SOURCE: "Weirdos on the Barricades," in New York Times, May 8, 1988, section 7, p. 7.

The following is McFadden's commendatory review of Freaky Deaky.

How dearly Elmore Leonard loves a scam, a con, a slippery scheme. How fond he is of the schemer, especially the schemer who thinks big. What a master criminal Mr. Leonard would make if he got tired of writing thrillers and changed professions. The plot of Freaky Deaky races along, constantly changing course and doubling back on itself, like a cunning fox in front of the hounds.

The setting is contemporary Detroit. The cast of characters includes a recycled Black Panther turned man Friday to a millionaire, a pair of student revolutionaries left over from the 1960's, assorted narcotics dealers and kneecappers, and Chris Mankowski. A straight-arrow cop no one will ever nickname Lucky, he's already in trouble with the novel's opening sentence: "Chris Mankowski's last day...