Dangerous Games

by John Shannon

Book Overview

Jack Liffey's new girlfriend, Gloria Martinez, a police sergeant of Paiute-Latino heritage, talks him into looking into the disappearance of her beautiful 18-year-old niece, Luisa, from a tiny... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 078671543X
• ISBN13: 9780786715435
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf Publishers
• Length: 248 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Strong addition to excellent Jack Liffey series

It startd out as just another run-away investigation. A pretty Paiute girl, sick of her life on the reservation, heads to Hollywood hoping to make it rich in the sex trade. Private detective Jack Lifey won't make her go home to the abuse she faced there, but he does want to talk to her, make sure she's following her own plans. The invetigation is only one of Jack's problems. His daughter is shot in a drive-by shooting, his girlfriend police detective Gloria Ramirez is havin problems with their relationship and Jack can't seem to get away with his impossible wish to save everyone, even if they don't want to be saved. Author John Shannon writes a moving tale that goes far beyond a simple mystery. Jack Lifey is a perfect everyman, but also a man who maintains his hope no matter what. The Los Angeles setting comes to life, whether Jack is patrolling the lowest sewers of the porn business or visiting the homes of the elite in Malibu or nearby Rancho Mirage. Fans of Jack Lifey will want to grab DANGEROUS GAME fast. If you're new to John Shannon, you're in for a treat

Outstanding Mystery!

Whether you're someone who has followed Jack Liffey from his first appearance in print, or a lucky reader who just found this mystery series, you are sure to become a lasting fan. John Shannon brings this character to life with creative writing excellence. Readers are not only caught up in the life and loves of Jack Liffey and his daughter, Maeve, but are colorfully transported in each John Shannon novel through the historic streets of the greater Los Angeles area. This latest John Shannon thriller, "Dangerous Games," keeps the reader emotionally involved from the first chapter through to the exciting end of the read. Don't miss this book. It is John Shannon's best, so far.

Shannon captures L.A.

First and foremost, Shannon's "Dangerous Games" is a good story well told. The relationships among the ongoing cast of characters continue to unfold around a plot that accelerates to a satisfying conclusion. Equally importantly, Shannon captures the complexity and contradictions of Los Angeles in a way few writers have. He sees what an ugly and shallow place it can be, and yet still clearly loves it. He recognizes what a magnet it is to the rootless, yet is grounded in its history. He understands what a sprawling megalopolis this place is, yet knows that most of us live in neighborhoods, each with its own character. And, he understands the effects the climate and topography have on our lives. The final scenes, for example, are set in the middle of a Santa Ana condition, so that the edgy danger of the winds and even the color and light in the sky almost become characters themselves. A good story with a strong sense of place. If you're in L.A. read it before October, when the Santa Anas kick in.

Loving Liffey

John Shannon has given us a wonderful new book! He writes about Los Angeles, where I live, & does it better than anyone else I can think of. He's a very literary writer, with an interest in social issues & the great variety of groups that struggle to live together in our city, with its complexities, paradoxes, diversity & inescapable allure. In this 8th book in the series, DANGEROUS GAMES (my favorite, so far), Jack searches for the young Native American niece of his new girlfriend, who is caught up in the LA porn scene. There are lots of other quirky LA characters & sub plots including the serious wounding of Maeve, unscrupulous film makers video taping the homeless in deranged stunts (the Dangerous Games), & even a scary fire in the hills of Malibu . Great dialogue & characters - I loved every page of it!

A Dangerous Ride Through L.A.'s Dark Side

When we last saw Jack Liffey, he had found the perpetrator of various crimes of vengeance arising from the racist history of Terminal Island, been dumped by his new girlfriend, survived a collapsed lung and renewed his relationship with his teenage daughter, Maeve. Liffey also fell for a police officer named Gloria Ramirez, a Native American who was raised by Latino parents who taught her to hate her own heritage. "Dangerous Games" begins with Liffey living in East L.A. with Ramirez; his moody daughter is delighted with Ramirez and hopes her father won't mess this one up. But Liffey's relationship leads inexorably to a new search for a lost child: Ramirez's beautiful 18-year-old niece has disappeared from her tiny reservation in the Owens Valley leaving enough clues to make everyone suspect that she's been swallowed up by L.A.'s porn scene. Liffey feels up to the task. If it were left at that, our hero would have more than enough to occupy him. But during one clear day while Liffey waters his girlfriend's lawn and Maeve lounges alongside chatting with her father, a gangbanger loses control and shoots indiscriminately in Liffey's direction leaving Maeve severely wounded. As Maeve recuperates, Liffey adds a new mission to his list: revenge. His subsequent confrontation of the perpetrator and eventual solution is one of the most surprising and fulfilling aspects of the narrative. But there is still a lost child to find. And this is where things get ugly as we're thrown into the world of phone sex, porn films, dangerous reality videos, AIDS and very violent men who truly believe that women are meant to be controlled and used in any way imaginable. Throughout, we're treated to Shannon's smart dialogue, complex characters and a thrill ride of action. The denouement takes place in the Malibu Hills, set ablaze by reality "filmmakers" as their ultimate get-rich-quick venture. As Liffey and others try to outrun the flames, Liffey muses on all the failures in his life and wonders about the meaning of it all. There are wonderful things in life to be certain: the love of both his girlfriend and his resilient, brilliant daughter. But all the mistakes are there too: failed relationships, a battle with alcohol, physical scars too many to count. In Shannon's sure hands, we see the world through the eyes of a man who struggles to reconcile life's joy and pain shaped in large part by Los Angeles itself. Shannon offers more questions than answers. But that's okay. Finely-crafted novels do that. And this is certainly one of Shannon's best. [The full version of this review first appeared in The Elegant Variation.]