Cracked Earth (Jack Liffey Mystery) [Paperback]

John Shannon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1999 | Series: Jack Liffey Mystery

Her name is Lori Bright. You might remember seeing her in A Weekend in Palm Springs, lounging enticingly in the bathtub while an aging and flustered Cary Grant tries to find her a suitably revealing towel.

Jack Liffey remembers, and even now he can't help but fall for her a little. The problem is she's paying him good money to locate her missing daughter -- a case that's about to wrap Jack up in the seedy violence of the old City of Angels...

Product Details

• Paperback: 275 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (February 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425167321
• ISBN-13: 978-0425167328
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,774,144 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Liffey proves that Shannon has to be Chandler reincarnated, December 25, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Cracked Earth (Jack Liffey Mystery) (Paperback)

Former Hollywood star Lori Bright hires private investigator Jack Liffey to locate her missing fifteen year old daughter Lee Borowsky. Lori shows Jack a fax of a ransom note demanding $50,000 and no cops. Jack notices that Lori is not in the least bit concerned over her daughter's safety and in fact thinks Lee might have sent the note as a hoax.

Before he begins the investigation, two law enforcement officials follow Jack, who goes over to confront them. He learns little from them and continues his sleuthing at the Taunten School, attended by Lee. To his surprise, neither the students nor the faculty seem worried for Lee's health. Jack learns that Lee apparently is an expert synthesiac as she actually hears colors and sees sounds. As he gets closer to his prey, Jack finds himself trapped between the various layers of the underbelly of Los Angeles and if the money was not so good, he would walk out of this case.

The heir apparent to the Los Angeles scene of Raymond Chandler has finally arrived with the talent of John Shannon. His novels catch the beat of the city as he energizes his characters with a remarkable and gritty reality. The latest Jack Liffey novel is a great who-done-it because LA has rarely been seen in a more intriguing light. Anyone who tries THE CRACKED EARTH will relish the other works of Mr. Liffey, a rising star.

Harriet Klausner

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much More than a Whodunnit!, March 25, 2000

By 

Ralph Block (Westlake Village, California USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Cracked Earth (Jack Liffey Mystery) (Paperback)

John Shannon has proven to be a master at crime fiction, as he develops his characters with sympathy and understanding. Those who are interested primarily in chases and mayhem may not find this book worthwhile, but those who appreciate character development, humor and intelligence in a novel will very much enjoy it. I'm looking forward to reading other books by John Shannon.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The view from the epicenter, September 30, 2001

By 

Charlotte Vale-Allen (CT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cracked Earth (Jack Liffey Mystery) (Paperback)

Shannon's Jack Liffey is an extraordinary creation. This is the third of the four books in the series that I've read (I'm saving the fourth one as a treat for a gray day) and I'm coming to know Liffey as a classically conflicted fellow who likes women a little too much, who hates little rat-like dogs but treasures children (even respects them) and whose view of the Los Angeles lifescape is apocalyptic. Liffey is an unlikely, even reluctant hero who does the right thing because it's the only way he knows how to proceed. His dealings with young people demonstrate great sympathy for their posturings, their inner turmoil, their desire for independence and status, and for their fears.

His search for film star Lori Bright's daughter has him crossing paths with some truly fascinating characters: the Jamaican, Terror, who has a use for ginger beer that I will remember every time I open a bottle for the rest of my life; the computer geeks, both abled and disabled, who snake through the bowels of cyberspace in a state of glee; and the everpresent Marlena whose love is a warm, swampy place where Liffey periodically seeks comfort.

The world of Los Angeles, according to Liffey, is in perpetual chaos. Each book in the series shows random acts of natural or human mayhem (a man painted purple being taken into custody); shocks and aftershocks heaving cars and their passengers into terror and states of diminishing reason. The metaphor, in Shannon's hands, is a powerful tool. His books are never merely sequential, connect-the-dots mysteries but are broader, larger comments on how people have come to accept the bizarre as the norm. Shannon is the philosopher king of the mystery forum. And long may he reign.