Baby Shark's Jugglers at the Border Book Review

Robert Fate's Series Continues to Deliver Action-Packed Excellence

Aug 6, 2009

P.I. Kristin Van Dijk, a.k.a. Baby Shark, returns in Fate's fourth book. This time Kristin and her partner, Otis Millett, investigate a murder that hits close to home.

Kristin Van Dijk was just nineteen when her father was murdered in a pool hall fight gone wrong. Kristin herself was beaten and gang raped. After a year spent being nursed back to health by Henry, the hall’s Chinese owner, Kristin emerged as Baby Shark, a pool hustler with deadly skill hell bent on revenge (Baby Shark, Capital Crime Press, September 2006).

Over three subsequent books, Kristin has remained lethal with both gun and knife and has teamed up with Fort Worth private eye Otis Millett, a former cop who still cuts an intimidating figure in his fifties. Set in 1950s Texas, the Baby Shark series has garnered Fate two nominations for the Anthony Award, one of crime fiction’s most prestigious honors. Jugglers at the Border, Baby Shark’s fourth adventure, is due to be released next month.

When Otis's estranged wife, Dixie (or The Dallas Firecracker, as she was known on the Texas striptease circuit), is murdered, it spurs a manhunt that pairs Kristin and Otis with Lt. Carl Lynch, a straight-arrow homicide detective with the Fort Worth PD. This blending of by-the-book and fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants investigative styles brings Kristin way too close to a ruthless cop-killing gang of bank robbers and their boss, a dreamy maniac who lives with his mother and hears voices.

The question that endangers Kristin's life and leads to a chase from Fort Worth to New Mexico is where did Dixie hide the bank heist loot? In Jugglers at the Border, the fourth book of Fate’s popular series, once again bad men learn too late they should have taken Baby Shark seriously.

‘Prose and Cons’ and Sides Unseen

Fate’s writing is nearly as lethal as Baby Shark herself. His flawless, sparse prose delivers tense action in thrilling bursts. But what makes this series unique is that Fate tells Kristin’s story from her own point of view. It’s terrific, because seeing the bad guys through Kristin’s eyes – or sights, as the case may be – brings them to life in a way that satisfyingly chills the spine.

Jugglers at the Border is no different. Manuel (Manny) Martin, Dixie’s killer, is a first-rate sociopath, and both Otis and Kristin are set on sentencing him and his coldblooded gang to their own brand of justice. In typical Baby Shark fashion, there is a lot of gunfire and a lot of blood, but just like in the first three books, there’s also an underlying, more personal perspective.

Otis doesn’t normally share much about his past, but when Lt. Lynch calls him to identify Dixie’s body, his estranged wife’s former life is plastered all over the newspapers, and Otis becomes a bit of a celebrity. He doesn’t let his newfound fame deter him from his goal, however, and he and Kristin embark on a journey across West Texas and into New Mexico to catch a killer and find out what Dixie did with the money.

The answer is a pleasant surprise. From one page to the next it’s not always clear what’s going to happen, and there is nothing remotely predictable about the outcome of this story. Robert Fate definitely has a way with words, and this series just keeps getting better and better.

The copyright of the article Baby Shark's Jugglers at the Border Book Review in Mystery/Crime Fiction is owned by Jennifer Thompson. Permission to republish Baby Shark's Jugglers at the Border Book Review in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.