ARC Review: IQ by Joe Ide

IQ
Author: Joe Ide
Publication: Mulholland Books (October 18, 2016)

Description: A resident of one of LA's toughest neighborhoods uses his blistering intellect to solve the crimes the LAPD ignores.

East Long Beach. The LAPD is barely keeping up with the neighborhood's high crime rate. Murders go unsolved, lost children unrecovered. But someone from the neighborhood has taken it upon himself to help solve the cases the police can't or won't touch.

They call him IQ. He's a loner and a high school dropout, his unassuming nature disguising a relentless determination and a fierce intelligence. He charges his clients whatever they can afford, which might be a set of tires or a homemade casserole. To get by, he's forced to take on clients that can pay.

This time, it's a rap mogul whose life is in danger. As Isaiah investigates, he encounters a vengeful ex-wife, a crew of notorious cutthroats, a monstrous attack dog, and a hit man who even other hit men say is a lunatic. The deeper Isaiah digs, the more far reaching and dangerous the case becomes.

My Thoughts: Isaiah Quintabe was raised in West LA. He was orphaned at ten and raised by his older brother Marcus until Marcus was killed by a hit and run driver. Isaiah was in all AP classes until his brother's death derails him. He quits school and is determined to find the car that hit his brother. This leads him to develop all sorts of new skills. Already strong in inductive reasoning, he adds an improved visual memory. He finds himself in need of money to keep his brother's apartment and gains a roommate named Juanell Dodson who is gansta and a drug dealer. Dodson is always looking for the next shortcut to riches and drags Isaiah into things.

This story alternates in time between 2005-2006 when Marcus dies and Dodson and Isaiah become roommates and 2013 when Isaiah has begun using his skills to help solve neighborhood problems. He is the Sherlock Holmes of West LA. Dodson bring him a new case: someone wants rapper Black the Knife dead. There are lots of possible suspects from his ex-wife to some of his hangers-on to the record exec who wants a new record. Hired to take care of the rapper is a hitman named Skip who raises pit bulls and has bred a giant one that he uses to try to attack the rapper.

This mystery was new territory for me. The setting of gang-infested West LA was new. I enjoyed finding out IQ's story and watching him use his reasoning to solve this crime.

Favorite Quote:

It made no difference at all be he couldn't help seeing what he saw. Things different or things not right or out of place or in place when they shouldn't be or not in sync with the words that came with them.

I got this eARC from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.