John Shannon 1: The Concrete River

In The Concrete River, author John Shannon introduces us to an atypical gumshoe, who specializes in finding missing children. In typical detective fashion, Jack Liffey is divorced, has a child and is behind on his child support payments. He is also a Vietnam vet, who had a real job before his current gig. Set in Los Angeles, the grandmother of one of the children Jack found several years earlier asks him to look into the disappearance of the child's mother. When the woman is found dead, Liffey becomes a "full-fledged" detective and has run-ins with some unsavory characters on both sides of the law. Similar to a Carl Hiaasen novel, the book features some zany characters. In one scene, a midget and a very skinny guy trade jokes in a bar. Of course, when the midget makes a Nietzche reference -- which goes over my head -- I start to wonder if I'm enough of an intellectual to read this book. I was also taken back a bit by Liffey's romantic interludes with two middle-aged women -- one with humongous breasts and one who is a virgin. As the first novel in the series, the book was a bit rough in places and I even found a typo. But I liked the Jack Liffey character and there were interesting supporting characters in addition to the aforementioned zany characters. The story wasn't the most imaginative nor did it feature a huge plot twist, but things tied up nicely at the end. And it was entertaining enough that I'll keep reading. (Read more about The Concrete River on Amazon)