Former bomb squad detective Chris Mankowski has trouble fall into his lap in the form of Greta Wyatt, aka Ginger Jones, an actress who has been raped by local millionaire Woody Ricks. But what does that have to do with Skip and Robin, the former hippies blackmailing Ricks, or his driver Donnell?There are two things (that we'll concern ourselves with in this review) that I'm unable to resist: an Elmore Leonard book I haven't read yet and a bargain. Since this was both of those things, being 1.99 on the Kindle when I nabbed it, it was impossible for me to resist.Freaky Deaky is a tale of two former hippies seeking revenge, a former bomb squad detective riding to the rescue of a rape victim, and of a former black panther wanting to get his cut of an alcoholic millionaire's money. Pretty much par for the course for an Elmore Leonard novel.The more of old Dutch's novels I read, the more convinced I am that the man was slicker than a stick of butter going down a bobsled track. The dialogue is the star attraction, as always with Leonard books, and one of the criminals is at least as interesting as the protagonist, another Leonard standard. While I really liked Chris Mankowski, I thought Donnell Lewis was even more interesting.Even though Freaky Deaky was one of those Elmore Leonard novels that passes as quickly as a summer day, it was not without some flaws. Chris and Donnell got a long a little too well near the end, probably owing to Leonard's flying by the seat of his pants style of writing. Also, I thought Chris and Greta fell into bed a little too fast. I'm by no means an expert on rape and rape psychology but I wouldn't have thought a rape victim would be up for consensual sex two days after the event. Also, I thought it was pretty high on the douche spectrum that Chris would go for Greta so soon. Other than that, Freaky Deaky was pretty good, the usual serpentine Leonard book of cool dialogue and double crosses.Wait, I have to point out one last thing that bugged me. In the ebook version that I read, the last 20% was extraneous material like excerpts from other Leonard books. I thought I had a fifth of the book left and suddenly it was over.While I think Elmore Leonard is one of the slicker crime writers to ever live, this is definitely a second or third tier Leonard book. Three out of five stars.
Been a while since my last Elmore Leonard whose much-lamented death a couple of months ago drove me to pick this one up from the bookshelf. Line by line, paragraph by paragraph, Dutch's prose still has no peer. Forget genre writers, even regular writers would kill for a style so vivid, so immediate. Freaky Deaky has that trademark style in spades, not a despised adverb in sight. Unfortunately, the somewhat thin plot (small-time ex-hippie crooks trying to extort money out of a fat wasted millionaire) is stretched out over nearly 350 pages, an unsustainable length for this particular caper. There is some flab in the middle parts, although Leonard does give us a bravura finish. I wish he'd kept the whole thing tighter and leaner, it would have made for a better book. The setting is Detroit in the late 80s, deep into Reagan's second term. The characters, with one or two exceptions, are a venal and nasty lot. Robin and Skip, the flower children gone horribly wrong, through whose eyes Leonard looks back at the counter-culture movement which ran riot (literally) in Detroit in the late 60s and 70s. Then there's the fucked-up rich brothers, Mark and Woody, feckless targets ripe for the picking. Much of the action is set in Woody's imposing mansion, which helps to give the book its slightly claustrophobic feel. Next up, Chris Mankowski, the smart cop in trouble with the authorities, who works the case with doggedness and intuition, and picks up the girl along the way, Greta/Ginger, an actress and a naif. And finally, the memorable Donnell, ex-Black Panther, now Woody's man about the house, his interior monologues probably the best thing about Freaky Deaky. For some reason, I kept thinking Clive Rowe would have made a great Donnell, it was his face I kept seeing as I read the Donnell sections of the book. All in all, a decent read but not, perhaps, Dutch's finest work. Still, enough in here to show why Leonard is revered - and mourned - by so many.P.S. That link up there, by the way, is the Economist's wonderful obituary of Leonard, done up in the form of an affectionate (and accurate!) pastiche.
What do You think about Freaky Deaky (2002)?
A fast paced read about a group of characters who are unwillingly connected in their own various schemes of money and power. Everyone has an angle, but who will get their's first? I think we've all seen this type of story before but Leonard seems to keep the intensity high and the reader intrigued with each turn of the page. None of the characters are great or quality people it seems, but they are memorable and that is another Leonard quality in his work. Most of the characters are leftovers from 60s who fought for causes then and now fight for themselves today. Sometimes fighting for those causes led to tactics that were quite dangerous. In particular, bombs were used as objects of protest. Although the protests have changed, bombs are still used 20 years later to get what is wanted by some.From the late eighties, some parts seem dated but very plausible for today's world minus the technological advancements of cell phones, computers, or internet. Instead greed, power, and betrayal are the focus of this story. A good read overall. No new ground covered in this genre though.
—Colin
i read a pile of leonard stories this past february, 2014 and here it is december...and maybe the reason i didn't write a 'review' at that time is because i'd already written one for the many i'd already read. that totals 45 at the moment...more if you tally the stories in the individual collections.this one starts:chris mankowski's last day on the job, two in the afternoon, two hours to go, he got a call to dispose of a bomb.what happened, a guy by the name of booker, a twenty-five-year-old super-dude twice-convicted felon, was in his jacuzzi when the phone rang. he yelled for his bodyguard juicy mouth to take it. "hey, juicy?" his bodyguard, his driver and his houseman were around somewhere.sounds like lethal weapon...i know i thought that when i read it...danny glover, sitting on the throne? blue or yellow? or green? i forget. like i forget exactly what this story was about...anderson's disease...the disease that makes you forget. great for rereads....which i ought to do now that i've forgot. but naw...it'd probably come back to me about midway. then what?leonard! good reads! ooga booga!
—wally
Um Mestre da Literatura de Crime e dos Diálogos que parecem tirados da vida real!Esse é o meu primeiro livro do Elmore Leonard e fiquei impressionado! Elmore Leonard John Jr. (nascido em 11 de outubro de 1925) é um romancista e roteirista americano. Seus primeiros romances publicados na década de 1950 eram Westerns, mas Leonard passou a especializar-se em crime de ficção e suspense thrillers, muitos dos quais foram adaptados para filmes. Conheci o Elmore através do Stephen King, que sempre o cita como um dos melhores escritores de todos os tempos. Elmore é um mestre dos diálogos, eles saltam do texto, são inteligentes e usados tanto para descrever os personagens, seu passado, como para grudar o leitor na narrativa.Leonard apresenta um grupo vívido de personagens veteranos da rebelião da juventude da década de 1960. O principal deles é Chris Mankowski, um sargento de 38 anos da polícia de Detroid, que se vê envolvido com um bando de ex-revolucionários da década de 60. Essa é uma história de bandidagem, amoralidade, violência urbana e uma crítica mordaz aos anos 60. O livro é de 1988 e reflete muito bem a era da ganância, como ficou conhecida aquela década. Tudo é comprável, tudo pode ser traduzido em dinheiro. Os diálogos são espertos e com muito humor negro. Recomendo!
—Newton Nitro
