New York Times bestselling author of the Spenser series of crime thrillers Book 2 in the series Appie Knoll is the kind of suburb where kids grow up right. But something is wrong. Fourteenyearold Kevin Bartlett disappears. Everyone thinks hes run away until the comic strip ransom note arrives. It doesnt take Spenser long to get the picture an affluent family seething with rage a desperate boy making strange friends...friends like Vic Harroway body builder. Mr. Muscle is Spensers only lead and he isnt talking...except with his fists. But when push comes to shove when a boys life is on the line Spenser can speak that language too. A brillant and cynical comic tragedy or tragic comedy of manners. Long may Parker wave. Los Angeles Times show more