the Chinese owner of the pool hall where her father was murdered. There's the issue of vigilante justice and how choosing to perpetrate violence against others irrevocably changes you. And amidst all that is the mystery surrounding the initial events and the investigation into who committed the crimes and why they were never brought to justice.

The other thing that makes this such a great read is that the book is excellently paced. Baby Shark could have easily been bogged down at various points in between the more action oriented scenes, but it never is. Fate does a fantastic job of being able to cover a lot of ground, including lengthy periods of time, while allowing the reader to feel that everything is still purposefully moving on towards the final events.

For people who are very uncomfortable with the idea of vigilante justice, even in a fictional setting, or who are squeamish about violence, Baby Shark probably isn't a good choice. But for anyone who enjoys a many layered, well told story I'd highly recommend giving this one a chance. Even those like me who may not normally read this sort of book.

Kindle note: No notable problems with the Amazon ebook edition.

Readers will be torn between wanting to protect Baby Shark, aka Kristen Van Dijk, and wanting her to protect them in Robert Fate's debut novel, Baby Shark. The book is populated with a cast of characters that intrigue, frighten, and inspire all at once. As the various characters help Kristen to identify and enhance her strengths and recognize her weaknesses, readers will be forced to look at themselves a little bit closer while longing for this type of support system in their own lives. Anyone who has ever felt vulnerable will recognize the actions taken to achieve justice from their fantasies. Fate manages to give a sense of realism to the fantasies that live in the minds of the victimized. Baby Shark is a well written, fast paced read that will leave the reader cheering for Kristen and feeling her pain, determination, and strength. Kristen is a character readers will long to know better.

The Baby Shark series is great fun, escapism, fast-paced adventure, totally improbable, but I love all three books.

I used to read the old style male PI stories. Baby Shark is like these with a new century female upgrade.

I highly recommend them for sheer fun.

Marilynne

I was engrossed in this book from page one. Other reviewers have given you the story and the plot. All I can add is - read this book!

BABY SHARK is a terrific book and the beginning of a great new series! BABY SHARK'S BEAUMONT BLUES is a great follow-up! It's hard to find a book this tough that's also this funny. What a wonderful combo. And Kristin is a feminist hero! I love her.

We got to go on a dark journey with a cast of memorable characters who made the trip well worth the hard knocks they encountered along the way. Here was this young lady who had lost everything except the friendship of a handful of terrific men who taught her, protected her, and who gave her a reason to keep on going. It was a story of finding yourself when it looked like there was nothing left. There was truly beauty born of the ashes. Great work; great read.

This debut book, Baby Shark, starts off fast - one night of violence and murder that ultimately leads to the birth (creation is probably a better word) of Baby Shark, a teenage girl who survives the chaos.

As a reader, you know what the book will be about. You know that the 17-year old girl who walked into the pool hall with her dad will eventually take not just the name Baby Shark but revenge on the men who left her scarred and fatherless. It's not necessarily the destination that keeps you reading, but the road you travel with her to get there.

And by the end of the book, you're anxious to see where she'll go next.