Rating: 
Summary: Shannon Flows As Strongly As Ever
Review: Apocalypses of all sorts--from earthquakes to toxic clouds--frame the vision of
Los Angeles shown in the blunt and brilliant crime novels of John Shannon, so
when his Jack Liffey notices "dark columns of smoke rising up and then shearing
off westward at several points in South Central, offerings unacceptable to the
gods" quite early in this fifth book in the series, you know that fiery hell is soon to
break loose. Michael Connelly's best-selling L.A. cop is named after painter Hieronymus
Bosch, but Shannon's backgrounds are straight out of Goya: savagely sardonic
comments on the quirks of life. Watching a parade of blacks protesting police
brutality, Liffey is amazed to see the marchers suddenly break step and execute
a perfect pair of Zulu war kicks. "Even here in the world of cell phones and MTV,
the Zulu strut carried a kind of bizarre menace, as if thrusting onlookers into a
dimension where ordinary defenses might not work." Liffey, who specializes in finding missing children, knows from the start that the
two lost young people he has been hired to trace this time are almost certainly
dead: The black college student and his white girlfriend have disappeared after a
run-in with a racist motorcycle gang called the Bone Losers--so far down on the
mental food chain that they can't even spell their chosen name right. But the
young man is the adopted, much-loved son of a famous activist couple in South
Central, and Liffey's detective friend Ivan Monk (on loan from Gary Phillips'
excellent series) recommends Liffey for the job. The search is anything but straightforward, especially when another adopted
child--heartbreakingly lonely and articulate--points out to Liffey that the missing
white girl might be the key. Shannon steers his detective through minefields of
Christian white supremacists and black nationalists with a great deal of angst but
also a surprising amount of wry humor: "He didn't think he had ever before gotten himself into a situation quite as
ludicrous as this: a white man in an old VW with Rustoleum red fenders parked in
the heart of a full-bore riot in a black area to defend a black man from other white
men who were--perhaps--sneaking up on the neighborhood. It was like zebras
trying to slip into the middle of a high school prom to stage a duel."
Rating:
Summary: Shannon Flows As Strongly As Ever
Review: Apocalypses of all sorts--from earthquakes to toxic clouds--frame the vision of
Los Angeles shown in the blunt and brilliant crime novels of John Shannon, so
when his Jack Liffey notices "dark columns of smoke rising up and then shearing
off westward at several points in South Central, offerings unacceptable to the
gods" quite early in this fifth book in the series, you know that fiery hell is soon to
break loose. Michael Connelly's best-selling L.A. cop is named after painter Hieronymus
Bosch, but Shannon's backgrounds are straight out of Goya: savagely sardonic
comments on the quirks of life. Watching a parade of blacks protesting police
brutality, Liffey is amazed to see the marchers suddenly break step and execute
a perfect pair of Zulu war kicks. "Even here in the world of cell phones and MTV,
the Zulu strut carried a kind of bizarre menace, as if thrusting onlookers into a
dimension where ordinary defenses might not work." Liffey, who specializes in finding missing children, knows from the start that the
two lost young people he has been hired to trace this time are almost certainly
dead: The black college student and his white girlfriend have disappeared after a
run-in with a racist motorcycle gang called the Bone Losers--so far down on the
mental food chain that they can't even spell their chosen name right. But the
young man is the adopted, much-loved son of a famous activist couple in South
Central, and Liffey's detective friend Ivan Monk (on loan from Gary Phillips'
excellent series) recommends Liffey for the job. The search is anything but straightforward, especially when another adopted
child--heartbreakingly lonely and articulate--points out to Liffey that the missing
white girl might be the key. Shannon steers his detective through minefields of
Christian white supremacists and black nationalists with a great deal of angst but
also a surprising amount of wry humor: "He didn't think he had ever before gotten himself into a situation quite as
ludicrous as this: a white man in an old VW with Rustoleum red fenders parked in
the heart of a full-bore riot in a black area to defend a black man from other white
men who were--perhaps--sneaking up on the neighborhood. It was like zebras
trying to slip into the middle of a high school prom to stage a duel."
Rating:
Summary: My new favorite author
Review: I have been reading John Shannon's Jack Liffey series with increasing excitement - at last, an author who dives headfirst into the complicated and emotionally-charged issues of race and politics, and at the same time writes a hell of a good story. His characters are unique and completely believable. If you love a great story, and are tired of superficial portraits of urban life, I highly recommend a strong dose of Jack Liffey.
Rating: 
Summary: Heart Pounding
Review: In the 5th book of the Jack Liffey series, John Shannon has created dual plots that start off as two completely separate incidents, but become extremely significant to each other and to the outcome of the story. His control of these plots is very effective, never letting one storyline take over the other. Instead, he just reminds us occasionally that there is "another danger" out there. Jack Liffey is an unofficial private detective who specialises in finding missing children. In this case, the plot that has Liffey's attention is an investigation into the disappearance of a black boy and his white girlfriend. There is a strong suggestion that their disappearance may have something to do with an earlier altercation with a bike gang. In the course of his investigation, Liffey crosses paths with the aforementioned bike gang, has a major run-in with an unusual but extremely dangerous religious group and meets Ornetta, the delightful shining light of the story. Ornetta is an 11-year-old girl who has an incredible gift for storytelling. She steals every scene in which she appears, which is fortunately many. The wider storyline running in parallel to the Liffey focus is a wave of rioting that has broken out throughout L.A. on the back of the knocking unconscious of a black baseball star by a member of the LAPD. The riots are triggered when the officer involved is acquitted of any wrongdoing. The ongoing riots play a major part in the story as Liffey is caught up in them in a desperate race against time while crossing from one side of the city to the other. A much larger role in this book compared to earlier books is given to Maeve, Jack's 15 year old daughter. She has been a fringe character up until STREETS ON FIRE, merely providing a poignant side story that highlights their mutual affection for one another. Two events take place that brings Maeve to her father's place and into his investigation. The first is a run-in with her stepfather and the second is the discovery of her mother's old Nancy Drew books. She moves in with her father and gets the idea that she could try her hand at detective work a la Nancy Drew. While the results are predictable, it gives us an opportunity to get to know her better and it cements the bond between father and daughter even more than it was originally. An instant friendship forms between Maeve and Ornetta that becomes an incredibly strong bond between two the girls who swear blood-sisterhood with each other. I felt their love and friendship was on of the strongest parts of the book, providing a counterpoint to the hate that Jack Liffey was fighting. It was inevitable that the girls are involved in the climax to the book, giving us someone to care about and then putting their lives at risk. From a quiet start, this story builds in intensity as the unrest around the city grows and finally explodes cutting across the investigation that Jack Liffey conducts. The ending is highly charged, heart in mouth action. Overall, it's a detective story that takes us deeper into the personal life of Jack Liffey causing me to care about him and his family even more.
Rating: 
Summary: Why the Kids?
Review: It's well written and literate, but its passive protagonist and children as heroes/victims just don't engage the reader. Why are these kids wandering around the middle of an urban riot? How does our hero so easily find a child stolen by bikers, who really aren't so bad after all?
Rating:
Summary: Another Liffey Winner
Review: John Shannon has done it again--kept me up till the wee hours, then had me dead on my feet at work the next day. But I just couldn't put Streets of Fire down, and it wasn't simply because the book is an edge-of-the-chair-page-turner--which it is. But beyond that I became intensely concerned about what would happen to Maeve and Ornetta--and to Jack Liffey, of course, but that was secondary. I always count on Liffey mysteries for substance as well as plot, and here I was not disappointed. No writer does a more skilled job of depicting the way L. A. class and cultural complexities work themselves into any given situation. I loved this book and hope for another Liffey mystery soon--despite what it will do to my workday.
Rating:
Summary: Jack Liffey is hot!
Review: Once again we are treated to tales of urban L.A. with all its warts & diamonds, through the eyes of the intriguing Jack Liffey.
This book has a backdrop of the real stuff, including racial unrest & folks who rise above it, which only adds to the engaging plot. Daughter Maeve & her new friend young Ornetta play important roles, & Shannon's ability to portray kids makes it even more special to read. This is my hometown & I love the way Shannon writes about it! I learn new things about L.A. with each Jack Liffey adventure.
Rating:
Summary: Jack Liffey is hot!
Review: Once again we are treated to tales of urban L.A. with all its warts & diamonds, through the eyes of the intriguing Jack Liffey.
This book has a backdrop of the real stuff, including racial unrest & folks who rise above it, which only adds to the engaging plot. Daughter Maeve & her new friend young Ornetta play important roles, & Shannon's ability to portray kids makes it even more special to read. This is my hometown & I love the way Shannon writes about it! I learn new things about L.A. with each Jack Liffey adventure.
Rating:
Summary: Jack Liffey, Existentialist Gumshoe
Review: Streets on Fire. What's all the controversy about? This is a great book that elevates the mystery genre. It challenges, provokes, and informs the reader. One will not find a better rendering of the contemporary L.A. landscape anywhere. The plot is well-known by now: Jack Liffey, existentialist gumshoe, sets out to find two missing college students against a backdrop of heightening racial tension. And he winds up in a wheelbarrow, where suspense and absurdity mix in equal parts. This book is inventive, funny, and socially redemptive. Any fan of mysteries, Los Angeles, and American history should not miss it.
Rating:
Summary: Emotionally gripping adventure
Review: When a young interracial couple vanishes, private detective Jack Liffey is hired to investigate. It isn't a good time for Jack--he's worried about his girlfriend and his daughter, and it isn't a good time for Los Angeles, racked by racial tension and riot, but Liffey goes to work. The police and even the FBI have muddied the waters but the missing man's niece gives him his biggest clue. Now if Liffey can stay along long enough, he may learn the truth. Unfortunately for him, staying alive is difficult when a well armed and determined group of Christian extremists are after you. Author John Shannon delivers an emotionally compelling and satisfying mystery. Liffey's attempts at detection are bounded at one side by his daughter's attempts to help--which end up creating any father's ultimate nightmare--and at the other by the riots that threaten to send Los Angeles into flames. Clinging to his much abused moral code, Liffey must survive both white extremists and African-American gang bangers. Shannon brings a left-wing slant to his writing, but this doesn't keep him from delivering an exciting and fast-paced adventure.
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