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Bird's-Eye View
While photographing a rare bird on his family's estate in southern Maryland, Fritz Tullis becomes an eyewitness to the murder of a foreign diplomat on the property of his neighbor, a State Department official with ties to the CIA, and teams up with a Washington attorney, a local police detective, his mother, and a sexy ornithologist to uncover the truth about a deadly government conspiracy.
354 pages, Hardcover
First published August 7, 2001
19 people are currently reading
177 people want to read
About the author
J.F. Freedman
16 books46 followersJ.F. Freedman is the New York Times bestselling author of Against the Wind, The Disappearance, House of Smoke, and In My Dark Dreams, among other titles. He is also an award-winning film and television director, writer, and producer. He lives in California.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
December 31, 2008
Can you rate something less than a one? This book was pretty abhorrent (to use a big word for no good reason as the author so often does.) The plot was fine I suppose, but I'll be willing to bet the author has never seen a human who wasn't on his TV screen. Perhaps he's from space.
Only read this after my brother suggested it. I will now go beat him with a rock.
Only read this after my brother suggested it. I will now go beat him with a rock.
July 23, 2010
Suspenseful tale sets good pace, not just for the birds!
Freedman has six prior novels, but was unknown to us until a friend insisted we read "Bird's-Eye". We weren't sorry, as our author combines solid writing skills with the ability to capture our interest immediately and keep us turning pages in a hurry with mystery and suspense. Already in Chapter One, we meet our leading man, Fritz Tullis, but have no idea why this thirty-something high-achiever, from a land-owning family wealthy for generations, is living in a shack on his mother's property in the swampish backwoods of the lower Chesapeake Bay. He spends his days doping, drinking, and enjoying ready sex partners, with occasional forays into the swamp to photograph birds (hence the title) with long telephoto lenses. By chapter's end, his camera catches a murder on a nearby property with a private air strip from a concealed, on the water, vantage point no one would ever know about.
Tullis spends much of the first half of the story staying uninvolved - but as he learns more about the potential culprits, or at least the conspirators involved, he cannot resist doing the right thing (solving the crime) while seeking little help from the authorities, with whom he knew he would have little credibility. Meanwhile, another new lady friend takes just a little too much interest in both the birds, one of which is a rare whooping crane, as well as the murder mystery; and we readers get enough info to smell a rat much sooner than does Tullis. Corruption and politics soon enter the fray as an Assistant Secretary of State, James Roach (presumably no pun!) turns out to be the neighbor who owns the air strip. Along the way, another murder or two adds to the intrigue and the dangerous nature of the chase, with the action and affairs of the heart reaching crescendo pace by book's end.
Freedman develops a fine plot without engaging so many characters we lose track. The suspense is realistic, as are the players and their thoughts and feelings. In sum, we not only enjoyed this novel immensely but will seek out his earlier works soon. Enjoy!
Freedman has six prior novels, but was unknown to us until a friend insisted we read "Bird's-Eye". We weren't sorry, as our author combines solid writing skills with the ability to capture our interest immediately and keep us turning pages in a hurry with mystery and suspense. Already in Chapter One, we meet our leading man, Fritz Tullis, but have no idea why this thirty-something high-achiever, from a land-owning family wealthy for generations, is living in a shack on his mother's property in the swampish backwoods of the lower Chesapeake Bay. He spends his days doping, drinking, and enjoying ready sex partners, with occasional forays into the swamp to photograph birds (hence the title) with long telephoto lenses. By chapter's end, his camera catches a murder on a nearby property with a private air strip from a concealed, on the water, vantage point no one would ever know about.
Tullis spends much of the first half of the story staying uninvolved - but as he learns more about the potential culprits, or at least the conspirators involved, he cannot resist doing the right thing (solving the crime) while seeking little help from the authorities, with whom he knew he would have little credibility. Meanwhile, another new lady friend takes just a little too much interest in both the birds, one of which is a rare whooping crane, as well as the murder mystery; and we readers get enough info to smell a rat much sooner than does Tullis. Corruption and politics soon enter the fray as an Assistant Secretary of State, James Roach (presumably no pun!) turns out to be the neighbor who owns the air strip. Along the way, another murder or two adds to the intrigue and the dangerous nature of the chase, with the action and affairs of the heart reaching crescendo pace by book's end.
Freedman develops a fine plot without engaging so many characters we lose track. The suspense is realistic, as are the players and their thoughts and feelings. In sum, we not only enjoyed this novel immensely but will seek out his earlier works soon. Enjoy!
February 28, 2010
I found it to be a good story. But, like the review by Angus, The author's vocabulary was somewhat suspect. I got the feeling he wrote it with a thesaurus nearby and picked the uncommon word. I also found the main character to be somewhat unreal. At times it was a thriller at others it was a romance novel.
July 3, 2008
Each time Freedman introduces a new main character I always think they are such a loser. But somehow before I know it, I really like him. Fritz is no different than any of the others. Once I got into this book I really enjoyed it!
May 1, 2017
We all know Fritz Tullis. We hold him a little in disdain, and unless we are angry with him, there is a touch of pity mixed with impatience when we think of him. THIS Fritz handles it well when push comes to shove. Not a book you will want to put down before the final chapter.
May 11, 2009
Great suspense novel. It also taught me something about whooping and sandhill cranes. I'll definitely look for other books by this author.
October 21, 2011
First time with this author. Wonderfully irreverant, pretty good plot and character development.
Quirky ending.
Quirky ending.
did-not-finish
February 27, 2013ABANDONED
The first 10 pages of this book are so off-putting that I didn't want to continue. However, I tried. It just did not catch my interest.
The first 10 pages of this book are so off-putting that I didn't want to continue. However, I tried. It just did not catch my interest.
December 21, 2021
Fritz Tullis is hiding out from everyone and from his life which hasn't been too swell lately. While hiding out, he witnesses a murder and then he tries to forget it. None of that really does this book justice. It is excellent. A rich story with rich characters. Makes me want to go back and ensure I've read everything he's written.
May 10, 2017
Too predictable. I didn't like the way the author sprinkled random big words in. it was just ok.
June 10, 2019
Starts slowly but picks up.
November 27, 2020
Very suspenseful but quite slow in the beginning
April 19, 2021
Nice read that hooked me right from the start.
May 11, 2021
Fun, fast read. I needed a break from heart-wrenching novels that leave me emotionally exhausted.
July 28, 2024
very slow moving but picks up and a lot of twists.
September 27, 2024
John loved this book! Our neighbor, Kathy, at Sun Retreats lent it to him.
January 27, 2015
This rating is for the audio book, which will be important in a moment.
Credit Freedman with writing in a very readable style and for making the story intriguing enough to keep me going when I knew fairly early on that I had little sympathy for his protagonist and that Freedman can't plot.
The protagonist, a college professor, is an idiot. Granted, there are idiot professors, Dave Brat comes to mind, but this guy does everything wrong, can't see the obvious, and pretty much never makes sensible choices, especially when it comes to plot points. Calling them plot points is generous in a novel with so many ridiculous coincidences. There were moments I wanted to find Freedman and slap him for such lazy writing and for not letting his protagonist see so many things that were obvious to me.
Some of what is good about the book is undermined by Tom Stechschulte, the truly terrible reader, who reduces a two-star book to one. There are many phases between neutrality and rage, such as disappointment, doubt, dismay, anger, and so on. TS pushes the rage button nearly every time, with the result that the characters are more one-dimensional that Freedman writes them and the protagonist especially in much harder to like than he should be. It becomes quite impossible to believe the love story, for how can any woman fall for a man who is so in-your-face hostile all the time? Freedman makes the love story unlikely. TS makes it impossible.
Looking for a thriller? You can do better than this book.
Credit Freedman with writing in a very readable style and for making the story intriguing enough to keep me going when I knew fairly early on that I had little sympathy for his protagonist and that Freedman can't plot.
The protagonist, a college professor, is an idiot. Granted, there are idiot professors, Dave Brat comes to mind, but this guy does everything wrong, can't see the obvious, and pretty much never makes sensible choices, especially when it comes to plot points. Calling them plot points is generous in a novel with so many ridiculous coincidences. There were moments I wanted to find Freedman and slap him for such lazy writing and for not letting his protagonist see so many things that were obvious to me.
Some of what is good about the book is undermined by Tom Stechschulte, the truly terrible reader, who reduces a two-star book to one. There are many phases between neutrality and rage, such as disappointment, doubt, dismay, anger, and so on. TS pushes the rage button nearly every time, with the result that the characters are more one-dimensional that Freedman writes them and the protagonist especially in much harder to like than he should be. It becomes quite impossible to believe the love story, for how can any woman fall for a man who is so in-your-face hostile all the time? Freedman makes the love story unlikely. TS makes it impossible.
Looking for a thriller? You can do better than this book.
September 8, 2011
Suspenseful tale sets good pace, not just for the birds!
Fritz Tullis is living in a shack on his mother's property in the swampish backwoods of the lower Chesapeake Bay. He's had a bad break-up and lost his job as a history professor. He spends his days watching birds & photographing them with long telephoto lenses. His camera catches a murder on a nearby property with a private air strip from a concealed, on the water, vantage point no one would ever know about.
Tullis spends much of the first half of the story staying uninvolved - but as he learns more about the potential culprits, or at least the conspirators involved, he cannot resist doing the right thing (solving the crime) while seeking little help from the authorities, with whom he knew he would have little credibility. A new lady friend, also a birdwatcher, joins the scene. Corruption and politics soon enter the fray as an Assistant Secretary of State, James Roach (presumably no pun!) turns out to be the neighbor who owns the air strip. Along the way, another murder or two adds to the intrigue and the dangerous nature of the chase
Freedman develops a fine plot without engaging so many characters we lose track. The suspense is realistic, as are the players and their thoughts and feelings. My only complaint is that Fritz spends to much time whining.
Fritz Tullis is living in a shack on his mother's property in the swampish backwoods of the lower Chesapeake Bay. He's had a bad break-up and lost his job as a history professor. He spends his days watching birds & photographing them with long telephoto lenses. His camera catches a murder on a nearby property with a private air strip from a concealed, on the water, vantage point no one would ever know about.
Tullis spends much of the first half of the story staying uninvolved - but as he learns more about the potential culprits, or at least the conspirators involved, he cannot resist doing the right thing (solving the crime) while seeking little help from the authorities, with whom he knew he would have little credibility. A new lady friend, also a birdwatcher, joins the scene. Corruption and politics soon enter the fray as an Assistant Secretary of State, James Roach (presumably no pun!) turns out to be the neighbor who owns the air strip. Along the way, another murder or two adds to the intrigue and the dangerous nature of the chase
Freedman develops a fine plot without engaging so many characters we lose track. The suspense is realistic, as are the players and their thoughts and feelings. My only complaint is that Fritz spends to much time whining.
September 11, 2013
It was a 3 star our of five. Just because of the story line and suspense. More like a 'formula' novel than anything. It had a bit of this and a bit of that. Certain chapters were short leaving the reader waiting and wondering and others long and running with plot building narrative and reasonable descriptors. Vocabulary of Freedman seemed a bit efficacious; it did the trick but sometimes the word usage seemed out of place for the narrator or character.
The protagonist definitely was either drawn up to be a bit of a loose cannon or the author missed his mark. Was he a Ph.D., a lecturer, a lover, a pirate or a town fool. It seemed at times he played the role of each and in the end somehow learned how to pull the trigger of a gun and kill a man with the itchy finger of someone who abhors guns and finds killing anything, anathema to his sense of humanity.
Not a novel one would read twice or pay the money to buy in hardback. A good library loan or 2nd hand book buy. A friend gave it to me as a 2nd hand read.
p.s. not intended as a spoiler but it certainly signified the silliness of some of the novel to have the author admit that most of his research on birds had nothing to do with linking fact to what he presented as a possible reality. It would have been nice if his research actually taught us something about ornithology.
The protagonist definitely was either drawn up to be a bit of a loose cannon or the author missed his mark. Was he a Ph.D., a lecturer, a lover, a pirate or a town fool. It seemed at times he played the role of each and in the end somehow learned how to pull the trigger of a gun and kill a man with the itchy finger of someone who abhors guns and finds killing anything, anathema to his sense of humanity.
Not a novel one would read twice or pay the money to buy in hardback. A good library loan or 2nd hand book buy. A friend gave it to me as a 2nd hand read.
p.s. not intended as a spoiler but it certainly signified the silliness of some of the novel to have the author admit that most of his research on birds had nothing to do with linking fact to what he presented as a possible reality. It would have been nice if his research actually taught us something about ornithology.
October 8, 2007
10/19/05 #182
TITLE/AUTHOR: BIRD'S EYE VIEW (Audio) by J. F. Freedman
RATING: 4/B
GENRE/PUB DATE/# OF PGS: Suspense,2001, 12 CD's
COMMENTS: Like this narrator, Tom S.... Fritz is a
middle-aged history professor, currently on leave
living on his mother's property on the Maryland Coast.
While bird watching he sees a murder...
TITLE/AUTHOR: BIRD'S EYE VIEW (Audio) by J. F. Freedman
RATING: 4/B
GENRE/PUB DATE/# OF PGS: Suspense,2001, 12 CD's
COMMENTS: Like this narrator, Tom S.... Fritz is a
middle-aged history professor, currently on leave
living on his mother's property on the Maryland Coast.
While bird watching he sees a murder...
May 18, 2009
book on tape.
i chose it for the reader - tom stechschulte's voice.
story too melodramatic for my taste.
i finished it because of the plot and story but just barely.
not for me.
choosing a book by the reader is an "ify" proposition, at best.
i chose it for the reader - tom stechschulte's voice.
story too melodramatic for my taste.
i finished it because of the plot and story but just barely.
not for me.
choosing a book by the reader is an "ify" proposition, at best.
Read
March 26, 2013Just discovered this author and have enjoyed him. One thing I have noticed in the two books are that his heros are flawed. This makes them much more interesting. I just wish that they would have more of his books on Kindle. I had had to order my next J. F. Freedman in hardcover.
August 18, 2014
A bit slow starting for me and some classic male type poses that turned me off. But I persevered and about a third of the way into the book, it became interesting. There are some redeemable moments toward the end but not enough to make me identify with the characters or read it again.
November 21, 2014
After an affair with the wife of the wrong man professor Fritz Tullis is exiled from the halls of learning. As a bird watching photographer he witnesses a body being dumped from an airplane. When the body washes up on shore it is that of a diplomat. He soon learns how dangerous life can be.
January 4, 2017
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/5...
An OK read but a bit too long-winded. Why say something in 5 words when you can say it in 10, huh? I didn't like the characters much, & the story was far-fetched, but I did enjoy the birds.
An OK read but a bit too long-winded. Why say something in 5 words when you can say it in 10, huh? I didn't like the characters much, & the story was far-fetched, but I did enjoy the birds.
July 2, 2008
The author provides a lot of satire considering the characters' situation is serious.
June 2, 2009
loved it
Read
October 20, 2009loved it. action, romance , drama. always coming back for more.
May 18, 2010
A Maryland -Chesapeake Bay mystery involving murder, arms dealing, Washington big shots, and trying to determine who is responsible for all the bad stuff.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews