Shark Fin Soup-Susan Klaus

Shark Fin Soup

Susan Klaus

Oceanview, Aug 19 2014, $26.95

ISBN 9781608091232

Christian and Allie Roberts enjoy sailing the Caribbean on their sloop Catalina.  While near the Bahamas, Christian becomes irate when he observes fishermen illegally mass murdering sharks.  He upsets them when he challenges what they are doing and threatens to expose them to the authorities; they retaliate by killing Allie.

Filled with remorse that he provoked the incident that led to his beloved wife’s death, he is well aware FBI Agent Dave Wheeler believes depressed Christian killed his wife.  Initially turning to drugs and booze to numb his anguish; Christian eventually snaps out of his stupor when he remembers Allie’s last words: “save the sharks.”  Though still downloaded with guilt, grieving Christian begins his quest to honor his late mate’s deathbed wish though well aware the growing demand for shark-fin soup makes success unlikely.  To pay homage to his spouse, the widower believes he owes it to her to try; so as Captain Nemo he terrorizes those terrorizing the diminishing shark population.

The second Christian Roberts thriller (see Secretariat Reborn) is an intriguing cautionary ecological tale in which Susan Klaus warns that the exponential growing demand for Shark Fin Soup trends towards species extinction and consequently destroying critical habitats, reefs.  With the shocking beginning leading to the protagonist becoming a born again eco-terrorist, readers will relish his over the top of The Great Barrier Reef efforts to save the sharks.

Harriet Klausner