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 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, and 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 even a genius can’t see coming.
Waiting for Isaiah around every corner is Seb, the Oxford-educated 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.
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 even a genius can’t see coming.
Waiting for Isaiah around every corner is Seb, the Oxford-educated 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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Reviews
To describe the series in a single sentence, it embodies a lot of thought-provoking analysis, a good deal of brutality, and more than a smattering of Three Stooges thrown in for balance . . . Of his many talents, Ide's greatest is putting the reader definitively in the moment. The sense of authenticity is what sets him far apart from writers who try mightily to simulate tough guys from the streets. Ide grew up in South Central. He doesn't have to imagine anything. His characters' vernacular, some of it hysterically funny, is unfailingly spot-on
Wrecked is full of violent action, hairbreadth escapes and poignant life lessons: an unpredictable book written by an author with wizard-like gifts
With writing so sharp you may cut your fingers on the pages, Joe Ide's latest IQ novel, Wrecked, is outrageous and laugh-out-loud funny, a page-turner with devastating observations about the dangers of state-sanctioned violence and its consequences. The characters are unforgettable, none more so than IQ himself. Like the previous books, IQ's tender intelligence and his tight moral compass are what make this series so stirring... and touching
Joe Ide's IQ novels are an electrifying combination of Holmesian mystery and SoCal grit
Blazing... Ide is still the hottest of recently-emerged crime writers. He has populated Southern California with wildly entertaining characters, from those hinted at offstage to the motormouths whose priceless talk fills his pages
Wrecked is full of violent action, hairbreadth escapes and poignant life lessons: an unpredictable book written by an author with wizard-like gifts
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. . . 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 . . . 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.
Joe Ide is one of the hottest mystery novelists at work... The wonder of love, the cruelty of war, the black world he knows well, the music he loves (Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, George Shearing) - all the beauty and cruelty and craziness he filed away in his mind before he began writing these novels. With Wrecked, Ide confirms that he's among the most original new voices in today's crime fiction
