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.

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.

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.

A Michael Connelly endorsement led me to this one.

I simply either didn't get it or didn't like it...probably a combination of both.

I found it too dark, depressing, bleak, unfun and almost hopeless. I love the LA crime novels of Michael Connelly, Raymond Chandler and Robert Crais, but this was "too out there" for me.

Seeing all the five star reviews made me wonder if I was missing something. But, most of them are from California folks. So maybe it wasn't meant for me in the first place. Perhaps one needs to have the California experience to appreciate this. In any event this Florida reader didn't enjoy it.

John Shannon is gutsy. He's decided to show all of us mystery readers that the genre can be expanded in multi-dimensional ways. Pushed out of its comfortable confines, and layered to include social history, economic and environmental awareness, and human drama. Less of a "Who Dunnit?" than a "Why Dunnit?" and a fun read. Sure, it's weird, noir, existential fun. But that's L.A.

In the third of what I hope is a long, long series, Jack Liffey is trying to find a missing kid. A cult scene, corporate corruption, and a disaster that has something to do with the book's title get in his way, as do sad, but true traffic jams caused by grand pianos and dead Guernsey bulls. Just another day in Paradise.

Shannon may swear "I am not making this up," wink, wink, nod, nod. And the cool thing is that most of the time, he isn't.

If you're looking for a new mystery series to sink your teeth into, check out John Shannon's Jack Liffey books. Like the previous two, this one has all the ingredients that, in my view, make for a wonderful read in this genre. There is a multi-layered case that has Liffey, finder of kids who are lost in more ways than one, mired in yet another of the seamy communities that roil behind the glitzy facade of Los Angeles; memorable characters; and a well-crafted story that involves religious freaks, industrial poison and corporate corruption. How can you go wrong! I'm eagerly awaiting the next installment.

I was very surprised when I ordered this book and found out that yes, indeed, it was merely a very tiny portion of what I had expected. I suppose I should have known from the price, but the description (at least at that time) did not make it clear that it wasn't the entire dictionary.

While this may be a very thorough source for the words it covers, it should be noted in the basic information that this is ONLY 128 pages of a 15,000 page work. The description above is very misleading.

itz a dictionary. what more can i say