Customer Reviews

Streets on Fire: A Jack Liffey Mystery

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

"Streets on Fire" was a fun read with localized flavor and strong characterization. It was probably oversold as linked to "motorcycle" books due to its "motorcycle gang" angle with the backdrop of the Compton, L.A. riots, but I'm glad I read it and would buy another of Shannon's books.....with about a 6 month hiatus ..... Like many fun reads, certain cowboy or detective books come to mind, they are always more enjoyable when interspersed with other, totally different, books....with my memory, I can then "rediscover" Shannon as a writer, if not "Streets on Fire" again, and while away another enjoyable evening or two.

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.

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.

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.

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.

With "Streets on Fire" John Shannon delivers another winning book, as entertaining a read as anything he's done, despite his audacity in throwing some relevant political content into the mix. I have to agree with Charlotte Vale Allen's bewilderment at the vitriol in the PW review--does a genre book have to be witlessly apolitical to be worth a reader's time and effort?

With each new Jack Liffey book, Shannon seems to go from strength to strength. I found STREETS ON FIRE even more gripping than its predecessors, as Liffey feels the heat of LA's troubled race relations. As usual he finds himself in all kinds of trouble, both personal and public, with little more than his own unflinching honesty to fall back on. And as usual, Shannon uncovers new layers of the vast and endlessly quirky city that he is making distinctively his own. Like his forebears Chandler and Ross Macdonald, Shannon combines a ruefully affectionate eye for the details of Californian life with a more trenchant vision of American society. Yet in the midst of the tension and mayhem, and the stunted personalities who reflect America's discordant history, we also meet characters who touch us with their creativity, courage, and generosity under fire. I believe that with each new book Shannon's Los Angeles is growing into one of the most fully imagined urban environments in contemporary fiction.