Customer Reviews

Baby Shark's Beaumont Blues

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Oh Baby, Baby. She is back, all rough, tough and soft around the edges. Kristin Van Dijk, who we met in Baby Shark, has returned to her crime fighting, but now she is Otis' partner in his PI business.

Kristin and Otis are hired to locate and rescue a kidnapped girl, who ends up more difficult to find and keep than they expected. What seemed like a simple rescue mission becomes convoluted case of deception, greed and dishonor.

In this installment of Kristen's adventures it is the characters that take center stage. Baby Shark introduced us to the main characters but that book was driven by the action, the violence. Beaumont Blues has taken the promise of the first one and given the characters a chance to grow. It is no less exciting, no less blood stained than the first one, but it also shows a maturity in development. It would have be easy for Robert Fate to rest on the momentum of Baby Shark, to recreate the "little lost girl fights back" theme but he was able to step back and let her mature. Otis has a bigger role this time as the friendly boss and father figure, and he fills it well. The assorted other characters that blast their way through the action are well drawn with Fate's usual tongue in cheek spin on motive and morality.

But, of course, it is also the action driven plot that makes this a one sitting book. As the action progresses faster than a bullet, or is that as fast as the numerous bullets, it maintains the velocity of non stop suspense and thrills. It still can have scenes such as "It looked as if we were in the middle of a Popeye comic strip with all the bodies strewn about. But it was no cartoon, it was a slaughterhouse. Blood everywhere." Kristin has matured, not mellowed. The ending is satisfyingly unexpected, with the humor that makes these books so creative and welcomed.

Next up is Baby Shark's Panhandle Caravan (name change Mr. Fate? What happened to Sooner Weekends?). It will be interesting to see what Robert Fate has planned next for Kristin and Otis.

Kristin Van Dijk has been a PI and partner with Otis Millett for almost two years now. They are hired to return a runaway heiress as it is critical she reach her 18th birthday and be present at the reading of her father's will. They have rescued the heiress before, but this time it turns bad and Kristin ends up with two dead gangsters, the heiress, and the bag full of ransom money. And that's only the beginning as Kristin and Otis try to figure out what is really going on while keeping the heiress safe, although she disappears on them again, and themselves alive.

For me, this was a much better book than the first. The story had more balance to it, even with a higher body count than the first. But here, they are working with the law--at least as much as it is possible for them to do. The partnership of Otis and Kristin is wonderfully done and it's interesting to see Kristin's character develop through the story. Seeing men be dismissive of Kristin and, therefore, underestimate her, is an interesting reflection of that time. There is a secondary story of Virginia which dimension to the story. The sense of place is effective and the dialogue even more so. There are scenes of palpable suspense but it is balanced within the story, and a wonderful ending. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am very glad I was persuaded to give it a chance.

Kristin Van Dijk may be a teenager, but she's grown into a full fighter in this, the second in Fate's Baby Shark series. She owns her moniker. She's now a PI with her mentor/teacher. The two of them work well together, figuring out what's going on, who's doing what, and how they can survive.

Baby Shark holds her own, doing as much and sometimes most of the fighting and stopping the bad guys. She's not only fun to read, she's an interesting and complex character. She has her own tragic past and in Baby Shark's Beaumont Blues she's beginning to recover from it and is becoming a strong woman and definitely a force to be reckoned with.

Baby Shark becomes a full blown person in this second book of Fate's series. She has moved on from the horror of our first introduction to her and joined forces with Otis as a PI to "protect" a young heiress from someone- perhaps even herself. Mr. Fate does himself proud with the plot, but even prouder with his sparse writing style- suitable to both the the landscape(Texas)of the book and the characters.A very good read indeed. I am now a confirmed fan of Mr. Fate.
The third in the series, High Plains Redemption, is on my nightstand as I type this.

This Baby Shark novel is at least as good as its predecessor. This time, Baby and Otis are hired to protect an heiress, but the job isn't as simple as it seems. The heiress is being held by gangsters, and when Baby makes her dramatic rescue, shotguns blast away, killing two, and leaving Baby Shark with a drugged out heiress and a fistful of the mob's loot. Otis and Baby Shark are in trouble. Seems everybody is looking for them, and bodies are turning up everywhere the bad guys look. Problem is; Who to trust?

Robert Fate really knows how to tell a suspenseful story. He's got me hooked with this Baby Shark series, and I can't wait for the next one.

Baby Shark is back, and she's as hot as ever! Baby Shark, aka Kristin Van Dijk, is a private investigator in Texas in the 1950's. She's moved on from tracking down her attackers who raped her, beat her, and killed her father. Now she's working cases with her partner, retired cop Otis Millet. Otis and Kristin are searching for a missing Texas heiress whom they've had to track down before, but they have no idea how different things are this time. Kristin manages to weasel her way into a situation to find the girl, but realizes that things are unusual as soon as she arrives at the farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. When she manages to escape with her life - barely - and the girl, she leaves a bloodbath behind her and one dangerous witness.

Also by Robert Fate:
Baby Shark


Otis and Kristin have been hired by Sherry Beasley's lawyers to find her - again. Sherry has a history of taking off without notice to go on drug and alcohol benders, but when Kristin finds her coked up, naked, and under the thumb of a local gangster's nephew, Bobby Jack, she knows that things are going downhill fast. She manages to escape and get Sherry back to Otis, and they take her to detox while they look into why she had a huge wad of money, a purse, and no clothes when she was found. After an attempt or two on her life, Kristin realizes that a witness is looking for her and doesn't care if she's found dead or alive.

To confuse matters, a local waitress, Virginia, has pressed Kristin into service - as a photographer. When the photo shoot goes awry and dead bodies are left behind, Otis begins to wonder if there are larger problems in play. As things unfurl, the PIs realize that their clients are hiding information regarding Vahaska, the local gangster that could get all of them killed. The Dallas police bring yet another distraction into Kristin's complex life: Detective Lee Pierson, by investigating the bodies found in the farmhouse's garden - especially when they find more bodies than originally expected.

Beaumont Blues is an awesome, non-stop follow-up to Fate's first novel featuring Kristin and her extended, adopted family. The violence is there is every chapter, following the players like a dog, but we cheer them on simply because the situations are so unexpected. Kristin holds her own, taking the hits one after the other, and keeps on going. I was a little disappointed in the small inclusion of her pool-playing skills in the storyline this time, but the characters are still being developed.

If you don't like blood and guts, don't read this. If you like a strong female character with a sense of humor and ability to defend herself and others, then this is the book for you.

Kristin is one tough woman; knife wounds, beatings, car wrecks, she can take all that and more and just keep right on going. She's also witty, and doesn't let other's walk all over her. I was wondering if the author could pull off making a woman that tough and still warm and sensitive enough to curl up with at night. It appears he did, this is one PI that has it all.

I came across this series by reading a review in Spinetingler. The premise of the first book in the series Baby Shark hooked me from the start. Kristin Van Dijk is left for dead after a gang rape by a biker gang in the 1950s. Out for revenge she trains herself in the killing arts.

Baby Shark's Beaumont Blues picks up the series two years later. Kristin is 21 years old and a partner in a private eye firm. On the case to find a missing heiress, she and her partner Otis, get involved in a mob entanglement, a police investigation and a con job. The body count rises as they battle to solve the case before they get whacked by a mob boss out to even the score.

I love the premise of the series, a woman as a hired gun who can outshoot, outfight and outknife the bad guys. The tension is constantly escalating with a wonderful ending that leaves me intrigued for the third book. Kristin seems to have met a love interest and I can't wait to see how this plays out.

I'm hoping that the publishing world takes notice and we see more kick-arse heroines like Kristin taking centre stage. Baby Shark and Beaumont Blues are a bloody good read and Robert Fate AKA Bealmear (who is a member of Crimespace) is a bloody genius. Long live Kristin.

Robert Fate once again takes us on a fast-paced ride with terrific characters that are so well developed, you finish each chapter thinking you are watching the story unfold on a wide screen TV. Sometimes the action is so intense, when a gun goes off, you duck.

Kristin and Otis make a terrific team. She's growing up; he's hard as nails. Beautiful pairing, especially since they respect each other.

I always enjoy Fate's characters. They are so three-dimensional. And the atmosphere is sheer poetry.

A fast read, mostly because the book is so darn interesting.

If you haven't read Baby Shark then do so now and you may as well order this one too, as you will want to read it as soon as you finish the first one! This is a great follow up to the first one. Kristin is back with a vengence, she is now a P.I. and working a case with her partner, Otis. The bodies just keep stacking up and with Kristin and a gun, watch out! She's good, she's lethal, and she's a match with the best. I loved this book!