"Novelists have used murderers as their protagonists before, but never in the way this author portrays them. Applause for Robert Fate."
"Wonderfully drawn characters… as stark and beautiful as the Texas landscape from which they sprang."
"From the first chapter of Baby Shark, Robert Fate delivers. This one is a winner!"
"Kristin is a strong heroine inside and out, yet vulnerable and real. She is a tribute to female characters whether it is the 50s or today. I highly recommend it. On a scale of 1 to 5, I give BABY SHARK a 5!"
Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine
"Kristin Van Dijk, Baby Shark, is one of the most refreshing heroines to come around in a very long time… she not only swims with the bigger fish, but outsmarts them as well… a must for your summer reading list."
Devil's Disciple: The Deadly Dr. H.H. Holmes
"Baby Shark is a full out run to the end, no stopping reading in between chapters."
"Baby Shark has got me hooked on Robert Fate. His heroine may be tough, smart, and a talented pool player, but there's a vulnerability about her that keeps her likeable. And the other characters are just as wonderful, the dialogue snappy, and the pace a-mile-a-minute in this can't-put-it-down-till-the-last-page thriller."
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Handwriting Analysis
"Robert Fate has created characters worth caring about… and for all the darkness Baby Shark is ultimately life affirming… a testament to the resiliency of the human spirit."
"Baby Shark is a smart, spirited page-turner about a young woman out for revenge-it's not for girliegirls."
Chair, North American Boxing Federation Women's Division
"Moments of introspection that are unexpected and touching."
"A heart-warming story of recovery and revenge."
Genre: Crime
Title: BABY SHARK
AUTHOR: Robert Fate
Kristin was seventeen going on thirty her father always said. After the death of her mother, she hooked up with her father as he roamed about Texas hustling pool, favoring literature and jazz, and living out of a big 'ole Caddy. Life was good until a biker gang catches up with them in a pool hall, kills her father and brutally rapes her, leaving her for dead. And that's only the first five pages…
Taken in by Henry, a Chinese immigrant who owned the pool hall and whose son was also murdered by the gang, the two begin a solitary existence on a remote Texas ranch, at first concentrating on healing. Henry, however, has a grander plan, and as the months go by they begin a regime of exercise and self-discipline. Aided by Henry's war buddies - a drunken arms expert and a stodgy old PI, their training takes a more deadly direction - revenge. Kristin's father's best friend also lends a hand by honing her skills as a pool hustler, earning her the name "Baby Shark". All that remains is time, and the patient pursuit of the four bikers that changed her life forever.
Though the story is set in the early 50's, Fate doesn't waste valuable words on culture or scene setting. The real story is about a young woman who, in her time, doesn't have much social or legal recourse for the vicious crimes committed against her. Told in a flowing first person style, the emphasis is on the conflict between life and revenge, and of becoming a woman too quickly in a man's world.
Robert Fate is a Marine Corps veteran who studied at the Sorbonne in France and has worked as an oilfield roughneck in Oklahoma, a fashion model in New York City, a chef at a chi-chi L.A. eatery, and hasn't done badly in the motion picture industry. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, daughter, and the requisite number of pets.
Not the typical mystery revenge, BABY SHARK reels you in and keeps you in its jaws. A grabber from page two with a killer ending. A great read and highly recommended.
www.BOOKBITCH.com REVIEWS
Baby Shark by Robert Fate: Kristin Van Dijk was only seventeen years old in 1952 when her father, a pool hustler, was killed by a motorcycle gang. Kristin was brutally beaten, gang raped, and left for dead when the gang torched the pool hall. If it hadn't been for Henry Chin, the wounded owner of the pool hall, who dragged her out of the fire, she would have been dead. If Henry hadn't had her trained in self-defense and shooting, she wouldn't have become Baby Shark, a young woman willing to hustle pool while waiting to seek revenge against the members of that motorcycle gang. When Baby and Henry discover that the cops have been bought off, they hire a private investigator, Otis Millett, to track down the gang. Fate's first novel in the Baby Shark series is a graphic, beautifully descriptive novel of the stark life in Texas in 1952. Fate's Texas is a violent place in the 1950s, where motorcycle gangs and crooked cops are common. It's a place where female pool hustlers are rare. It's a place where a Chinese man living with a young white woman would be frowned on. It's a place where many would think Kristin got what she deserved, hanging out in a pool hall. Baby Shark brings this world to life in a story that is compelling, despite and because of the violence. If this was a film, moviegoers would be cheering as Kristin attacks the gang members, seeking justice for herself, her father, and her friends.
BABY SHARK by Robert Fate: I understand a shark must constantly move to prevent its suffocation and that its attention span is so short that it can learn little from experience. Kristin, the baby shark of this book, moves a lot but she has also learned a lot and each experience leads her closer to the revenge she seeks. In October 1952, at the tender age of 17 she watched four bikers kill her pool hustler father in a Texas pool hall fight that leaves two other men dead as well. Sexually assaulted, beaten, and left for dead, she is rescued by the pool hall owner Henry Chin, a Chinese immigrant and father of one of the other murder victims. Since the local police are no help, Chin hires a private investigator to start searching for the killers. Then he hires two "tutors" for Kristin. She develops into one tough package, who also shoots a mean game of stick. At eighteen the Baby Shark is ready to hunt for the killers as she hustles pool in west Texas. Revenge is sweeter when it is served cold, but what happens afterwards. This is the first in a projected series of novels about a teenaged woman taking up the family business - pool hustling. I wish Mr. Fate well with his plans, as I think this will become a very interesting series of reads.
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Baby Shark
By
Robert Fate
Baby Shark is the beginning of a series about a girl named Kristin by first-time author Robert Fate. This is an unusual mystery novel, with all the main characters murderers - albeit for a very good reason. Mr. Fate, a former Marine veteran, skillfully types a gritty tale reflecting his knowledge and understanding of self-defense as well as necessary killing. The only difference is that the novel isn't about any conventional war. It's about war, all right, but the war is fought against a very rough element indeed who are part of our society in real life as well as in fiction.
Kristin Van Dijk tells us the complete tale in her own words. Her father took her around Texas with him, at her own choice, while he hustled at pool tables. He always called her Baby, even though Kristin was seventeen when the story opens. The first chapter describes why she seeks revenge through the rest of the book - she witnesses her father murdered along with several others, was herself raped and brutally beaten by the same motorcycle gang, left for dead, and then rescued by Henry Chin, a Chinese American and owner of the bar who was himself left for dead when the gang set his place afire before they roared away.
Kristin and Henry gradually recover, and Kristin determines to avenge herself and her father. Henry teaches her all he can, then she learns from several different experts Henry chooses how to be both an expert marksman, how to play a winning game of pool, how to keep in top physical shape, how to defend herself like a pro, and how to kill.
Kristin goes on a trip with one of her teachers around the western part of Texas with the man who taught her how to win at 9 ball. Expert that she now is, she wins all but a few, and begins to make money. Her teacher calls her Baby Shark.
Henry, plus her other teachers and older friends eventually discover one of the original men who raped her. This is the first murder. The remainder of Baby Shark chronicles the successful search and eventual dispatch of the remaining members of the motorcycle gang responsible for the murders, rape and destruction (psychological as well as physical) they caused.
Part of the tale involves a handsome male to whom Kristin is attracted - until she discovers his relationship to the worst of the gang members. When I initially received this book as an advance copy and saw the cover, I didn't really expect to enjoy what I read. I'm not a fan of pool (even though I once played - badly!), but I found I could hardly leave the volume until I'd read it through. Baby Shark isn't just about pool; it's about revenge and using superior tactics to those used by the initial perpetrators themselves. Novelists have used murderers as their protagonists before, but never in the way this author portrays them. Applause for Robert Fate!
Front Street Reviews
Baby Shark
Robert Fate
Kristin Van Dijk's life is a bit unusual for a 17 year old girl in the 1950s, going from pool hall to pool hall with her pool hustler 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, Kristin's father and the bar owner are brutally murdered, the owner's father, Henry, is left for dead and Kristin herself is barely alive after 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 Kristin home with him to recover in peace, hidden away on his backcountry 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 of it themselves. Kristin 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 Millett 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 Kristin, Otis, and Henry figure out who is interfering with their plans. And Kristin 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 Kristin'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 Shark's Beaumont Blues and later for Baby Shark's Sooner Weekends. It will be interesting to see how Robert Fate continues Kristin's story after she has exacted her revenge. Maybe a chance for romance? But it's hard to imagine Baby Shark settling for a life in the mainstream.
(Wonder how long it will take movie producers to get a hold of these rights? Perfect combination of chick flick with blood gushing action-something for everyone.)
Baby Shark by Robert Fate:
It's hard to believe this is the author's first novel. Set in the early 1950's, it opens with a powerful description of a brutal attack in a Texas pool hall. Seventeen-year old Kristin Van Dijk has been accompanying her pool hustler father since her mother died. One night, four bikers begin an attack. Kristin's father and the son of the pool hall owner are killed and Kristin is brutally assaulted and left for dead, after which the place is burned to the ground. Kristin is pulled out by the injured owner, Henry Chin. After a lengthy recovery, she and Chin vow to always be prepared to take care of themselves. They begin a regimen of training in firearms and martial arts, which Kristin absorbs like a sponge. She also perfects her pool skills and acquires the moniker "Baby Shark." Since the police investigation in the killings, assault, and fire went nowhere, she vows to find the perpetrators and take care of them herself. I don't want to reveal any more of the plot, but Fate has created a fast-moving, action-filled story that created an image of a young, female vigilante - and the reader feels total empathy with her. What really makes this book work is remembering the era before the Women's Movement, before Civil Rights - and the state of Texas, which could easily look away when vigilante justice took place. I look forward to the next book in the series. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Baby Shark
by Robert Fate
For an initial effort, this novel is extremely well constructed and written. The characters are well portrayed and the plot unusually effective.
Baby Shark emerges from a truly awful experience: As a 16-year-old, Kristin Van Dijk travels with her pool hall hustler father around Texas. Both are unusual, in that they are well-read and reading whenever dad isn't playing nine ball for a living. When she is 17, they find themselves in a pool hall owned by Henry Chin in West Abilene, which is invaded by bikers who kill three men while she watches, then wound Chin and rape her. Then they burn down the establishment, leaving the two behind.
Chin is able to rescue Kristin from the fire, but his son is killed. Chin takes Kristin home where she spends a year recovering after bouts of surgery and dental care as a result of the brutal beating inflicted on her during the assault. He engages two war veterans to teach her how to shoot and martial arts to protect herself.
She begins practicing nine ball and decides to follow in her father's footsteps, thus earning the sobriquet, "Baby Shark." And she becomes very proficient at the task. Meanwhile Chin retains the services of a private eye to locate the four thugs responsible for the deaths of his son and Kristin's father, the destruction of his pool hall and, of course, the beating and rape of Kristin.
Revenge is the name of the rest of the story, as one after another is taken out, until only the leader is left in a wild and wooly finish. Already the second in the series, Baby Shark's Beaumont Blues, is completed, and a third, Baby Shark's Sooner Weekends, is in the works. Let's hope they live up to the expectations raised by Baby Shark's debut.
Recommended.