Thursday, January 14, 2010

Baby Shark's High Plains Redemption by Robert Fate



High Plains Redemption is Robert Fate's third book in his Baby Shark series.  Baby Shark is Kristin Van Dijk, a private eye in partnership with Otis Millett.  She got the nickname Baby Shark when she hustled pool as a young girl, working the circuit with her father. 

The locale is the Oklahoma and Texas badlands, set in the 1950's.  Otis and Baby Shark have been hired to deliver a ransom for Savannah Smike.  Savannah is the girlfriend of Travis Horner, a powerful gangster.  She has been kidnapped and Travis wants her back badly enough to pay ransom for her.  The ransom attempt goes awry, and two rival groups attack each other, with Baby and Otis in the middle of the conflict.  They end up with Savannah, and deliver her back home to her bootlegging family. 

Both sides in the conflict come after Baby Shark and Otis.  The action is fast and furious and the reader is kept on edge, unable to put down the book before discovering what happens next and how the pair will escape the latest scrape. 

Fate has created a rarity; a female protagonist that is believable as something other than a shrinking violet.  That he can do so in the locale he picked is even more remoarkable.  Readers won't soon forget Baby Shark, and will eagerly await her next adventure.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

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