Joe Ide - IQ

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Very good

I thought this was really good.  IQ is a very well written, exciting and sometimes funny book which also paints quite a penetrating picture of rapper and gang life in LA.

The IQ of the title is Isaiah Quintabe.  He is a moral, highly intelligent young man who has become a sort of unofficial detective to his community of poor black people in LA.  He also has to deal with very rich rappers and gangsters, and with the gangs which are an endemic part of life in his area.  He deals with a number of cases with his sort-of-sidekick Dodson, who is not moral by any means, creating a great comic tension between them.  Principally, they are engaged to find out who is trying to kill a prominent rapper.  The story is well paced, gripping and neatly intercut with the story from an earlier time which eventually explains how IQ came to be as he is.

The book is very well written, with elements of Sherlock and also of The Sellout, although it's different from both.  The setting and dialogue are exceptionally well done.  I liked this little early exchange, for example, between Isaiah and a young woman he knows, which I found funny and also insightful about attitudes:
"I'm an up-and-comer, you know what I'm sayin'? I was *born* to be a celebrity.  I should have the spotlight all over me."
"Spotlight all over you – for what?" Isaiah said.
"What do you mean for what? That Kardashian girl's booty could fit *inside* my booty and you talking about for what.  You know she made thirty million last year?"

(Do be aware that the language is appropriate to the setting, so the f-word appears frequently as do a lot of other swear words.  I think it's absolutely right in the context, but if you're offended by it, then this won't be for you.)

This looks as if it will be the start of a great series.  I'll be looking out for the next one, and I can recommend IQ very warmly.

(I received an ARC via Netgalley.)