The Poison Sky

John Shannon

“Shannon has mastered the most essential element of the genre, giving us a guy we want to stand shoulder to shoulder with while we try to make sense out of a senseless universe.” —Booklist [Starred]

In the third installment of John Shannon’s celebrated Jack Liffey series, Jack’s transition to the unexpected vocation of private investigator seems complete when a client desperately begs him to find her runaway teenage son. As it becomes clear that the boy has been ensnared in a cult, the client sets a nearly impossible condition: that her estranged husband must not be involved. The case promises to lead to chaos, but Jack is nevertheless compelled to try to get Jimmy Mardesich back, even as a group of thugs, as ludicrous as they are menacing, break into Jack’s condo and terrorize his girlfriend Marlena.

On the heels of this attack, the private detective is forced to allow his precocious twelve-year-old daughter, Maeve, to tag along. Their search will take them from the machinations of a doomsday cult to the byzantine halls of corporate corruption and, ultimately, a potential environmental disaster of unimaginable proportions. As Otto Penzler noted when The Poison Sky was first published, “Shannon, with his hero Jack Liffey, a knight errant cruising the L.A. freeways and frequenting the less glamorous suburbs, is squarely in the lineage of Raymond Chandler

The Jack Liffey series takes readers deep into the many unexplored communities, enclaves and cultures of Los Angeles that sometimes co-exist, sometimes clash, but always surprise. Fans of Michael Connelly will fall deep into the fast-paced, unpredictable, and dangerous world John Shannon creates.

PRAISE FOR THE CONCRETE RIVER (#1 in the Jack Liffey Mystery Series)

“Noir master… Shannon tackles a tough social issue with intelligence and a clear moral compass. His spare, noir style and articulate dialog strike just the right balance between thriller and social consciousness. His growing audience will love this. Recommended.” —Library Journal

“Witty, alert, energetic, talented way above the ordinary.” —New York Times Book Review

“The hands-down winner in the long-running ‘Where is the Next Raymond Chandler Coming From?’ sweepstakes… Jack Liffey is the most interesting new private detective since Walter Mosley’s Easy Rawlins.” —Dick Adler, Chicago Tribune

“Shannon has mastered the most essential element of the genre, giving us a guy we want to stand shoulder to shoulder with while we try to make sense out of a senseless universe.” —Booklist [Starred]

“Shannon has written an intelligent, surprising book, found the heart of his working-class characters, and delivered a first-rate thriller in the bargain.” —George Pelecanos

“Liffey is a most unlikely action hero whose feats of intuition, verbosity, and personal empathy make an interesting contrast to the exploits of his hard-boiled peers.” —Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal

“Shannon matches the master, Raymond Chandler, in several key areas, notably location, characterization and dialogue.” —Dick Lochte, Los Angeles Times

“The real rewards of this novel are the wounded and searching souls caught up in the madness… and his appealingly thoughtful hero.” —John Koch, Boston Globe

“Southern California has always been fertile ground for crime writers and one of the very best of them has to be John Shannon.” —Denver Post

“The landscape of Los Angeles… has been deconstructed by writers from Chandler to Didion, but never quite as artfully as does John Shannon.” —James Crumley

“Jack Liffey is an extraordinary creation… Shannon is the philosopher king of the mystery forum. And long may he reign.” —Charlotte Vale Allen, CT USA