Review of "Wrecked: IQ Novel #3" by Joe Ide

In this 3rd book in the 'IQ' series, the sleuth is hired to find a woman who ran off ten years ago. The book could be read as a standalone but it's much better to read the novels in order.

*****



Isaiah Quintabe - nicknamed IQ - is a self-styled, black sleuth in the Los Angeles hood. IQ's cases usually involve things like thefts, break-ins, runaway children, domestic violence, bullies, and conmen, and he often gets paid with homegrown vegetables, cookies, house cleaning chores, and the like.





IQ is now ready to take his detective business to the next level, and acquires a business partner - his longtime friend Juanell Dodson.



Dodson - a new husband and father (with a family to feed) - is a savvier businessman than IQ and insists the agency get paid with money.....no more bartering for window washing and blueberry muffins.

IQ is a softie however, and when an attractive artist named Grace Monarova hires him to find her mother Sarah - who skipped town ten years ago - IQ accepts a painting as remuneration. IQ would have been better off not taking the case at all.



It turns out that vanished Sarah is the object of a manhunt by Stan Walczak, a former CIA agent who now owns a high-tech security company.



Sarah has pictures of Walczak and other interrogators perpetrating horrendous atrocities at Abu Ghraib (torturing and humiliating prisoners; raping women; making prisoners do sexual things with each other; and more) and she's threatening to publish unless she gets a million dollars.

Walczak and his cronies are horrified at the idea of being international pariahs, and Walczak desperately wants to keep his wife and kids from learning about his past. Thus the former interrogators set out to find Sarah and kill her. To achieve this goal, they use drones; high-tech gizmos; fake FBI badges; government contacts; etc. The slimeballs also plan to kidnap Grace for leverage. Of course IQ gets in the way.....and becomes a target!!







Meanwhile Dodson has troubles of his own. His friend Deronda - a former business partner who expanded her food truck business into a chain - is constantly sassing him;



His mother-in-law derides him at every opportunity;



And a knife shop owner called Chester - who needs money and knows things about Dodson's past - is trying to make Dodson rob a drug dealer.



To me, this book isn't nearly as good as previous novels in the series. The earlier books had a good dose of humor and featured IQ using 'Sherlock Holmes' methods of deduction. This story has almost no fun and has very few Sherlockian moves.

Moreover, the novel feels repetitive, with scene after scene of Walczak making nefarious plans, and cat and mouse maneuvers between Walczak and IQ. And the torture scenes.....OMG! I also didn't like the budding romance between IQ and Grace, which strikes a false note and feels inauthentic in the circumstances.



In future books, I hope the author goes back to his original formula, with humorous scenes and IQ making clever deductions.

You might want to read this if you're an avid IQ fan, but temper your expectations.

Rating: 3 stars