The Night Bird

An introduction to Frost Easton, SFPD Homicide. Formerly a non practicing lawyer, Alcatraz tour guide, & charter boat captain, he lives in a swanky mansion owned by his adopted cat, Shack. After his sister Katie was murdered he joined the police force and is the "Boy Scout" always following the evidence and dong the right thing. An intriguing case involving a psychiatrist who hypnotizes and erases bad memories for people. A few of her patients have ended up dead and she has gaps in her own memory about her father's death. Frost investigates the strange deaths that include a haunting song, a new friend who wants her phobia erased, the psychiatrist who's hiding something, & a cunning killer who is always one step ahead. Twisty, thrilling, show more fast paced, & had me guessing until the end to reveal the killer. show less

Sitting in traffic on the San Francisco Bay Bridge, a young woman has a sudden, violent mental breakdown. Tearing the flesh of her arms, torso, and face, she appears to be running from some invisible horror when she throws herself off the bridge.

And she is not the first. Detective Frost Easton is heading the investigation of similar deaths in the city, all with one common thread: Psychiatrist Dr. Francesca Stein. Dr. Stein’s controversial methods of helping highly phobic patients seem to be falling apart, unless someone is out there, targeting her former patients in a twisted attack. When Dr. Stein begins to receive taunting messages signed by “The Night Bird,” the clock is ticking for her and Easton to find the psychopath before show more more people die . . .

This is an enjoyable and fast-paced mystery. I greatly enjoyed the use the author made of the fragility of memory and the power of suggestion. The beginning (after the fantastic first casualty) was a bit awkward and stilted, but Freeman quickly finds his voice. Some aspects of the plot and the characters are a bit out there, but that may well be attributable to the story being set in proudly weird San Francisco.

In all, I enjoyed this book, some parts were genuinely creepy, and the requisite plot twists included several I didn’t see coming. Fans of darker mysteries will probably enjoy this novel, it’s not quite as violent or as twisted as a Jefferey Deaver book, but feels similar.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. show less

“everything in life came down to memories. The good. The bad. The real. The imagined. Put them all together, and that was the person you were. Would you ever want to change that?"

This was an interesting mystery - the premise of memories and what happens when we can trust what we remember- was interesting to grapple with. It was also interesting to have so many POV - the detective Easton Frost had great insight into what was going on and kept all the plot points going. Lucy was also interesting as you see one of the first deaths and experience the confusion and fear. Frankie - the doctor who plays with memories - also gave us information into her world of privileged information she couldn't share otherwise. All of it played out into an show more interesting story which I enjoyed but didn't love. It was good but...hopefully the next one will pull me in more. show less

This book has a fascinating premise, but it lost me in the execution.

The theme of memory is handled exceptionally well. The author takes us deep into philosophical issues such as whether memory makes us who we are, whether psychiatrists have the right to erase traumatic memories, and, if they do, can that cause unexpected repercussions. I don't know of anyone who doesn't have some sort of unwanted memories. This story made me think about what might happen if those memories were to simply disappear or, worse, be replaced by false "memories".

While the subject intrigued me, the characters didn't hold up to the promise. Dr. Frankie Stein (a silly name!) feels flat. Her character is detached from her own life, and so I couldn't connect to show more her at all. She's a psychiatrist who can't manage to fix the mess of her personal life, if she even acknowledges the mess, yet she is confidently rearranging other people's minds. Frost is a typical cop character; damaged but strong and caring. The young female characters are unremarkable and easily forgettable. Jason, Frankie's husband, is dull and robotic.

Where the story really lost me was with the unfolding of the crime and Frost's investigation. I just couldn't see a cop putting people at risk the way he did. Also, a crime of this magnitude should have had more than one lone detective chasing leads. The whondunit aspect is fairly obvious, though the author does a good job of casting doubt.

The ending felt like a letdown after the last major twist. It sort of fizzled out into nothingness. I wanted more of a bang, some sort of major emotional clash. The revelation demanded more of the situation.

This book should have had me on edge. It should have left a lasting impression. All the components were there, but I found myself skimming overly descriptive sections and rolling my eyes at the characters as they behaved exactly as expected. show less

The Night Bird

The Night Bird by Brian Freeman
The Night Bird (Frost Easton, #1)
by Brian Freeman (Goodreads Author)
66991814
Angela Gibson's review Oct 23, 2017 · edit
liked it
bookshelves: mystery, thriller, suspense

Brian Freeman writes a great series of books based in Minneapolis, the Jonathan Stride series. I always look forward to when a Stride novel has been published, and I can add it to my TBR list.

The setting of San Francisco is as much a character in The Night Bird as any of the human characters. Brian Freeman is good at setting the place of a novel, which I like with the Stride series as well. There were times in The Night Bird where I could feel the dampness of the fog or get frustrated with getting lost in Dogpatch.

I didn't show more enjoy all of the characters and found that I was getting quite angry at how stupid some of these supposedly intelligent people were acting. Francesca Stein is a psychiatrist who uses a controversial method of memory erasure to help clients cope with memories that apparently can't be managed by recognized treatments. She would need a lot of academic smarts in order to attain PhD levels of education but apparently has no common sense. I don't want to spoil the action of the book, so I don't want to divulge when Francesca Stein exhibits a lack of common sense. I trust that you'll easily recognize these situations when you read them as they should hit you like an anvil to the head. I'm not sure how I feel about Frost Easton as a cop. In reading this first book about Frost, I don't think he is long for this world of police investigations if he continues to follow murderous suspects into a fog shrouded park and doesn't want for back up. Frost could use some more common sense as well as Francesca.

Now what I really enjoyed about this book was that it was spooky and freaky. It gave me chills to read about the suspect wearing a thoroughly creepy mask. It was interesting to contemplate the psychological torture; I'm not sure what that says about me as a person. In any event, this was a creepy book, and it fit a Halloween mood. I definitely read it at the right time of the Halloween season. show less

The storyline is interesting and pulled me right in. The closer I got to the end of the book, the more engrossed I became. But what really compelled me to read this book was the writing style. I read a lot of Kindle samples of books that I don't order. Mostly because the style of writing isn't appealing for a variety of reasons -- too wordy/descriptive being the biggest culprit. I especially enjoy a good mystery with suspense. The descriptions, conversation, thoughts, and plot were balanced in this story. It kept moving. Didn't bog down. It has a puzzling magnetic draw.

Not my usual genre (psychological thriller) but I hugely enjoyed this one. Excellent premise and timely with all the current interest in memory. I love unexpected twists and this book has them. San Francisco location is a standout... brought back memories. I am tempted to read other books by Brian Freeman. recommended