Discount Price: $7.99
Price fluctuation possible.
How soon does it ship: Normal ship time within one day
Shipping? Absolutely FREE if you qualify for Super Saver Shipping.
Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780425152904
ISBN number: 0425152901
Label: Berkley
Manufacturer: Berkley
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 304
Printing Date: April 01, 1996
Publishing house: Berkley
Sale Popularity Level: 84680
Studio: Berkley
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
When Lisa St. Claire, the beautiful young bride of a Boston police detective, vanishes mysteriously, Spense joins the search for the missing woman, following a perilous trail that leads him to a sociopathic ex-lover and into a deadly confrontation with Lisa's past. Reprint. NYT. PW.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
-
I love Spenser but this story seemed contrived and a little over the top. The villain character was the major flaw. I always like Spenser's grit and somewhat believable storylines but this falls short of reality.
Rated by buyers 
-
When Spenser agrees to help his friend Frank Belson (a cop) when Belson's wife - Lisa St. Claire - goes missing, and try to track her down - do him a favor, so to speak. Among the very first things that Spenser discovers is that Lisa St. Claire is not her name. Apparently she has lived a rather checkered past - Spenser worries that telling Belson this will not be a favor at all. Finally following a trail to Proctor, well North of Boston, Spenser calls on Chollo (from L.A.) to come East and lend his assistance, since Proctor is mostly Latino and Spenser hopes Chollo's presence will help grease the wheels, so to speak. Things quickly go from bad to worse and before he knows it, Spenser goes from a simple job of tracking down a missing wife, to overthrowing a local government.
Definitely an edge-of-your seat book, this one alternated between Spenser's POV and Lisa's - the chapters where we hear Lisa's voice are all in italics and, unlike the main body of the book, stated in third person rather than very first - which definitely fits in with the concept, as her abductor dehumanizes her by constantly filming her and playing back the films in her room. It was an interesting way to differentiate between the characters and I think it worked nicely.
This was a great chapter in the Spenser series - too bad I didn't get it reviewed in the proper order. It ended up falling in between the seats in my husband's car en route from the hospital one day and I just found it there a couple days back. So, here you go. Enjoy!
Rated by buyers -
excellent type of book-on-tape for those long drives in the car. spenser is great fun.
Rated by buyers -
This is another installment of private investigator Spenser, who once again rubs elbows with criminals and cops alike. No one can successfully intermingle with good guys and bad for the greater good than Spenser. With my favorite sidekick "Hawk" unavailable because he's in Burma ("What can "Hawk" be doing in Burma?" "Better not to know", says Spenser. "Gives us deniability."), When police honcho Frank Belson's wife disappears into "Thin Air" he turns to Spenser for help. As the mystery unfolds, Spenser needs to call in some favors from some of his acquaintances from the wrong side of the law from Los Angeles to Boston. To fill Spenser's need for a Spanish speaking trigger man, Los Angeles mob boss Vincent Del Rio, lends him cold as ice, deadly as a mountain lion, "Chollo". For local Boston "cred", boss man Joe Broz, authorizes Spencer to use his name.
During the hunt for Mrs. Belson, many surprises come out of the woodwork, such as her name was Lisa St. Claire, or was it? Her resume isn't what it said it was, and this all leads Spenser through a history of prostitution, alcoholism, and more, and leads his associates to a show down in the Hispanic turf wars in the barrio.
Throughout this story, Spenser peppers the reader with his famous snappy banter, such as: "Henry Cimoli had been a ranked lightweight until Willie Pep urged him into the health club business by knocking him out in the very first round of both fights. It was a lesson in the difference between good and great." In describing Homicide Commander Martin Quirk: "He was always quiet, except when he got mad, then he was quieter." In describing a lush cop: "with a lot of broken blood vessels in his cheeks, and an ugly blue vinyl hairpiece on top of his head. It didn't match his sideburns, but it probably wouldn't have matched anyone's sideburns except maybe Plastic Man's." And in describing himself: "I took a shower and put on one of the terrycloth robes the hotel provided. It fit me like a hot dog casing on a knockwurst."
For the addicted Spenser fan, you can't leave this out of your collection. For the about to be acquainted fan of Spenser, this is a good place to start.
Rated by buyers -
THIN AIR isn't a great novel, but it's an entertaining book by one of the best crime writers alive. The plotline is simple: Frank Belson's new wife has gone missing and he asks Spenser to help find her. During his investigation, Spenser discovers that Belson's wife has quite a number of skeletons in the closet.
This novel is relatively predictable, but it's a fun read because of Parker's remarkable level of skill with language and dialogue. THIN AIR is relatively original because Hawk isn't in it, and also because Spenser has an interesting new Latino sidekick. The result is a storyline that seems relatively fresh and funny.
If you like Parker's work, you should enjoy THIN AIR, although I would recommend earlier entries in the Spenser series if you're looking for something genuinely great.
Find other books like this one:
