When Kristin Van Dijk and Otis Millett, are hired to bring home Savannah, the kidnapped girlfriend of an Oklahoma bootlegger, they learn the hard way that someone wants the gorgeous redhead so badly they will kill to get her. Kristin and Otis must discover the reason behind Savannah’s popularity before she and/or they are murdered.
Baby Shark's High Plains Redemption
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Poolshark-turned-PI Kristin Van Dijk, the heroine of Fate's third hard-boiled 1950s mystery (after 2007's Baby Shark's Beaumont Blues), could give Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer a run for his money in the toughness department. At the behest of a Texas client, Travis Horner, Van Dijk and her partner, Otis Millett, travel to Oklahoma to track down Savannah Smike, Horner's girlfriend, who's being held for ransom. The assignment proves trickier than advertised, leaving the detectives doubtful of Horner's integrity. After the pair successfully reunite Smike with her family, Millett is seriously wounded by gunfire, possibly from one of the thugs involved in Smike's kidnapping. Vowing revenge, Van Dijk stealthily and skillfully knocks down doors and twists arms in her effort to identify the triggerman as well as uncover the true motive behind all the bloodshed. Van Dijk's resourcefulness makes her a winning series character who merits a long run. Fans of Sara Paretsky and Robert B. Parker will find much to enjoy. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Set in the 1950s, this hard-boiled private- eye yarn cranks right up with guns blazing and fists flying. All the traditional elements of old-school pulp fiction are here, but Fate goes beyond homage, blending innovation and skillful writing to transport the reader to a time when cigarettes were good for us and Packards owned the road. In this outing, Kristin Van Dijk, known as Baby Shark, and her PI partner, Otis Millett, find themselves knee-deep in rival bootleggers, kidnappers, and hit men. Baby Shark manages to squeeze in a recreational round of pool hustling with a shotgun-toting thug, but the two spend most of their time dodging a hail of bullets and trying to live long enough to collect their fees and make it home to Fort Worth. Two other books in this too-little-known series are Baby Shark and Baby Shark’s Beaumont Blues. For those who love the no-frills, first-person, hard-boiled style, this series is a delight. --Elliott Swanson
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Reviewing: Baby Shark's High Plains Redemption,
By
This review is from: Baby Shark's High Plains Redemption (Paperback)
The third in the action crime Baby Shark series opens in May 1957. Kristin, aka Baby Shark, is still wielding guns and pool sticks with deadly accuracy. She is still working with Otis and the latest case and resulting plan of action were supposed to be relatively simple. Travis Horner has a girlfriend who got into some sort of trouble and is currently up in Oklahoma. She isn't kidnapped exactly, but she isn't free to leave either. In exchange for some money, Otis gets to bring the girlfriend back to Travis Horner. Kristin is supposed to lurk, provide support, and deal with anything unexpected that comes up.
Something she does very well and normally she is on time. However, as usual in May in Oklahoma, the weather is atrocious. A tornado that traveled through the vicinity has delayed her arrival by some two hours making the drive up from Fort Worth, Texas even harder. Plenty of time for things to have gone badly and they have. Kristin never wanted any part of rescuing the girlfriend of a bootlegger, no matter how pretty or how well she can play the piano. Now, she has to rescue Otis also which will require violence. Violence is something Kristin has become very comfortable with the few years since her father died in front of her and she was brutally assaulted. Nobody does violence better than Kristin, aka Baby Shark, and there are serious consequences for those stupid enough to get in her way. Featuring the same occasionally funny one liners, plenty of violence, and more break neck adventure, Robert Fate has penned another winner. Morality, always present in this series, plays a bigger role as Kristin in considers two major problems. One is the ease she steps into and out of violent actions which often leaves others dead in the chaos and wreckage. Truth be told, she likes it when circumstances force her into acting violently because she no longer knows any other way. Violence to those who interfere is simple while relationships and love are far more complicated. If violence is the answer, where does that leave the romance between herself and Lee, a detective with the Dallas PD? Questions that have no easy answers much like what to do with the gorgeous redhead bootlegger's girlfriend, who is responsible for the waves of bad guys coming after them, and the major question as to the why of everything. Like the other books in the series, the motives of others, beside shooting at them is vague and unstated and Otis and Kristen have to survive long enough to get any answers at all. What is clear from the chaotic opening under an Oklahoma sky pulsing with jagged lighting to the final chaotic shoot out in a hospital in Fort Worth, Robert Fate's latest novel in the series easily is equal to the first two books. Another clear winner and one sure to please his growing legions of fans while recruiting new ones. Advance review copy was graciously provided by the author directly. Kevin R. Tipple (copyright) 2008
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Third in Baby Shark Series - Exciting Addition!,
By
This review is from: Baby Shark's High Plains Redemption (Paperback)
"In a spine-jolting crunch that flattened me against the steering wheel, the Mercury slid under them and their car came down on my hood, leaving my horn blaring and my engine roaring...I spun around in the seat, used both feet to push open the door, moved fast...and started forward with my pistol in my hand." (p. 137)
Like Fast-paced? Like strong female PI's? Meet.... Baby Shark! I came in on the "third act" of Baby Shark, in High Plains Redemption, but I'll be going back to pick up the first two books...and continue on with this hot series by Robert Fate! Baby Shark reminds me of Geena Davis in my all-time favorite action movie, The Long Kiss Goodnight! If you loved Geena in some of her outrageous acts in that movie, then you'll certainly want to meet Baby Shark: She can take it: "He grabbed me by my hair and pulled me around so hard I thought my neck would snap. He jammed a hand between my thighs, picked me up by my crotch and the hair of my head, swooped me up shoulder high--and then I was falling..." (p. 130) And she can dish it out: "I moved instantly, swinging my hands out as I fell forward, chopping my blades into their necks as if I were striking cymbals. The first cuts were to the bone, but I slashed up and pressed in, doing even more injury as I withdrew, leaving their neck wounds open wide and their heads nearly detached from their bodies." (p. 251) High Plains Redemption takes Kristin Van Dijk, aka Baby Shark and partner, Otis Millett into bootlegging country and two warring mountain clans, as they are hired to find and return Savannah, daughter of one of the clan leaders--hired, but not by her own family! Baby Shark is as confused as everybody else as they try to determine exactly what is happening and who is leaving the trail of bodies behind as Savannah is located and then lost again. Baby Shark knows only one thing--she must protect Savannah! No matter what or who gets in the way. Unfortunately, that could actually be her lover, Lee, who happens to be a law officer who expects her to follow all the legal rules that he does in protecting the innocent! It is a constant struggle, for Baby Shark knows, "we work on the edge of the law, and...it gets blurry out there were Otis and I deal with things." (p. 198) And Baby Shark just doesn't think she can trust Lee... Admit it, readers! This sounds like that exciting novel into which you want to escape this weekend! Well, you'll be right! This book is highly recommended for lovers of action thrillers! So, excuse me, now...I'm going back to start reading: Baby Shark--first book in what I expect will be Robert Fate's fantastic series! You might want to start at the beginning... but, no problem, High Plains Redemption stands alone as a great addition, so wherever you meet her, I think you'll thoroughly enjoy Baby Shark! G. A. Bixler
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
HIGH PLAINS REDEMPTION by Robert Fate,
By
This review is from: Baby Shark's High Plains Redemption (Paperback)
May 1957. Baby Shark--a former pool hustler turned Texas private eye--is backup in a ransom deal. Her partner, Otis Millett, is the front man in the cash for girl exchange they were hired to do by a powerful Texas bootlegger. His mistress found trouble in Oklahoma that ended with a ransom demand. It is planned to be a simple deal, but Baby finds trouble in the parking lot of the seedy tavern where the switch is to take place and when she ducks it she finds Otis inside taking a beating from a couple heavies.
Baby is quick on her feet and it doesn't take long for her figure the deal and wedge it open, but it is only the beginning. Otis is certain they were betrayed, but the real question is why. And when thugs and hired guns keep coming at them they decide they need to figure the scam, and quickly, if they're going to stay upright. BABY SHARK'S HIGH PLAINS REDEMPTION was a major surprise, and a good one at that. It opens running hard and Mr. Fate not only keeps up the pace, but actually shifts it into a higher gear as the climax approaches. To use a cliché, the pace is unrelenting--the body's pile-up around the protagonist nearly as quickly as the pages turn and the action scenes are perfectly developed with a sparse noir style: "`Who dies first?' I said, and stopped about a dozen feet away from them. Even a bad shot could kill at that distance, and they both knew it. My hands were steady. They could see that, too." The plot is very nearly pitch-perfect as it takes the action and reader across the sprawl of Texas and Oklahoma. The characters are neatly defined and uniquely developed with a seemingly simple style and limited backstory; enough background to develop the characters without slowing the story. The major players--Baby and Millett--are cast in a dark filament glow that paints them somewhere between villain and hero. And smartly gives them foibles, weaknesses and more than a few strengths. They are both very much worth rooting for. The overall tone and style of the novel has the feel of an old black and white film mixed with the ultra-violent sentimentality of modern noir. The subject matter is far from unique, but Mr. Fate gives it a fresh and invigorating narrative that amps it past the average crime thriller. BABY SHARK'S HIGH PLAINS REDEMPTION should be high on every crime reader's list for the simple reason that is very good. -Gravetapping
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