The Night Bird by Brian Freeman

Author : Brian Freeman
Title : The Night Bird
Published : 2017
Publisher : Thomas & Mercer
Pages : 362
Genre : Mystery / Thriller

     Homicide detective Frost Easton doesn’t like coincidences. When a series of bizarre deaths rock San Francisco—as seemingly random women suffer violent psychotic breaks—Frost looks for a connection that leads him to psychiatrist Francesca Stein. Frankie’s controversial therapy helps people erase their most terrifying memories…and all the victims were her patients. As Frost and Frankie carry out their own investigations, the case becomes increasingly personal—and dangerous. Long-submerged secrets surface as someone called the Night Bird taunts the pair with cryptic messages pertaining to the deaths. Soon Frankie is forced to confront strange gaps in her own memory, and Frost faces a killer who knows the detective’s worst fears.

     The premise of The Night Bird grabbed me as soon as I read it. There is a lot to be said for a good crime fiction novel. But there are a great many out there so how do you go about picking which one to read next. For me, The Night Bird added something I wasn't expecting. While I have seen the blending of police procedural and psychiatry before, this one deals with memories.  They are after all that make us, us. So what if you could take away the ones that no longer serve us well or are linked to horrific trauma. Would you choose to have them removed or would that destroy who we are? It is a heavy question to ask so how was this author going to tackle them? 

     Frost and Frankie are the strong bedrock on which this story is constructed. They come from there on worlds very different from each other but still able to play off each other. Each illuminates aside to this hunt for a killer in a different way and in doing so I feel will grab at a sort of reader. I will say that Frankie's felt a lot more personal. She is much closer to her emotions and in doing so brings a rawness to the character. She is the one who is new to all this death and carnage. I think she is also more honest in a lot of ways. Nothing washes off her it is a direct line to her mind and heart. For Frost the is a world-weariness to him. This is a detective who has seen his fair share of horrible murder scenes. He is also the most skeptical of the pare. He is a man who needs proof before he will go forward. But this does not mean he is a machine, his heart still beats. When pushed he will be there for those he cares about and will fight till his last breath for them. 

     This is a very cleverly plotted tale. The author has taken his time in working out where he wants to go. And he delivers a devilishly complex tale that certainly kept me guessing till the last few chapters. I think for me he manages to mix multiple genres whilst still staying true to his core crime mystery. Whilst reading the blurb it might seem that it's all a bit far fetched but the way in which Freeman delivers meant that I never felt I was slipping away from the real world. Freeman is great at sending us straight down blind alleys and it all seems to make sense until he pulls the rug out from under you.  He amazed me in both his character development but also his world-building. He stays away for the most part at trying to throw as many well-known landmarks at you as he can. He allows the plot to breathe out into places unknown and in many ways it gives you a unique experience. 

     This was for me one of those books that left me feeling satisfied with the whole experience. It was clever enough to keep my brain working the whole time. It also gave me two leads that I could get invested in and also want more from. I'm glad this is the first in a series as I will look forward to spending more time with them.