|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
When a Texas oil heiress goes missing and bodies begin to fall, it's up to newly-licensed PI Kristin Van Dijk and her cantankerous partner Otis Millett to confront dangerous Beaumont gangsters, prying Dallas cops, slick crooked lawyers, and a buxom waitress who smells like Evening in Paris. Baby Shark Kristin doesn't have much time for shooting pool these days, but she's become adept at shooting the bad guys, and does her fair share of it in this book. She's a few years out from the horrific assault she suffered in BABY SHARK, and has come into her own as a sharp-witted, fairly well-trained private investigator. Most of their cases involve tailing unfaithful spouses and seldom anything more dangerous than taking a few pictures. Then Kristin and Otis are assigned the task of rescuing a local teenage heiress who stands at the threshold of inheriting a sizable fortune – if she can make it to her 18th birthday. The partners find themselves embroiled in a perplexing mystery where each clue leads them in a different direction and into the bad graces of a powerful Texas gangster with a violent reputation. Fate's clear, fluid writing style pulls you right into the story, and I continue to be amazed at how masterfully he captures the point of view of Kristin, our not quite 20-year-old heroine. She's smart, slick and sexy, but not a superhero. She endures physical injury at the hands of the various thugs she encounters, is shot at, stabbed, and nearly blown up, and still manages to miss her murdered father and find romance with a charming police detective. Kristin's original mentors – Henry, Sarge and Albert – are not an integral part of this second book, though their influence can still be felt, whenever Kristin pulls a gun or a knife on an enemy and her training subconsciously kicks in. Quick in both her thinking and movement, Baby Shark does her best work under threat of danger, and at her most relaxed she is thoroughly human, charmingly vulnerable and surprisingly feminine. When a spectacular book like BABY SHARK hits the circuit, there is always that undercurrent of uncertainty that accompanies a sequel, the first being a tough act to follow, that question of whether the second will measure up to the lofty standards set by its predecessor. BABY SHARK'S BEAUMONT BLUES achieves that standard and then some. This is a series worth watching from a writer with unlimited talent.
Reviewed by J. B. Thompson, January 2007
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
| 
