Elmore Leonard’s Freaky Deaky is a razor-sharp, darkly comic crime novel that captures the seedy underbelly of 1980s Detroit, where ex-1960s radicals collide with hustlers, cops, and lowlifes in a twisted plot of revenge and greed.
The story follows Chris Mankowski, a bomb squad detective on the verge of transferring to Sex Crimes, who gets tangled in a dangerous scheme orchestrated by Skip Gibbs and Robin Abbott, two former anti-war activists turned con artists. Using their knowledge of explosives and psychological manipulation, they plot to extort millions from Woody Ricks, a wealthy but dim-witted playboy, by staging a series of terrifying bomb threats. Meanwhile, Woody’s alcoholic brother, Donnell, and his sharp-witted chauffeur, Greta, complicate matters with their own agendas.
Leonard’s signature snappy dialogue and breakneck pacing drive the story, filled with double-crosses, explosive set pieces, and morally ambiguous characters who are as charismatic as they are corrupt. The novel masterfully blends black humor with tension, exposing the absurdity of criminal ambitions and the unpredictable nature of human greed.
A standout in Leonard’s gritty, dialogue-driven oeuvre, Freaky Deaky is a wild ride through deception and danger—where nobody’s clean, and everyone’s got an angle.
“Vintage Leonard—wickedly funny, brutally smart, and impossible to put down.”
