bwkramer's review against another edition
3.0
Probably a three because I’m comparing it to the other books in the series. This one just wasn’t as good. Much more of a standard blackmail/revenge story and not enough IQ-like story.
kbranfield's review against another edition
4.0
Wrecked by Joe Ide is an action-packed mystery starring street smart and highly observant sleuth Isaiah "IQ" Quintabe and his somewhat trusty sidekick/partner Juanell Dodson. This third installment in the IQ series can be read as a standalone but I highly recommend the previous two novels as well.
IQ has been admiring struggling artist Grace Monarova from afar and he is pleased but nervous when she requests a meeting. Although disappointed she is only interested in his investigative abilities, he nonetheless agrees to help find her missing mother, Sarah. Quickly delving into his new case, IQ is aware his new client is being less than forthcoming but he soon figures out he and Grace are in serious danger. Unbeknownst to Grace or IQ, Sarah is blackmailing Stan Walczak, a former CIA agent who viciously tortured prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Stan has cobbled together a group of disgraced veterans who worked for him at the prison and they are determined to find Sarah and neutralize the threat she poses to them. Will IQ find Sarah before Walczak and his henchman?
IQ's newly acquired business partner and long time friend, Dodson, however is less than thrilled to discover IQ is not adhering to their newly formed business model. Instead of agreeing to be paid in actual money instead of bartered goods, IQ instead selects one of Grace's paintings for payment. However, Dodson is embroiled in his own troubles when his past with his former business partner Deronda Simmons comes back to haunt them. Years earlier, IQ rescued Dodson and Deronda from their ill-thought out plan to rob a neighborhood thug, Junior. Someone divulged their secret to knife store owner Chester Babbitt who is in desperate need of funds and he uses this knowledge to blackmail Dodson into stealing money from Junior. In typical Dodson fashion, he attempts to handle this latest predicament without assistance from IQ. But will Dodson be able to get out from underneath Babbitt's demands on his own?
Wrecked is a fast-paced and energetic mystery that moves at a brisk pace. Isaiah is back on his home turf in this latest entry in the IQ series but his feelings for Grace leave him off balance. His investigation into Sarah's whereabouts is interesting and he and Grace are both in grave danger throughout the novel. Dodson's story arc is just as intriguing and readers will be quite satisfied by its clever resolution. Another gritty and adrenaline-fueled installment in Joe Ide's IQ series that old and new fans are sure to enjoy.
IQ has been admiring struggling artist Grace Monarova from afar and he is pleased but nervous when she requests a meeting. Although disappointed she is only interested in his investigative abilities, he nonetheless agrees to help find her missing mother, Sarah. Quickly delving into his new case, IQ is aware his new client is being less than forthcoming but he soon figures out he and Grace are in serious danger. Unbeknownst to Grace or IQ, Sarah is blackmailing Stan Walczak, a former CIA agent who viciously tortured prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Stan has cobbled together a group of disgraced veterans who worked for him at the prison and they are determined to find Sarah and neutralize the threat she poses to them. Will IQ find Sarah before Walczak and his henchman?
IQ's newly acquired business partner and long time friend, Dodson, however is less than thrilled to discover IQ is not adhering to their newly formed business model. Instead of agreeing to be paid in actual money instead of bartered goods, IQ instead selects one of Grace's paintings for payment. However, Dodson is embroiled in his own troubles when his past with his former business partner Deronda Simmons comes back to haunt them. Years earlier, IQ rescued Dodson and Deronda from their ill-thought out plan to rob a neighborhood thug, Junior. Someone divulged their secret to knife store owner Chester Babbitt who is in desperate need of funds and he uses this knowledge to blackmail Dodson into stealing money from Junior. In typical Dodson fashion, he attempts to handle this latest predicament without assistance from IQ. But will Dodson be able to get out from underneath Babbitt's demands on his own?
Wrecked is a fast-paced and energetic mystery that moves at a brisk pace. Isaiah is back on his home turf in this latest entry in the IQ series but his feelings for Grace leave him off balance. His investigation into Sarah's whereabouts is interesting and he and Grace are both in grave danger throughout the novel. Dodson's story arc is just as intriguing and readers will be quite satisfied by its clever resolution. Another gritty and adrenaline-fueled installment in Joe Ide's IQ series that old and new fans are sure to enjoy.
foureyebooks's review
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
jdglasgow's review against another edition
5.0
If Goodreads allowed half-stars, I think I would rate this 4.5, but as-is I had to give it the full five. I’m with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on this one: I think it’s quite possibly the best of the three IQ books so far.
This book ditched the interspersed flashbacks of the previous two, a device which certainly had the potential for becoming tiresome. The plot of Wrecked is therefore much more straightforward, focusing instead on changing perspectives (Isaiah, Dodson, Grace, Sarah, and the cadre of ex-cop/ex-military baddies one by one) rather than jumping around in time.
This entry has some of the coolest action sequences. The fake-out when Walszac and Co. drop off the million dollars in particular is spectacular. I also have to call out the junkyard battle, in which TK gets in on the action.
It’s got some classic IQ brainstorming moments, too. When he has to locate Grace’s kidnapper, it recalls the chase scene that opened the first book. His plan for catching Walszac off-guard (by strategically hiding a can of pepper spray) is also brilliant.
WRECKED also does a great job of humanizing Isaiah. His stop-and-start romance with Grace feels very much appropriate for this character who perceives himself as out of step with the world at large. Oh, and I wanted to mention too that this book deals more frankly with the role that race and racism must play in Isaiah’s life, which I’m glad to see because the prior books felt a little artificial in how they shied away from those discussions.
The bad guys are truly loathsome: I think they’re far more compelling than the primary baddies in the earlier books. And this book does a great job of upturning your expectations, right up to the end with a final “twist” which, in retrospect, should have been kind of obvious.
I do sort of feel there the subplot about Chester Babbitt isn’t the strongest, and an even more minor subplot about performing a favor for Manzo with the help of the junior high science club seems entirely superfluous. What I can say in favor of the Babbittt plotline, though, is that it provides an excuse to bring back Junior, whose verbose way of extrapolating is resolutely exemplary (which is to say: it’s a lot of fun).
I’m tempted to request Hi-Five from the library immediately and jump right into it because I find the IQ books so enthralling, but at the same time I don’t want to run out of books in this excellent series, so I may try to hold myself back a bit. I can guarantee I won’t be able to hold out long, though. I’m very eager to find out what happens next.
This book ditched the interspersed flashbacks of the previous two, a device which certainly had the potential for becoming tiresome. The plot of Wrecked is therefore much more straightforward, focusing instead on changing perspectives (Isaiah, Dodson, Grace, Sarah, and the cadre of ex-cop/ex-military baddies one by one) rather than jumping around in time.
This entry has some of the coolest action sequences. The fake-out when Walszac and Co. drop off the million dollars in particular is spectacular. I also have to call out the junkyard battle, in which TK gets in on the action.
It’s got some classic IQ brainstorming moments, too. When he has to locate Grace’s kidnapper, it recalls the chase scene that opened the first book. His plan for catching Walszac off-guard (by strategically hiding a can of pepper spray) is also brilliant.
WRECKED also does a great job of humanizing Isaiah. His stop-and-start romance with Grace feels very much appropriate for this character who perceives himself as out of step with the world at large. Oh, and I wanted to mention too that this book deals more frankly with the role that race and racism must play in Isaiah’s life, which I’m glad to see because the prior books felt a little artificial in how they shied away from those discussions.
The bad guys are truly loathsome: I think they’re far more compelling than the primary baddies in the earlier books. And this book does a great job of upturning your expectations, right up to the end with a final “twist” which, in retrospect, should have been kind of obvious.
I do sort of feel there the subplot about Chester Babbitt isn’t the strongest, and an even more minor subplot about performing a favor for Manzo with the help of the junior high science club seems entirely superfluous. What I can say in favor of the Babbittt plotline, though, is that it provides an excuse to bring back Junior, whose verbose way of extrapolating is resolutely exemplary (which is to say: it’s a lot of fun).
I’m tempted to request Hi-Five from the library immediately and jump right into it because I find the IQ books so enthralling, but at the same time I don’t want to run out of books in this excellent series, so I may try to hold myself back a bit. I can guarantee I won’t be able to hold out long, though. I’m very eager to find out what happens next.
csdaley's review against another edition
4.0
I am still really enjoying this series. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series. I.Q. Is one of my favorite new characters.
glenmowrer's review against another edition
2.0
The downward spiral continues. Joe Ide had a brilliant concept and his first effort was stunning. The second saw him pandering to a sort of voyeurism as his readers (almost certainly a dramatically different demographic than the subjects of his work) were titillated with seamy "insights" into the world of yet another gangland culture. How accurate the views were is suspect but they were, at a minimum sensationalized. This efforts ropes in the evils of mercenary military types perfected in their evil by their experiences torturing in the mid-east. Bringing this evil into the poor neighborhoods of East Long Beach took some torturous (pardon) efforts itself. One has to wonder where the multi-cultural society Ide imagines exists. But the premise that blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Anglos and African Africans can co-mingle so easily as these works propose. But the problem the author faces most acutely is the pretense that his lead character is in fact a new Sherlock. In fact, one wonders if this was the writer's intent at all and if it was not thrust on him by the readers who made the jump after the first novel came out. Anyway, trying to expand the idea that our hero observes and deduces critical information from observations others ignore gets pretty torturous as well. On top of this there is an unnecessary, even gratuitous, infatuation with descriptive ultra violence which is off putting. Finally the stories (there are as expected several threads) invariably rise to a critical peak and then are resolved with sudden improbable or impossible interventions. Worse, the remaining enemies continue on seemingly ignoring their alleged obsession with vengeance and violence. I doubt I will quickly pick up IQ 4.
sjhaug's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
srspaulding's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
annesbooks1's review against another edition
too violent, took away from the story
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence