IQ

By: Joe Ide

Narrated by: Sullivan Jones

Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

Strand Critics Award for Best First Novel nominee, 2017

Shamus Award for Best First Private Eye Novel winner, 2017

Edgar Award for Best First Novel nominee, 2017

Barry Award for Best First Novel nominee, 2017

Anthony Award for Best First Novel winner, 2017

Macavity Award for Best First Novel winner, 2017

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 who 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.

©2016 Joe Ide (P)2016 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

One of the Best Books of the Year—The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Amazon, Suspense Magazine

"The start of a brand-new comedic crime franchise with a bright future. . . . Aggressively entertaining plotting is paired with the kind of dialogue for which readers love Don Winslow. This series is a Los Angeles classic right from the start."—Janet Maslin, The New York Times

"One of the most original thrillers of the year . . . [A] sometimes scary, often whimsical, off-the-wall delight . . . It's a mad world that late-blooming Joe Ide has brought forth from his past, a spicy mix of urban horror, youthful striving and show-business absurdity. His IQ is an original and welcome creation."—Patrick Anderson, Washington Post

"Wonderfully quirky . . . Exhilarating language and [an] oddball cast . . . A total laff-riot"—Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review

Narrator makes the Book

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Sullivan Jones does a wonderful job creating believable characters, and his narration makes the book worth the listen.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Several reviewers have complained about the dual plot lines. Reading the book might be easier than listening to it, but then you would miss Jones's narration. What I find least interesting is that the plot lags a great deal with what might be unnecessary parts and then seems to wrap up too quickly with a summary rather than playing out the story through dialog description, and events.

What does Sullivan Jones bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Jones creates the characters with his vocal abilities. Without his narration, the book would be a much more difficult listen.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

The book could easily be a movie. Ide creates some fun characters who are brought to life by Jones. It is clear that Ide was much more concerned with character development than with plot, which more or less works in this book.

Any additional comments?

I do not like to seem critical of any author's work because writing a compelling story is no easy task, so I would emphasize that the book is worth reading or listening to, and I suspect that Ide will produce more mature plots as he develops this series. I hope Jones remains the narrator.

A Nice Debut

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I'm not sure it would be at the top of my list to recommend, but it was good and kept my attention for most of the time.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I don't mind time jumps in a story, but there are some parts that jump from year to year without so much as a pause. Other time jumps list the year in which they are occurring. I'd prefer this to be consistent throughout the performance.

Have you listened to any of Sullivan Jones’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This is the first by Sullivan Jones. He is a really good narrator.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

IQ is somewhat of a detective novel. It's not the type of novel that moves the reader, in my opinion.

Any additional comments?

The story was pretty good, but the narrator was even better. I wouldn't have liked the story as much if not for Sullivan Jones. This is a book first book in what is now a series. I moved through this one quickly, and it was good enough to make me buy the next one.

Smart! Fresh!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. Interesting, fresh.

If you’ve listened to books by Joe Ide before, how does this one compare?

First one.

What about Sullivan Jones’s performance did you like?

I would listen to this again just because I enjoyed the dialogue so much. Gritty and authentic.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, but I also didn't want it to end, so I stretched it out.

Any additional comments?

It was a little difficult to follow the switches of characters and times. After I got to know the characters, it became easier. The author ties it all together at the end and made me want to go back and listen to it again for what I am sure I missed. It's interestingly complicated and I love books about smart people.

The Sherlock/Robin Hood of South Central

I read a lot of crime fiction, but I’m not much for contemporary American urban crime fiction novels. I’m much more likely to read Eurocrime or a British police procedural. But Marilyn Stasio’s New York Times review of Joe Ide’s debut novel made me decide that I should take a chance on this story of IQ, Isaiah Quintabe, a sort of combo Sherlock Holmes and Robin Hood of South Central Los Angeles. And I’m glad I did.

This is a dual-narrative story, with the contemporary thread set in 2013 and a backstory thread about how a family tragedy threw a teenage IQ off the planned track of college and career and down a road full of potholes. When you’re underage, undersized, and living in South Central with nothing but the power of your mind, what do you do?

IQ makes some unsurprising choices for a resident of his neighborhood, but his reasoning skills take those choices to a different level. When he reluctantly partners with a smart-mouthed gangster wannabe named Dotson, their capers had me biting my nails, laughing and shaking my head, sometimes all at the same time.

In the contemporary thread, IQ gets investigative jobs by word of mouth from people in the neighborhood. Most of them don’t have much money, but they pay what they can, in cash, food, favors or whatever they have. But then Dotson, his old partner, calls him for a big payday job, finding out who is trying to kill a rapper.

Nobody much likes the rapper or wants to give information to IQ, but it’s his Sherlockian ability to pick up on small clues and develop their meaning that drives this part of the plot. It’s a real pleasure to follow his reasoning and how he conducts his investigation. Ide nicely mixes this appeal to the reader’s intellect with frequent shots of heart-thumping action.

IQ is an appealing character and Dotson and other side characters are vividly drawn. Ide’s career as a screenwriter shows in the way he writes. There is a lot of colorful (to say the least) dialog, scene-setting is done efficiently and expressively, and you can see the action play out in your mind like a movie as you read. The two threads of the plot got a little messy toward the end and things bogged down a bit. I felt like some of the backstory’s exposition was too heavy toward the end. All in all, though, this is a very good read and left me wanting to see more of Joe Ide’s work in the future.

I thought the narrator, Sullivan Jones, did an excellent job with the different voices. He differentiated the characters well and he added a lot of flavor to the book.

The Narrator Makes The Difference!

Would you consider the audio edition of IQ to be better than the print version?

Yes! The narrator, Sullivan Jones, does a fantastic job narrating the story. Written with (apparently) authentic dialog in the vernacular of the "hood," Mr. Jones nails every character, giving each a distinct voice.

What was one of the most memorable moments of IQ?

There were many: the bonfire, the parking garage, the gang wars, and others.

Which character – as performed by Sullivan Jones – was your favorite?

Loved IQ, but Dodson was just so real.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, but you will want to savor each moment to stretch it out.

Any additional comments?

This may be the best example of narration over print that I've ever heard! Will look for more by this narrator - and this author.

Well-performed and Compelling

I enjoyed this category-defying novel. The protagonist is a young African-American teenager named IQ, from the hood who becomes a crime-solving hero type. Imperfect and struggling with his identity, IQ is not the ideal tough guy of most espionage and crime thrillers; rather, he is a real, flawed guy who is defined by his environment and circumstances. The book is believably written and read with the language of young black men from a poor, crime-ridden neighborhood. As a middle-aged, middle-class, white guy, I’m no expert but it was believable and compelling and it seemed the author was down with that culture. The book goes back and forth about ten years and you see character development and a well-paced story that kept me engaged throughout. Im going right into the next book. i’m really glad to have found this.

It was just OK

The book did not do it for me. The narrator was great which helped with the weak story line. I like idea of the story but it just did not keep me involved.

Loved it!

Loved this book, the characters and the narration. Great listen and worth the time and credit.

Great story

I can't believe it took me so long to get this. Finished it in a day and a half.

Great story and narrator

I gave this a try because of a recommendation from a podcast I listen to called Crime Writers On...True Crime Review that Periodically recommends books to read. I thought I would give this one a try with their description as a modern day Sherlock in Compton LOL it’s so much more than that, it’s fun, it’s smart and it’s touching. It’s a new storyline which is the best thing yet. I feel like things sometimes in the detective world gets a little rehashed. This was a fresh new storyline with an interesting twist and smart I enjoyed it very much. I already started book 2