- Hardcover: 256 pages
- Publisher: CARROLL & GRAF PUBLISHERS (April 2 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0786711639
- ISBN-13: 978-0786711635
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 15.5 x 1 cm
- Shipping Weight: 544 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,148,517 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Shannon's superb sixth book (after 2002's Streets of Fire) to feature L.A. PI Jack Liffey explores the complicated ethnic mix of Los Angeles's Iranian community. Hired by psychiatrist Dicky Auslander to find his missing teenage daughter, Rebecca, who disappeared with four Iranian boys from an exclusive private school, Liffey learns a lot about this virtually invisible minority while discovering dangerous links to a fanatic Muslim sheik and a brutal Mexican drug family. Liffey is also forced to take a hard look at himself-part of the condition of his employment being regular sessions with Rebecca's father. Just dumped by his longtime ladyfriend, who became a born-again Christian, and not allowed to see his own teenage daughter, Maeve, because of unpaid child support, Liffey finds himself even more lost and depressed than ever, breaking into tears at inappropriate moments. He's somewhat consoled by two promising new women he meets during the course of the investigation, and Maeve's mother eventually relents and lets Maeve both help and hinder Jack in the search for the missing teens. Liffey also has to shoulder a lot of physical pain in the course of his search-though Shannon is shrewd enough to lighten the reader's load with a sharply observed gallery of pompous adults and touching children. As his fans well know, reading a Jack Liffey novel is no day at the beach. But then again, neither is life in Southern California.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* With his sixth Jack Liffey book, Shannon's series is still on an upward trajectory. When college friend Dicky Auslander's daughter goes missing, Auslander, now a self-important psychologist, retains Liffey on the condition that he undergo therapy during case updates--mutual friends have tipped the shrink that the detective's life is not going so well. Liffey sort of agrees and finds the daughter's absence may be tied to that of four prep-school Persian Americans who have taken the first steps toward militancy in the name of Islam. As if that's not enough, a link to money stolen from Mexican drug lords leads Liffey into dangerous territory south of the border. The middle-aged gumshoe also struggles to solve problems presented by his own headstrong daughter--who has made Liffey & Liffey business cards--and the mysteries of his own heart after his latest breakup. Between crime-solving and parenting dilemmas, Shannon offers sage ruminations on belief, belonging, and responsibility. Liffey is a terrific character--smart, funny, sad, and a keen observer of social strata and the world at large. His journey after the truth is realistically messy, and we're with him every step of the way. If only all mystery novels were this good. Keir Graff
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Powerful, emotionally moving. This is a good one,
By booksforabuck "BooksForABuck" (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: City Of Strangers: A Jack Liffey Mystery (Hardcover)
Since losing his job as an aerospace engineer, Jack Liffey has become something of a specialist in finding missing children. So, when an old school acquaintance asks him to find his missing daughter, Liffey is happy to help out--even if the acquaintance insists on reports and psychological analysis (he's a psychologist). The missing daughter was associated with four Persian-american high school boys, also missing. It doesn't seem like an especially difficult case, although the arrival of an FBI agent gives Liffey a hint that things are going to get difficult. Liffey's investigation takes him from Los Angeles to Mexican border towns, involves Arabic terrorists, terrorizing Mexican drug dealers, and layers of government corruption, lies, and secrets. As always, Liffey finds a portion of what he is looking for--and a lot more. Persian-American student Fariborz Bayat plays a major role in helping Liffey and, through Liffey, gains a deeper understanding of his humanity, his relationship with Islam, and his moral senses. Author John Shannon has created a powerful and complex character in Jack Liffey. His love for his daughter, philosophical approach to the world, anguish over his erratic sexual performance, and tough moral code make him both admirable and approachable. As a reader, I'm not sure I would like Liffey, but I am sure I would want to have him on my side. Shannon knows that moral questions can be tough, that an assurance of righteousness is often the mask of evil, and that goodness exists outside of the arbitrary whim of a God--but he conveys his message through story rather than through artifice. CITY OF STRANGERS is a powerful and emotionally moving story. I highly recommend it.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another great Jack Liffey book from John Shannon,
By ktc001 (Martinez, CA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: City Of Strangers: A Jack Liffey Mystery (Hardcover)
I loved this book! John Shannon combines great plot, great characters, and a social conscience in a thriller noir style mystery. The plot is fairly complex and covers a lot of ground - racism, class bias, the divisions among arabs and persians, terrorism, dirty bombs, drug smuggling, divorced parenting, car trouble, and raising a teenage girl. Some diaglogue borders on didactic, but still engrossing. The setting is LA grungy, very realistic. If you like your thrillers with some gravity to them, you'll like this book. I can't wait to read the next one.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ya Gotta Love Jack Liffey!,
By Rapid Reader (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: City Of Strangers: A Jack Liffey Mystery (Hardcover)
Here's another great book from John Shannon! It's full of contempory issues such as dirty bombs and Arab Islamic terrorists. As well as covering Los Angeles scenes, which Shannon does better than anyone else I've read, he takes us across the border for a danger-filled visit to Mexico, complete with a vicious drug lord. Jack Liffey gets pretty beaten up this time, but he encounters a couple of interesting new women to ease the pain. He survives it all with courage and integrity intact and with a little help from his daughter Maeve, who seems to be more involved in keeping him alive as the books go on. It was such an engaging story that I could hardly put it down! I'm eager for the next book so I can find out which little corners of L.A., ethnic groups, and social issues, the multi-dimensional Jack Liffey will deal with as he and "Sancho Panza" Maeve drift around my city.
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