Rating: 
Summary: one of the worst books parker ever written about spenser
Review: a total waste of lot of paper. lousy story (if there's any story in it). have read most of spenser's series, this may be the worst one.
i have to skip all the italic liza chapters and those with susan chapters to get the least storyline, but still, it came out lame, so lame that made my eyes hurt. r. p. should not write this one if there's nothing in it. shame on you.
Rating: 
Summary: OK book, much better as the A&E tv movie
Review: I read this long before I saw the TV version, but I have to say it's much easier to handle this as a movie. Hawk is off somewhere while Spenser tries to track down Belson's lost wife. She of course has been abducted by someone addicted to her. Spenser of course has to barge in and rescue her, with the help of Chollo.The book was written from two sides - Lisa's and Spenser's. The back and forth was not always smooth, which is why the live version worked better. Chollo, from California, was actually a fun replacement for Hawk - he brought his own style of wisecracking and humor. Susan's become quite tolerable at this point, which can only be a good thing. I've actually driven past this area of Massachusetts, tho I didn't feel like driving into it to find the buildings mentioned :). Parker definitely gets the feeling for the kind of poverty the people live in, and the situations that result from it. A bit campy at times, but the writing is as always gorgeous, and many of the issues touched on are handled quite well.
Rating:
Summary: Quite good if you're familiar with the characters
Review: I wouldn't recommend this as a first Spenser book. In fact I'd suggest going to "The Godwulf Manuscript" at the very beginning of the series. Be that as it may, it is a rewarding read for those familiar with the characters. Especially rewarding is the re-introduction of Cholla who we met briefly in "Stardust". Parker varies his narrative style this time out. The perspective switches back and forth between the victim Lisa, who's police detective Belson's young wife, and Spenser, so we can see when Spenser gets on the wrong track and when he gets back on the right one. This isn't quite the best Parker, but it's good and worth your while if you're a Spenser fan.
Rating:
Summary: Quite good if you're familiar with the characters
Review: I wouldn't recommend this as a first Spenser book. In fact I'd suggest going to "The Godwulf Manuscript" at the very beginning of the series. Be that as it may, it is a rewarding read for those familiar with the characters. Especially rewarding is the re-introduction of Cholla who we met briefly in "Stardust". Parker varies his narrative style this time out. The perspective switches back and forth between the victim Lisa, who's police detective Belson's young wife, and Spenser, so we can see when Spenser gets on the wrong track and when he gets back on the right one. This isn't quite the best Parker, but it's good and worth your while if you're a Spenser fan.
Rating:
Summary: Fun Read
Review: In Thin Air, Robert B Parker deviates from his normal mystery format and produces more of a thriller. What happened and who did it is never in question -- the issue is what will happen. While this is being resolved, Parker reveals rich details about the principal characters, keeping the reader engaged throughout the entire book. Viewpoint varies with the primary chapters, as usual in the Spenser series, from the detectives perspective. Between these, the victim Lisa's view is represented. This is quite nicely pulled off. The welcomed trend in the series of deemphasizing the tiresome participation of Susan in the primary plot continues with Thin Air. Additionally, giving a rest to the use of Hawk as a superhero to completely suppress any opposition is also welcomed. While Hawk is a very enjoyable character, he's overused in the books preceding this. So Thin Air is highly recommended. If there is one criticism, some of the action at the end strains credibility to the point of collapse. But the reader is still touched by the result, something which can't often be said for genre work. This book only reinforces my assessment that Parker is an excellent writer. Dan
Rating:
Summary: a touching and compelling work
Review: In Thin Air, Robert B Parker deviates from his normal mystery format and produces more of a thriller. What happened and who did it is never in question -- the issue is what will happen. While this is being resolved, Parker reveals rich details about the principal characters, keeping the reader engaged throughout the entire book. Viewpoint varies with the primary chapters, as usual in the Spenser series, from the detectives perspective. Between these, the victim Lisa's view is represented. This is quite nicely pulled off. The welcomed trend in the series of deemphasizing the tiresome participation of Susan in the primary plot continues with Thin Air. Additionally, giving a rest to the use of Hawk as a superhero to completely suppress any opposition is also welcomed. While Hawk is a very enjoyable character, he's overused in the books preceding this. So Thin Air is highly recommended. If there is one criticism, some of the action at the end strains credibility to the point of collapse. But the reader is still touched by the result, something which can't often be said for genre work. This book only reinforces my assessment that Parker is an excellent writer. Dan
Rating:
Summary: Spenser (or Parker) Rules, OK.
Review: More plot to this novel ~ more detecting too ~ than some other Spenser stories. Still, plot is not everything, and still not the real reason one reads Parker. The interplay between Spenser and Susan is as strong as ever; Hawk is in Burma ~ don't ask ~ so we miss seeing him and Spenser. There is a Hawk replacement in the person of Chollo, a Latino hit-man from one of Spenser's West Coast connexions and, while not as detailed or intricate as the Hawk conversations, his with Spenser are still pleasurable. The pretext for the action this time is the disappearance of Lisa St. Claire, wife of Spenser's Boston PD friend Frank Belson. When Belson is hit with three shots from behind Spenser activates himself and goes hunting. The trail leads to a Hispanic community in northern Massachusetts ~ hence the introduction of the Latino side-kick. A welcome innovation (from Parker, not for fiction as a whole) is the use of third person sections interspersed, in a different type-face, telling of Lisa's experience. We thus are given both the hunter and hunted points of view.
Rating:
Summary: Candy
Review: Robert Parker's Spencer series is like candy, very satisfying while being digested, but soon gone, leaving one wishing for more. I have read most of the Spenser books, and I have never been disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: so so
Review: Spenser gets a call from police friend Frank Belsen to look for his missing wife. Along the way, Spenser and Susan go to LA to uncover some background info, and pick up a Hispanic sidekick named Chollo. I didn't understand what motivated Chollo to join Spenser back to the east coast to finish the job, but Spenser needed him as Hawk is MIA in this book. Chollo wasn't nearly as entertaining as Hawk, but the basic premise of the book was pretty good.
Rating:
Summary: My review
Review: The story takes place in Boston, Massachusetts. The narrator of the story is Spenser, who was hired to find Lisa St. Claire. Spenser is a private detective who used to work for the FBI. He is hired by Frank Belson to find his missing wife who is Lisa St. Claire. Her ex-husband, Luis Deleon, has kidnapped her. Luis is still madly in love with Lisa. But Lisa is in love with Frank, who is much older than she is. Every one assumes she left him because he is much older than she is and that is why a private detective is hire. During the investigation, Spenser found out a lot of personal things about Lisa St. Claire. She was not the person every one thought she is. Her real name was Angela Richard. She ran away from home ever since she was seventeen with her boy friend, Woody. Woody turns her in to a prostitute. One day she got caught and was sent to rehabilitation. There she decided to get her life back on track. Mean while, Frank was shot at on his front porch from behind leaving him in the hospital for a while. Luis had shot him. Luis was known for being a crazy person. He was the leader of a Hispanic gang. Luis was a hard person to find because no one likes to talk about him. She was kept in a castle like place with cameras all around the room recording her every move. Through out the novel it switches back and forth to the scene where Lisa was at and then back to Spenser.
I would recommend the novel because I found it very entertaining. It was like watching a movie. I can picture the whole thing. Spenser was very amusing. He was also tough. He states. "You'll think I'm offensive? I'll give you offensive. Ms. Lisa St. Claire's husband is a cop. Cops look out for each other. I can, if I have to, have some really short-tempered guys from the Essex County DA's I could probably even get them to come in here in force with the sirens singing and the blue lights flashing, and haul you ass down to Salem and ask you these same questions in a holding cell" (60). This quote shows what type of person he is. He can be serious but funny at same time. You can tell he is very serious with his work. He was not a boring guy.
This is a good novel if you're into mystery because through out the story you keep finding surprising things about Lisa. It made want to keep reading it. "I don't know could or couldn't. I will say that Angela lived a very harsh life, in very difficult circumstances. She had fewer restraint mechanisms perhaps than some women might have, and she harbored a lot of rage" (133). Here is when Spenser was meeting up with a woman named Madeline St. Claire. She was a psychiatrist that was seeing Lisa when she was in rehab. She was aware that Lisa was using her name, but did not seem to mind it much. The quote explains how Lisa life was and how she had a rage for men.
It was also interesting when Spenser investigate people. It made me seem like I was the investigator. Each interviewer gave helpful facts about Lisa and her whereabouts. There were a lot of people who he had to investigate until he was sure it was Luis who kidnapped her. Each investigation was at a different place. He gave great descriptions when the story takes place. It makes the novel seem so realistic.
Overall, I enjoyed reading the novel very much. There were times where I did not want to stop reading because there were things that I wanted to know. This is a great novel for entertainment. It was full of drama and humor. You will like Spenser. It will make reading fun. A great novel to share with a friends or love ones.
| 
