Wrecked

August 1, 2018
The hip-hop generation's answer to Sherlock Holmes returns fast and furious in the third installment of Ide's (Righteous, 2017, etc.) celebrated series.Over the course of the last two years, Isaiah Quintabe's stature as a quick-witted neighborhood private eye has grown beyond his East Long Beach, California, base. His bank account, however, hasn't kept pace with his legend. So IQ's friend and partner, Dodson, a lapsed street hustler, tells him it's time to stop accepting ugly sweaters, home repairs, and baked goods as payment and go full-tilt marketing, complete with a Facebook page and rate scale. This business plan quickly goes out the proverbial window when Isaiah accepts as payment paintings from a truculent, enigmatic young artist named Grace, with whom he'd become "intrigued" in the previous novel. Grace wants IQ to find her mother, but when he presses her for details, she becomes resentful and secretive. He deduces that she knows more than she's telling, and before long, it becomes apparent that Grace and her mother are both in over their heads against a sadistic cabal of Iraqi War veterans implicated in torture at Abu Ghraib more heinous than other, previously exposed incidents. Meanwhile, Dodson, just getting accustomed to new fatherhood, is being blackmailed into robbing a neighborhood dealer named Junior who has a penchant for misusing four-syllable words. Then there's Isaiah's Moriarty, Seb, the Oxford-educated African gangster lurking along the edges for any opportunity to ruin, or end, IQ's life. Ide's penchant for colorful characters, droll banter, and whackadoodle set pieces is aided by a growing command of narrative dynamics. And Isaiah Quintabe remains an engaging, fascinating protagonist, but there are signs here that he's becoming more an action hero than a puzzle solver. The world has plenty of action heroes--but nowhere near enough street-wise intellects to serve as role models.There's a harder, darker edge to the violence that gives this ripsnorting follow-up a rueful yet resonant aftertaste, perhaps in anticipation of more unsettling jolts in the hero's future.

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August 27, 2018
Ide’s less than successful third mystery featuring Isaiah Quintabe (after 2017’s Righteous) focuses on action rather than deduction. Isaiah, the brilliant African-American PI known as IQ, helps his neighbors in Long Beach, Calif., with mostly mundane cases: “Store thefts, break-ins, lost children, wife-beaters, bullies, and conmen.” Artist Grace Monarova, an attractive white woman he has a crush on, asks him to trace her mother, Sarah, whom she hasn’t seen in a decade but knows is somewhere in L.A. Isaiah doesn’t know that Sarah disappeared right after becoming a murder suspect, or that she’s also the quarry of a vicious group of ex-military men, led by Stan Walczak, the founder of a global security firm. Walczak and his colleagues, who tortured prisoners at Abu Ghraib but evaded prosecution, are after Sarah because she has threatened to release incriminating video of their abuses unless she’s paid off. The flash-forward prologue, in which Isaiah is abused by Walczak and his team, reduces suspense. Fans of Ide’s innovative take on a Sherlockian sleuth will hope for a return to form in the next book. Agent: Esther Newberg, ICM.

Joe Ide weaves another fast-paced, character-driven, dialogue-rich story, masterfully narrated by Sullivan Jones. Isaiah Quintabe (IQ), struggling PI, risks his life to investigate a missing person case that exposes him to a vicious paramilitary gang. Jones is in perfect tune with Ide's snappy and often hilarious dialogue and the tension in the violent scenes. Jones is called on to differentiate male, female, young, and old of different races, and he does so flawlessly, making for an exceptional listen. Those who start with this latest addition to the series may feel compelled to listen to the first two audiobooks, also narrated by Sullivan Jones. E.Q. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

Starred review from August 1, 2018
Ide makes it three for three with his latest IQ novel (following Righteous?, 2017). East Long Beach PI Isaiah IQ Quintabe's off-the-grid, help-the-disenfranchised business is thriving in every way but one?money-paying clients (Louella Barnes just settled her bill by knitting Isaiah a reindeer Christmas sweater). IQ's pal, streetwise, chief operating officer-wannabe Dodson, hopes to turn the business around with the help of spreadsheets and a gangsta approach to collections. However, the drug dealer whom Dodson, with help from Isaiah, robbed back in the day is out of jail and looking for his pound of flesh. Meanwhile, Isaiah has a new client, Grace, who is looking for her mom, who is wanted for murder; Isaiah is smitten with Grace and takes the case only to discover that she is every bit as socially awkward as IQ. And the vanished mother leads quickly to a confrontation with a group of former MPs who thrive on torture and are convinced that Grace's mother stole their money. Naturally, a confrontation ensues, with Grace, Dodson, and Isaiah seriously underarmed (as Dodson puts it, We gonna go in there with a slingshot and a caulking gun? ). Once again, Ide brilliantly combines caper-style comedy with real-world violence and more than a dollop of complex human relationships, the kind that too often lead to mess and muddle rather than happily-ever-aftering. If you haven't discovered this series yet, remedial action is required immediately.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

August 1, 2018

Anthony, Macavity, and Shamus Award winner Ide's third book in the series starring detective Isaiah Quintabe "IQ" and his sometimes associate Dodson (after IQ and Righteous) has the duo forming IQ Investigations, although Dodson's methods make his intensely private partner uncomfortable. When IQ accepts a case tracking down the mother of a young artist whom he likes, it becomes apparent that she isn't telling him everything. The investigation turns out to be much more dangerous than expected; concurrently, a long-ago heist Dodson and IQ pulled off has reemerged and threatens to destroy all they've built. Dodson steals the show in this tale with a backstory that has grown more nuanced throughout each book. Past enemies such as African gangster Seb also make a repeat performance. VERDICT This work is grittier and coarser than previous titles in the series. Gone is the amusing banter between Dodson and IQ; instead, readers are subjected to numerous and explicit torture scenes, ranging from Abu Ghraib to current-day California. Purchase only where the series has a strong following. [See Prepub Alert, 4/23/18.]--Amy Nolan, St. Joseph, MI

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