The novel begins and ends with Chris Mankowski. More than just a police detective attempting to solve a series of crimes, he is the moral center of Freaky Deaky. A pleasant guy, committed to his career but struggling to keep a job on the force, Mankowski is portrayed in a thoroughly believable manner. In 1985, Leonard said in an interview: "My cops, I feel, are real cops ... . I try to make them as real as possible. My cops cut corners a little bit, just as the real ones do."

This is not to say, however, that Mankowski is in any way tainted by corruption. He is an ordinary person in a scrape, but by the end of the novel, the reader is certain that Mankowski will prevail. He is the hero, and in Leonard's books the protagonists always succeed.

Career success, however, may not necessarily extend to Mankowski's personal...