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: Solid Spencer book
Review: Good Spencer book; less violent than others. Love listening to the Spencer character audios even though they all have the same theme; person-in-distress, with Spencer/Hawk now Chollo rescuing. This is great w/me as long as Burt Reynolds or David Dukes read. These readers put you right there and make the characters more real. I listen to a lot of mysteries and these readers are among the best.
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: 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: Absolute Bore
Review: If I have ever read a more uneventual, slow, and predictable book, I can't remember it. The story line is tired and the plot could have been drawn from a medicore remedial high school student. More than likely this is my first and last Parker (written book?) book. Who writes a good mystery?
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: Fun Read
Review: Like most of the Spenser books, this one moves quickly and holds the reader from start to finish. It's always fun when one of the supporting characters needs a helping hand from Spenser. Here we get a glimpse of Belson's life, and his wife's nefarious past. (Jeer within a cheer: Just once, pretty please, I would like to see some female character have a nefarious past that has nothing to do with selling her body. Women do commit other crimes occasionally, at least in the real world.) My biggest problem was poor editing. The resolution was not believable. And the errors in Spanish were an amateurish mistake. It's a good vacation read though.
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