Review of "Righteous: IQ Novel #2" by Joe Ide

This is the second book in Joe Ide's "IQ" series, about Isaiah Quintabe (nicknamed IQ) - a brilliant twentysomething investigator who uses Sherlock Holmes-like insights to resolve his cases.



IQ, who lives and works around Los Angeles, generally takes local jobs like getting a bully to stop bothering the science club kids and warning off an abusive spouse. Many of IQ's clients are financially strapped, so they pay in baked goods, produce, chickens, and the like.



Isaiah idolized his older brother Marcus, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver eight years ago. The incident devastated Isaiah and changed the trajectory of his life. Instead of heading off to Harvard as Marcus wanted, Isaiah dropped out of high school and became a thief. He then mended his ways and set himself up as the local detective.

Just recently, IQ was in a junkyard and spotted the vehicle that killed his brother. From clues in the car, Isaiah figured out that Marcus was deliberately murdered, and vowed to track down the perpetrator(s) and get revenge.



While IQ is looking into his brother's death he gets a call from Marcus's one-time girlfriend Sarita Van, who's now a lawyer.



Sarita tells Isaiah that her younger sister Janine, who works as a DJ in Las Vegas, is in bad trouble.



The DJ and her useless boyfriend Benny are gambling addicts and owe a lot of money to loan sharks. Thus the duo are in danger of getting beat up.....or even killed. Isaiah, who's had a crush on Sarita for years, says he'll go to Vegas to help out - hoping this gives him a shot with the beautiful lawyer.

IQ wants backup for the Vegas job, so he looks up his old partner in crime Juanell Dodson, who now owns a food truck and is an expectant father - looking forward to raising 'L'il Tupac' with his girlfriend Cerise.





Dodson is always trying to prove that he's just as smart as Isaiah, and constantly attempts to get the jump on IQ's lightning-quick insights. This doesn't work and leads to friction between the pair.

The action in the book jumps back and forth between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and is interspersed with flashbacks to the backstories of some characters. This can be confusing so the reader needs to pay close attention.



In Los Angeles, IQ drops in on various gang members and criminals, thinking they might have information about his brother's death. This leads to run-ins with dangerous Mexican gangbangers like Frankie - who thinks Marcus robbed him; Ramona - who'd kill you as soon as look at you; and Manzo - a tough guy who's trying to take his gang into upscale enterprises like real estate.



Isaiah also seeks out Seb - a dapper little real estate magnate/money launderer whose leg was chopped off by a Tutsi tribesman in East Africa; and Gahigi - Seb's enigmatic right-hand man, who looks a bear gouged grooves into his head. Step by step, Isaiah gains insight into his brother's death.



Meanwhile, in Las Vegas Janine and Benny decide to steal computer records from Ken Van (Janine and Sarita's father), who's the accountant for a Chinese gang of human traffickers. The DJ and her boyfriend figure they'll extort the gang for cash to pay their debts.



After this idiotic maneuver, the duo are in the deadly sights of the Chinese mob AND Leo the loan shark, who runs around with a 7-foot-tall gargoyle called Balthazar who 'only needs bolts in the side of his head to look like Frankenstein's big brother' and whose 'backpack fit like a cupcake stuck on his spine.'



When IQ and Dodson try to help Janine and Benny, the gangbangers and thugs go after them as well. Thus there's plenty of action - with pain, injuries and near-death (or real death) experiences for everyone involved.

Isaiah, who was a colorful firecracker in the first book, is more subdued and less interesting in this second installment. He constantly daydreams about Sarita (this is too icky) and demonstrates very little of the sparkling repartee that made him so much fun the first time around. On the upside, Isaiah is solicitous of his new pit bull Ruffin, and meets an interesting girl in the junkyard....who provides good advice about training the pooch.



As Isaiah works to identify his brother's killer and to solve Janine's predicament, the two cases come together in an unforeseen - and rather inventive - fashion.

Though 'Righteous' isn't quite as good as 'IQ' (IMO) I enjoyed the book and recommend it to fans of thrillers. I look forward to the next IQ book, where I hope Isaiah will recapture his zing. :)

Rating: 3 stars