Thin Air – Robert B Parker

Thin Air – Robert B Parker

Spenser is a man of deep loyalties and principles and in this case he extends that to his sometimes adversary, police detective Frank Belson. When Belson’s young bride Lisa disappears, he talks with Spenser with nothing resolved. The stakes are dramatically increased when Belson is shot three times in the back and is in critical condition in the hospital. When he regains consciousness, Belson asks for Spenser and requests that he find her.
Spenser’s search takes him to California where he reconnects with Chollo, a Spanish- speaking gunner that he needs as backup as Hawk is in Burma. Wisecracking as always with references to literature and aspects of pop culture, Spenser follows the trail as it leads him through Lisa’s sordid past of drug use, prostitution and destructive love affairs. My favorite reference is on page 72 where Spenser asks a female professor what she is doing in her position. Her response is “I came for the waters” and Spenser replies with “There are no waters here” and her final reply is “I was misinformed.” Right out of the great movie “Casablanca” starring Humphrey Bogart.
Although the climactic rescue is very tense and gripping, the lack of fundamental honor among criminals leaves a bad taste in Spenser’s mouth as the kidnapper turns out to be nothing more than a man with too much lonely little boy in him