Freak

Dan Fortune #11

by Michael Collins

Ian Campbell didn't approve when his son Alan married eighteen-year- old Helen Kay Murdoch, but he gave the couple their first house as a wedding present anyway. A year later Ian returned from holiday in Europe to find Alan and his new wife gone, the house he had given them sold at a loss for quick cash, and no clues left behind but a note pad with one word doodled on it over and FREAK, Freak, Freak . . .
Ian sent for Dan Fortune, and the loner detective from New York's Chelsea district began a deadly investigation that takes him from the affluent New Jersey suburbs to the resort towns of the Jersey shore, from the sleazy one-night- stand hotels of mid-Manhattan to the deserts and mountains of Arizona. He tracks down the missing pair, only to have the case explode into a nightmare of terror.

Genres: Mystery

192 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1983

About the author

Michael Collins was a Pseudonym of Dennis Lynds (1924–2005), a renowned author of mystery fiction. Raised in New York City, he earned a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart during World War II, before returning to New York to become a magazine editor. He published his first book, a war novel called Combat Soldier, in 1962, before moving to California to write for television.

Two years later Collins published the Edgar Award–winning Act of Fear (1967), which introduced his best-known character: the one-armed private detective Dan Fortune. The Fortune series would last for more than a dozen novels, spanning three decades, and is credited with marking a more politically aware era in private-eye fiction. Besides the Fortune novels, the incredibly prolific Collins wrote science fiction, literary fiction, and several other mystery series. He died in Santa Barbara in 2005.

Reviews

[James S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

The toothless writing gave me no reason to continue reading.

[Jonah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story kept moving, enjoyed the ending.

[Hannnah S · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually really enjoyed this book, it can be a tad bit dry at times, and slow paced but it has a very old-timey detective feel that I really liked!

[marcia hepps]

I always enjoy this writer and especially the character of Dan Fortune. He's always a good read and there's always something deeper and of significance to chew on. With this one it's in the title.