Bird's-Eye View: A Novel [Hardcover]

J. F. Freedman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 7, 2001

While photographing birds at dawn, maverick risk-taker and onetime star professor Fritz Tullis sights a plane with his telephoto lens as it touches down on an airstrip across the bay. It is an open secret that this area, with its multitude of hidden waterways, is becoming a hub for illegal arms and drug trafficking. Three people emerge from the plane. As Fritz watches, two of them start arguing. Suddenly without warning, one shoots the other. The killer and his accomplice then throw the body into the plane and take off. Fritz learns that the airstrip belongs to a wealthy and elusive man with a long history of connections to the CIA. A few days later, he discovers that the victim, whose body turns up a hundred miles away, was a high-ranking foreign diplomat. Before he knows it, against his better judgement, Fritz is digging for the truth-and, complicating his life even further, becomes romantically entangled with an attractive Harvard ornithologist who has discovered his private sanctuary. Fritz is about to learn how dangerous "being involved" can be. For as his quiet life becomes more complex, people-including some who are near and dear-start to die. And as he adds these possible murders to the one he personally witnessed, Fritz senses that he himself is being scrutinised through a telescopic lens, and that someone, somewhere is plotting his death.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Penzler Pick, August 2001: J.F. Freedman is a wonderful storyteller whose six previous novels have been nothing less than compulsive page-turners. This, his latest, is no different.

Meet Fritz Tullis, lovable failure. He should be on top of the world. He comes from one of the most prestigious families in Maryland and, until recently, taught at the University of Texas. That all ended when he was discovered having an affair with the wife of one of the university's most generous donors. Now he's back on his mother's land living in a little shack, drinking too much, and indulging in the local women.

But Fritz is also an enthusiastic photographer who spends his early morning hours trying to get rid of a hangover. He takes a small boat to the marshy areas near Chesapeake Bay where he has been watching migrating birds, especially Ollie, a whooping crane (an endangered species) who seems to have lost his way and ended up with a group of sandhill cranes in the marshes of Maryland. Fritz knows that he should be informing a wildlife preservation group about this lost bird, but then the place would be overrun by activists, and there would go his privacy.

One morning as Fritz is watching Ollie he hears a small plane approaching the runway just across the creek. The land belongs to his mother, so Fritz turns his zoom lens towards the plane--and witnesses a murder. That night at his mother's house, Fritz is introduced to the new owner of that piece of property, James Roach, assistant secretary of state. From the moment he meets Roach, Fritz's life is in turmoil. He also meets Maureen O'Hara, the ornithologist from Harvard with the seductive name who just complicates his life further as he tries to keep Ollie's presence a secret. But in Bird's-Eye View nobody is quite who they seem to be, and the reader is kept in suspense until the very last page. --Otto Penzler

From Publishers Weekly

Bird-watching is the clever hook for Freedman's compulsively readable thriller about a troubled former college professor who witnesses a murder of international consequences while he's hidden in a swamp watching for his beloved whooping crane. Banished from academia for having an affair with a dean's wife, Fritz Tullis is trying to regroup on his family's sprawling estate in southern Maryland. While photographing the rare and exotic bird, Tullis sees a plane touch down on a neighbor's airstrip. Three men get out. As Tullis surreptitiously photographs the action more as a nosy neighbor than anything else one of the men is shot to death, and his body is loaded back on the plane. Frightened, Tullis agonizes for several days about what to do, until the body of the dead man turns up in a dumpster in Baltimore and is identified as that of a Russian diplomat. Then Tullis starts poking around. The owner of the airstrip is James Roach, an assistant secretary of state with a long past in arms sales. Despite warnings that Roach is not a man to mess with, Tullis blunders forth, risking not only his own life but that of his patrician mother. Others involved in Tullis's quest are a gorgeous Harvard ornithologist with a surprising secret; Tullis's former Yale roommate, a D.C. attorney; and a local detective. It's encouraging to see Freedman (Above the Law) move out of his legal thriller comfort zone. Powered by a strong first-person point of view, his latest is not only a first-rate suspense drama but also an affecting portrait of a man in personal and professional crisis. Tullis, who eventually finds a perverse sort of solace in his pursuit, is self-absorbed, directionless and a bit selfish, but Freedman makes him engaging. Agent, Robert Lescher.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 354 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books; 1st edition (August 7, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446528234
• ISBN-13: 978-0446528238
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,185,485 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bird's Eye View of Murder, August 18, 2001

By 

Kent Braithwaite (Palm Desert, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bird's-Eye View: A Novel (Hardcover)

As a mystery author with my debut novel in its initial release, I genuinely enjoyed J.F. Freedman's tale of Fritz Tullis. Fritz is a man who was born on third base and who is in danger of getting picked off before he scores. His roots are as establishment as they can get. His mother is a Maryland patrician, and he was, until he had an affair with the wrong woman, a respected history professor at the University of Texas. After losing his job, he returns to his family's Maryland estate, drinks too much, chases convenient skirts, and takes up birdwatching. He becomes fascinated with a whooping crane. One hungover morning, as he is searching for his favorite member of that endangered feathered species, he witnesses a murder on a neighboring airstrip. It turns out the airstrip is owned by an undersecretary of state with a checkered past. The victim turns out to be a Russian diplomat. Fritz decides something has to be done, and he finds his efforts assisted by a beautiful Harvard academic with a famous film star's name yet her own deep secrets. BIRD'S-EYE VIEW is an enjoyable read on many levels. I recommend it highly.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Suspenseful tale sets good pace, not just for the birds!, May 11, 2003

By 

Gerald M. Bull "Jerry Bull" (Fairview, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bird's-Eye View (Mass Market Paperback)

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!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 4 1/2 star thriller, August 20, 2001

By 

Konrad Kern (OFallon, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bird's-Eye View: A Novel (Hardcover)

Freedman's latest is a good edge of your seat thriller

When Fritz Tullis is fired from the University of Texas for having an affair with the wife of a prestigious donor, (It seems that every woman he meets, falls in love with him. Hmmmm.) he has nowhere to go but back to the estate of his family in southern Maryland. While living in a shack that's located on the estate, he partakes in his hobbies of drinking, smoking grass and photographing. While out in the swamp photographing his favorite secret pet-Ollie the whooping crane-he notices his neighbor's plane landing in a private airfield. Much to his surprise, he witnesses and photographs a cold-blooded murder. The victim turns out to be a Russian Senior Counselor. The property belongs to James Roach, an assistant Secretary of State. Eventually Fritz decides he should do something about this murder, or at least find out who's responsible. As Fritz soon learns, he's in way to deep.

One would think that Fritz is smart, but being a professor of history does not make him a good detective. He seems to lack the ability to read people well. His way with the ladies seems a little too lucky. Fritz also seems to carry a lot of emotion around with him. One wonders why.

The story moves at a brisk pace. With a couple of surprises and yet some predictable plotting, this was still a very good book. I look forward to your next one Mr. Freedman. Oh, by the way, a King Air is not a jet.

Highly recommended