When IQ agrees to track down a painter’s missing mother, he unexpectedly encounters a dangerous paramilitary operation — and must escape a trap so deadly that even a genius can’t see it coming. Isaiah Quintabe — IQ for short — has never been more successful, or felt more alone. A series of high-profile wins in his hometown of East Long Beach have made him so notorious that he can hardly go to … so notorious that he can hardly go to the corner store without being recognized. Dodson, once his sidekick, is now his full-fledged partner, hell-bent on giving IQ’s PI business some real legitimacy: a Facebook page, along with IQ’s promise to stop accepting Christmas sweaters and carpet cleanings in exchange for PI services.
So when a young painter approaches IQ for help tracking down her missing mother, it’s not just the case Isaiah’s looking for, but the human connection. And when his new confidant turns out to be connected to a dangerous paramilitary operation, IQ falls victim to a threat unlike anything he’s ever encountered.
Waiting for Isaiah around every corner is Seb, the Oxford-educated African gangster who was responsible for the death of his brother, Marcus. Only, this time, Isaiah’s not alone. Joined by a new love interest and his familiar band of accomplices, IQ is back — and the adventures are better than ever.
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Joe Ide delights his many fans again with another exciting entry in his IQ series with Wrecked. Ide’s version of a modern-day Sherlock Holmes in L.A. manages to be creative, funny, touching and thought-provoking. In this third installment, Isaiah Quintabe (IQ) finally gets a chance to reconnect with a mesmerizing girl he encountered at the end of the last novel (Righteous). Although IQ is so perceptive, calm and assured in his sleuthing abilities, he obviously lacks experience and confidence when it comes to connecting with a potential love-interest. Fortunately for him, Grace initiates contact when she approaches IQ to enlist his help as a highly regarded detective. She needs his aid in tracking down her mother who left under mysterious circumstances shortly after her father’s death many years ago. Grace is certain she has seen her mother watching her recently, despite the outstanding warrant for her arrest. IQ is so anxious to get close to Grace that he risks the displeasure of his new partner, Dodson, by accepting one of her paintings as payment. Of course, this case will be more complicated than it first appears. IQ may be outmatched in a confrontation with a ruthless group of ex-military operatives who are also looking for Grace’s mother. These people are leftovers from Abu Ghraib, ready to enthusiastically employ the “enhanced interrogation techniques” they learned there. Meanwhile, Dodson has been trying to keep secret from IQ that he is being blackmailed for a past action by a man who is apparently completely unhinged. The action in the IQ series is always fast-paced and the repartee often hilarious. This entry reflectively draws comparisons between the lack of regard for human life fostered in gangs on the street as well as in military “gangs” that have been allowed to cross certain lines with impunity. Ide’s writing is clever, his characters are captivating, and his storylines are unique. As with his other IQ books, Wrecked ends on a satisfying note but will leave readers clamoring for more stories about IQ and his friends.
Thanks to NetGalley and Mulholland Books for an Early Review copy of this book.
Characters are amazing. The book reads like a fantastic movie!
Isaiah Quintabe (IQ), a young private investigator, is smarter than everyone else. He serves his Long Beach community by solving his neighbor’s problems, and he is very good at it – but not so good at getting paid, often as not accepting trade or goods in lieu of money. While he’s still waiting on a promised reindeer sweater, his long-time running buddy Dodson offers to join the otherwise successful one-man agency and turn it into a profitable enterprise while at the same time solving his own cash-flow problems. Just as IQ and Dodson’s mutual past is catching up with them, IQ’s attention is caught by the artist Grace, a complicated young woman who happens to need a private investigator. Her long-lost mother is wanted for murder.
The story opens with a punch, takes off running and doesn’t let up. I read it in two days.
Each of the IQ novels is unique. The first book, IQ, is a fresh take on traditional mystery and has been nominated for just above every award out there, winning the Anthony, Macavity, and Shamus. RIGHTEOUS, a psychological thriller and second in the series, was aptly described as part Tarantino, part Sherlock Holmes.
WRECKED, the third book, is as gritty as the others, maybe even a grittier, yet also explores more tender topics. Why do people reach out to each other? What makes them resist? What bonds them? What destroys those bonds? Good and evil, love and hate, altruism and avarice, art and atrocity, loyalty and betrayal, and that strange phenomenon when someone recognizes of a kindred soul are all mixed together with two life or death ticking clocks in an ever-tightening web.
Set for publication in October of 2018, WRECKED is a thinking, feeling thriller with plenty of action and a satisfying ending. Five stars.