Faye insists on accompanying Jack as he does his investigating and as the pair tracks Jimmy, Jack gains a great deal of insight about Faye, her husband Milo and son Jimmy and perhaps why Jimmy is going through this crisis of conscience. Milo had, until recently, worked at Lockheed. Now he spends his time reading French philosophy and doing security work at a place called Green World Chemical.

Jimmy is relatively easy to track down; when Jack finds him, he has to tell Jimmy that his father has been in a chemical accident and is in the hospital. Jimmy allows as how the cult isn’t really turning out to be what he had hoped for and will probably be leaving them shortly.

While searching for Jimmy, Jack notices two men watching his condo. The next day, his lover Marlena is attacked in the condo, apparently by the same men, and several days later, while his daughter Maeve is staying the weekend, Jack is also attacked. At first he thinks these attacks are related to Jimmy’s disappearance, especially since when he mentioned the name Mardesich to the men, they react. It is only after Milo’s accident that Jack realizes the men think he is working for Milo and he may have stumbled onto a much larger, more deadly plot that a cult that alienates its members from their family and friends.

The Poison Sky is a stark, sparsely written novel. It is a little slow in the beginning during the search for Jimmy, but once Milo has his accident and Jack realizes he is on the wrong track, the action picks up. The Los Angeles setting is very high-tech and interesting: each time Jack and Faye set out, they encounter all kinds of oddities on the street, such as flamboyant picketers in Porn Alley or a man in gorilla suit frying eggs on the sidewalk. It is as if they are on a constant calliope that contrasts with the darkness of the plot.

Jack is a very interesting character. On the outside, he is very tough and all business. He is very tender with Marlena, especially at those times she is insecure with their relationship. He is also very protective of Maeve, as a father should be with a pre-teen girl. The only odd thing about his time with Maeve is that he just got visitation rights back, yet the first thing he does is take her along with Faye, a trip turned more dangerous after his sabotaged car runs off the road and crashes.

Although the final climax and what leads up to it is a bit tame given what occurred as reported in the epilogue, The Poison Sky is an enjoyable, if somewhat slow, read for fans of a gritty PI novel with atmosphere and for those who enjoy a scientific or technical slant to their mysteries.

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry