Remember Feb. 12, 2026 when I started my book review column, “Louise Spending Time With …..” and reviewed C.J. Box’s Battle Mountain?
I have read several books since then, but this next book has got to be one of my favorites.
This time I am spending time with author Robert B. Parker, he has a series of 40 books that feature a private detective named Spenser, I believe several were used for a TV show called “Spenser for Hire” – remember that?
I have read 16 of Parker’s books since my new boss, Mark C. Robinson, introduced me to him.
This book, so far, has been my favorite of Parker’s books.
In total Parker wrote 62 books before he passed away in January of 2010, so I have a ways to go to read them all.
About ‘Thin Air’
A friend of his, who is a cop in Boston, comes to Spenser for help in locating his wife who has mysteriously and suddenly disappeared without a trace, into “thin air!”
Did she leave of her own accord? Is she a runaway bride? Or was there foul play? Does someone have her held captive? Where is she?
The plot takes the reader from the east coast across the country to California to find answers and help in Spenser’s old friend and associate, Challo, a Chicano shooter who helps with the complex politics of the barrio and language barriers in their search for Lisa.
Parker is known for his “taut, wily and witty thrillers” and this, in my estimation, is the most thrilling of them all.
The story unfolds through using different fonts to tell what is happening from Spenser’s perspective and brief chapters written in italics for Lisa’s story.
The last few pages are perhaps the most thrilling description of a fast-paced, surprizing ending I have ever read!
A true thriller!
I highly recommend this book for many reasons, most of all, because of Lisa’s story as it unfolds and all that happens at the novel’s end.
That you will have to find out for yourself – because I’m not revealing any secrets, myself!
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