Bird is the name given to Marcie by her grandfather Jack. He is the one who raises her when her mother is killed in a mysterious car accident. Jack, now on his deathbed, and haunted by dreams, calls for Marcie. He has visions of a woman hanging from a tree, an apparition which constantly appears at his bedside. Marcie investigates Jack's past and in doing so uncovers the hidden history of her dysfunctional family.
The present day portions of the book are set in suburbia. Marcie lives happily with her boyfriend and twins in a small uncomfortable flat. Jack's family live unhappily in a large suburban semi. The settings, along with the rancour of the family, cleverly give the book a black and white 'period' feel. Although the book is set in the present day I felt the characters all dressed like Mr Chumley Warner and spoke BBC English. This is not a criticism - it really adds to the suspense of the book.
The retrospective pieces of the book are set in a rural farming community, the country setting of which adds little colour to the book. This is not Ambridge but a community that 'don't like strangers here'. If you walked into a pub here it would all go quiet, the darts players would stop, a cock would crow three times, and you'd want to get the hell out of there.
Jane Adams has written the perfect Hitchcock script, and it's a tragedy that he is not around to film Bird. The suspense and horror in this book don't come from descriptive violence, or the threat of another murder, but from what is left unsaid. This is the art of the truly great suspense novel, an art which Adams has mastered.
