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. Fourteen-year-old 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