‘IQ’ by Joe Ide

Published by Weidenfeld & Nicholson,
10 August 2017.
ISBN: 978-1-474-60718-6 (PB)

The author is a Japanese American (his surname is pronounced E-day), this is his debut thriller and the private eye he has invented, African American Isaiah Quintabe (IQ by name possessing a brilliant IQ) is an electrifying   and original invention, a Sherlock Holmes of our times, from the mean, tough streets of East Long Beach.

IQ, a high school drop-out and loner, is a detective with impressive powers of observation and deduction coupled with a huge range of practical skills and he’s the one who rights a wrong and solves the crimes the LAPD won’t or can’t.  With his side-kick Dodson he faces his first big test – to find out who wants to murder celebrated rapper Calvin Wright, who records under the name Black the Knife, who’s reduced to jelly and driven mental when he’s   attacked by a 130lb pit bull terrier. This is The Hound of the Baskervilles in a thrilling re-invention.

Skillfully interwoven between the incidents taking place in 2013 is the backstory of 2005-2006. It’s here that we learn about Marcus, IQ’s older brother, whose absence has prompted IQ to become a detective.

It is the crackling one-liners, the energy of the dialogue and the superb characterisation that make the story come alive and render the book unputdownable. The reader will find him/herself hotly anticipating the release of the series of novels the author has been signed up to write.

------

Reviewer: Serena Fairfax

Joe Ide is of Japanese American descent. He grew up in South Central Los Angeles. Joe’s favorite books were the Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes stories. The idea that a person could face the world and vanquish his enemies with just his intelligence fascinated him. Joe went on to earn a graduate degree and had several careers before writing his debut novel, IQ, inspired by his early experiences and love of Sherlock. Joe lives in Santa Monica, California.

https://www.joeide.com/

Serena Fairfax spent her childhood in India, qualified as a lawyer in England and practised in London for many years. She began writing by contributing feature articles to legal periodicals   then turned her hand to fiction. Having published nine novels all, bar one, hardwired with a romantic theme, she has also written short stories and accounts of her explorations off the beaten track that feature on her blog. A tenth, distinctly unromantic, novel is a work in progress. Thrillers, crime and mystery narratives, collecting old masks and singing are a few of her favourite things.

www.serenafairfax.com