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There are very few books that I read these days that take my breath away -- but Robert Fate's BABY SHARK is one of them. It's certainly the best book I've read this year, and possibly one of the best I've ever read. That may sound like overblown hype, but believe me, this is an amazing debut. Kristin Van Dijk is a 17-year-old nomad -- on the road of life with her father, Marvin Van Dijk. He is an existential hero to his daughter, a philosopher, a grifter, a pool shark. He takes Kristin with him from pool hall to pool hall, covering Texas, making money bilking others. One night in Henry Chin's pool hall, it all goes terribly wrong. A biker gang erupts in violence, killing Kristin's father and Henry's son. Kristin is horrifically raped and beaten, and the bikers leave both Henry and Kristin for dead, burning down the hall around them. Kristin and Henry recover, both scarred for life in visible and invisible ways. Henry, a Chinese American, takes Kristin into his home, where they plan their revenge and heal. She re-emerges as Baby Shark, a talented pool hustler, trained in the ways of death. This is a story of love and revenge, of acceptance and deceit. The setting of this story is Texas in the 50s, a time when young women who run into 'trouble' are outcast or shamed into silence. As Baby Shark so eloquently and painfully puts it, "Not so many years ago I would have been called Soiled Dove instead of Baby Shark." Instead, Baby Shark finds herself, buried in the rubble of her soul. The desolate beauty of Texas is a character unto itself. The people who populate Fate's book are so finely drawn they leap off the page. Add to that Fate's command of spare, devastating language -- all combine to make BABY SHARK a must read. To say much more would ruin this amazing title.
Reviewed by J. T. Ellison, August 2006
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