Review of "Hi Five: IQ Novel #4" by Joe Ide

This is the fourth book in Joe Ide's "IQ" series, about Isaiah Quintabe (nicknamed IQ) - a brilliant twentysomething African-American investigator who lives in East Long Beach, California.



IQ uses Sherlock Holmes-like insights to help his clients, most of whom reside in his ghetto neighborhood.

This addition to the IQ canon occasionally refers to events in previous stories, but the salient details are explained well enough that the book works fine as a standalone.

*****

As the story opens IQ is in a relatively good place, having resolved the death of his brother Marcus - who was killed in a hit-and-run; recovered from the departure of his artist girlfriend Grace Monarova - who went to New Mexico to be with her mother.....



…..and broke with his business partner Juanell Dodson - who tends to get involved in shady (and unsuccessful) financial schemes.



IQ is happy with his work and his new girlfriend Stella McDaniels, who rose from childhood poverty to become first violinist in the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra.



IQ is going about his business when he's snatched off the street and brought to the office of arms dealer Angus Byrne, who needs a capable investigator.



Byrne's daughter Christiana, owner of a custom clothing store, was present when Byrne's right-hand-man Tyler Barnes was killed in her shop.



Christiana was found kneeling beside Tyler's bloody body, and it's likely she'll be arrested for murder.

Byrne, who's the ugliest and meanest SOB on the planet, tells IQ he'd better find the 'real murderer' FAST because if Christiana is even arrested, the hands of IQ's violinist girlfriend will be shattered. Of course this lights a fire under IQ, and he hares off to interview Christiana.

Unfortunately Christiana can't explain what happened because she suffers from multiple personality disorder and her various personalities, called alters, snapped in and out during Tyler's shooting. Thus Christiana herself was only present when Tyler first arrived....and after he was dead.

This state of affairs makes it necessary for IQ to interview each of the four alters, who are:

• Pearl - a shy young woman;



• Marlene - a hot party-girl;



• Jasper - an adolescent drummer;



• and Bertrand - an earnest, protective young man.



IQ has difficulty catching up with all these people, who tend to go their own way and do their own thing. The most amusing personality is young Jasper, who continually calls a woman with ninja skills 'the ninny girl.'

While IQ is trying to learn the truth about Tyler's death he runs into all sorts of trouble, mostly because the conspirators who engineered Tyler's murder have no intention of being caught; IQ sneaks around places he shouldn't be; and IQ gets enmeshed in arms dealer Byrne's plan to sell a VERY dangerous weapon to a drug cartel.

IQ's life is further complicated by the return of his former girlfriend Grace, who's now a neurotic mess with severe anger problems; and by the re-establishment of a connection with his old partner Juanell, who's broke and needs work.

IQ and his friends are endangered by ethnic gang members on one side and Byrne's cadre of far-right thugs on the other side. Thus the book is replete with violence, destruction, and death.

The author, Joe Ide, takes the opportunity to highlight America's current problems with gun violence, self-righteous white nationlists, and the alt.right's hatred of African-Americas, Jews, Mexicans, immigrants, and so on.....all of which is commonly seen in the news these days.



Additional characters in the story include:

• Gia - Christiana's mother, who claims Byrne caused thier daughter's multiple personality problems;
• Beaumont - a store owner injured in a drive-by shooting;
• TK - a salvage-yard owner who'd like to date an uppity church lady;
• Deronda - Dodson's nemesis, who taunts him with her successful food truck business;
• Cambodian gangbangers who do business with IQ; and more.

For me this is the least successful IQ novel to date. IQ exhibits none of the jokiness and sense of humor that made the previous books so much fun; IQ's involvement with two women seems incompatble with his personality; Grace's temper is so off the charts that she's almost intolerable; and the side plots are less then compelling. Also, I didn't like the book's ending.

That said, it's clear the author is taking IQ in a new direction, and I'm curious to see where that will lead.

Rating: 3 stars