BIRD'S EYE VIEW

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. (Aug.)