Thin Air (Spenser Series #22)

by Robert B. Parker

Overview

Her name is Lisa St. Claire. Her husband's a cop. Her whereabouts are unknown. Spenser thought he could help a friend find his missing wife. Until he learned the nasty truth about Lisa St. Claire. For starters, it's not her real name...

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101546574
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/01/1996
Series:	Spenser Series , #22
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	434 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Robert B. Parker was the author of seventy books, including the legendary Spenser detective series, the novels featuring police chief Jesse Stone, and the acclaimed Virgil Cole–Everett Hitch westerns, as well as the Sunny Randall novels. Winner of the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award and long considered the undisputed dean of American crime fiction, he died in January 2010.

Date of Birth:

September 17, 1932

Date of Death:

January 18, 2010

Place of Birth:

Springfield, Massachusetts

Place of Death:

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Education:

B.A. in English, Colby College, 1954; M.A., Ph. D. in English, Boston University, 1957, 1971

Website:

http://robertbparker.net/

Editorial Reviews

Spenser Lite: less death, more wit. Though at times the violence in past Spenser novels has strained credulity, it often had a cathartic effect for both reader and hero. But lately author Parker includes less gunplay and fisticuffs. Symbolic of the change is the fact that, in this twenty-third Spenser adventure, the detective's friend and ultradeadly ally, Hawk, is off in Burma, leaving Spenser on his own when longtime pal Frank Belson of Boston Homicide needs help. Belson's beautiful young bride, Lisa St. Claire, has disappeared. When Belson is wounded in an ambush that may be related to Lisa's disappearance, Spenser undertakes the search. The trail initially leads him to L.A., where a friendly mobster--who may have an interest in the resolution of the case--lends Spenser the use of Chollo, a sort of Hispanic Hawk. Eventually, Spenser concludes that Lisa is the captive of Luis DeLeon, the second-ranking bad guy in the aging New England mill town of Proctor, where he--and presumably Lisa--are ensconced in a well-armed fortress. The ending is predictable, if less violent than one might except. Lisa is by no means the first damsel in distress to be rescued by Spenser, and frankly, the plot has become a drag. The captors are always deranged, confusing love with power, and the victims are in jeopardy as a result of poor taste in lovers. Silly women, brave Spenser. Still, longtime fans will stand in line for this one, and in their defense, even flawed Spenser is good reading.

Wes Lukowsky