Streets on Fire: A Jack Liffey Mystery [Hardcover]

John Shannon (Author)

Book Description

Series: Otto Penzler Books | Publication Date: April 10, 2002

In the gripping fifth novel of what the Philadelphia Inquirer calls a “lean and literate” crime series, Jack Liffey—the rough-edged, compassionate private detective who garners even more enthusiastic reviews and fans with each new case—once again searches the volatile and dangerous ethnic communities buried in the urban sprawl of Los Angeles for another of the city’s mysteriously lost. This time out, Liffey is looking for a prominent 1960s civil rights campaigner’s adopted son, who has gone suspiciously missing in the wake of an unsettling run-in with a motorcycle gang at a local jazz club. The whole city is unsettled, in fact, by the choke-hold death of Abdullah-Ibrahim—a black Muslim and the Dodgers’ new ace spitball pitcher—at the hands of the L.A. police. In the course of his investigation, Liffey runs afoul of skinheads, white supremacists, and black separatists. He also confronts his own latent racism before the city erupts into the full-fledged civil riot that could cost Liffey his life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The specter of racial armageddon raises its ugly head in this extended diatribe that's more racial polemic than mystery novel, the fifth Jack Liffey caper after 2001's acclaimed The Orange Curtain. Shannon's rough-edged private dick is searching the L.A. streets for Amilcar Davis, the adopted son of a noted black civil rights activist of the '60s. Amilcar and his white girlfriend (from Simi Valley, so Shannon can drag in the Rodney King affair) have been missing since a run-in with a motorcycle gang. Even more ominously, the city is bracing for a racial confrontation since the choke-hold death of a prominent Black Muslim in a violent imbroglio with police. The result, not surprisingly, is a full-scale riot, from which Liffey barely escapes with his life. The author isn't much concerned with crime solving that's basically an afterthought what he's interested in doing is stirring up the pot. To do this, he tediously and irrelevantly mixes everything skinheads, the Christian Right, white supremacists and black separatists into an indigestible porridge with little regard for racial equanimity or, indeed, for truth. It goes far beyond mere didacticism: the tone is hysterical, the outcome preordained and unbelievable. (The only worthwhile diatribe is one against the long-forgotten Dr. Wertham, the Freudian psychologist who went after Batman and Robin in the '50s for being gay.) Critics have likened Shannon to Raymond Chandler, but based on this poorly plotted performance, he doesn't rate comparison with the forgotten Harry Stephen Keeler.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The Orange Curtain, Shannon's fifth Jack Liffey novel, garnered high praise from critics and drew readers' attention to an intelligent and literate hard-boiled crime series. In his sixth outing, Liffey, a former aerospace worker who tracks missing children for a living, has been hired by Bancroft Davis, a prominent black civil rights leader of the 1960s, to find Davis's missing adopted son and his white girlfriend, who disappeared after a run-in with a skinhead motorcycle gang. While Liffey's search takes him to reactionary Simi Valley, home to some white supremacist groups, the rest of Los Angeles is caught in a wave of unrest, stirred by the brutal police attack (shades of Rodney King) on Abdullah-Ibrahim, a black Muslim and the new star pitcher for the Dodgers. Unbeknownst to Liffey, his teenage daughter, Maeve, decides to play Nancy Drew (having just discovered the books) by also looking for the missing pair. Although the plot lines don't run as seamlessly as in the previous book, Shannon's latest is still full of memorable, fully rounded characters and richly detailed scenes of L.A. life at its most strange and bizarre. Strongly recommended. Wilda Williams, "Library Journal"
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf; 1st Carrol & Graf Ed edition (April 10, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786710187
• ISBN-13: 978-0786710188
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,870,914 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Once again, brilliant!, April 14, 2002

By 

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

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This review is from: Streets on Fire: A Jack Liffey Mystery (Hardcover)

I have to shake my head in bemusement at the pure venom of the Publishers Weekly review. Clearly, the reviewer had an agenda, and he vented at John Shannon's expense in what is not any sort of recognizable review but a misinformed tirade. Having been subjected myself to similar tirades (and having shaken my head in bemusement over those, too) I cannot say I'm surprised, just merely dismayed.

John Shannon has written yet another exceptional entry in the Jack Liffey series--which is not so much a traditional mystery as it is an extension of a formidable array of character studies. The author has an extraordinary feel for the inner lives of young people and he writes about them with insight and never-faltering respect.

Jack looks for missing children. And along the way, with dark humor, a certain touching fatalism, and an eye for the endless apocalyptic glimpses of life in Los Angeles (a man juggling sundry power tools, all of them turned on; two boys tap-dancing in the midst of a riot), he introduces us to an ever-fascinating view of well-drawn, heartfelt characters. In Streets on Fire, there are so many splendidly real characters--even the villains are well above stereotype--that it's difficult to single any one of them out for acknowledgment. But my personal favorite in this cast is the eleven-year-old Ornetta, a born story-teller who believes in the magic of her talisman (which, incredibly, is a crack vial that belonged to her mother). Liffey's daughter Maeve, who comes into her own in this book, teams with Ornetta in a climactic scene that is wrenching and powerful, as the two girls struggle with a wheelbarrow bearing Maeve's injured father, making their way through the riot-riven streets of the city, trying to get Liffey to a hospital. Ultimately, a potent couple comes to the aid of the two girls, only to find themselves pursued by a massive pack of dogs. This pack is the metaphor within the metaphor that illustrates what can happen when the tamed are suddenly set free to do what they will. And what they will do, too often, is madly, randomly violent.

I loved this book. It speaks volumes about the inherent goodness and evil that reside in the hearts of the people all around us, and makes clear the simple truth that, "Doing the right thing is never a mystery."

Streets on Fire has my highest recommendation.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Heart Pounding, June 11, 2004

By 

Untouchable (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Streets on Fire: A Jack Liffey Mystery (Hardcover)

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.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Emotionally gripping adventure, May 20, 2002

By 

booksforabuck "BooksForABuck" (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Streets on Fire: A Jack Liffey Mystery (Hardcover)

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.