IQ by Joe Ide

IQ by Joe Ide
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

IQ is a kid from one of the toughest neighborhoods in L.A. who even though he’s a high school dropout he uses his intelligence to help take on cases that the LAPD hasn’t solved. He usually charges his clients whatever they can afford whether that be dinner that night or other random things they can part with. But in order to pay the bills IQ finds himself taking on the case of a rap mogul whose life is in danger.

IQ is a story that I found rather confusing to follow as it had a lot of flashing back and forth and really trying to tell two stories at once. Flashing back the story follows when IQ’s brother, Marcus, was tragically killed in an accident and during the present you are following the story of the rapper who’s life has been in danger.

For me a lot of this one just seemed too congested and confusing to really enjoy the story going on. There are a lot of characters brought in for both story lines to try to get to know and follow along with and it seemed to leave you hanging between switches so by the time you get back you need to figure out again what had been going on.

Overall, 2.5 stars. This one just wasn’t for me, found it hard to follow and didn’t really find myself connecting with either side of the story with jumping around. On the up side it was interesting to have a completely different set of characters coming from the tougher neighborhoods of L.A.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.