Publishers Weekly
★ 11/11/2019
In Edgar-finalist Ide’s stellar fourth IQ novel (after 2018’s Wrecked), genius detective Isaiah Quintabe, who usually helps those in need in his impoverished East Long Beach, Calif., neighborhood, takes on a paying client. Angus Byrne, a vicious white supremacist who’s also a major arms dealer, wants Isaiah to investigate the shooting murder of an employee of his, Tyler Barnes. The obvious suspect is Byrne’s daughter, Christiana, who was found next to Barnes’s body in the store she owns in Newport Beach. Byrne tells Isaiah that unless Christiana is cleared, the detective’s significant other, violinist Stella McDaniels, will have her fingers broken. The stakes rise when Isaiah meets Christiana and learns that she has multiple personalities, each with separate recollections of the events leading to Barnes’s murder. The unexpected return, after two years, of Isaiah’s true love, former client Grace Monarova, complicates his task. Readers will root for Ide’s distinctive lead every step of the way. This innovative series continues to show promise for a long, high-quality run. Agent: Esther Newberg, ICM. (Jan.)
From the Publisher
A New York Times Best Thriller of 2020 A Wall Street Journal Best Book of 2020
"Engrossing . . . IQ's cases have become more complex, the stakes raised for the African American detective and a cast of regular characters who give the series an unexpected warmth. . . . The author is skilled at developing the humanity of every character, regardless of their perspective. It's a hallmark of Ide's evolving style that allows Hi Five to stand on its own for first-time readers, even as the series deepens longtime fans' engagement. . . . Hi Five succeeds on so many fronts as it sets IQ and the series' characters on an uncertain path down darker roads."—Paula L. Woods, Los Angeles Times
"Savor the freshness, vividness and ingenuity of the author's prose. . . . There are real truths hidden in the entertainment. . . . Hit men, henchmen, bagmen — they all wander in and out of a highly diverting book that crackles with life and vividness."—Sarah Lyall, New York Times Book Review
"Mr. Ide is a remarkable writer, inhabiting the personae and rendering the back stories of a diverse assortment of characters... 'Hi Five' more than earns its triumphant title."—Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal
"The end result of all Ide's frenetic literary machinations, however, is a crime novel that gives readers a sense of the totality of life in all its possibility: comedy, violence, irrationality and heartbreak. It's no longer a fresh observation to say that Ide is an original as a suspense writer, but, certainly, every novel he writes - including Hi Five - feels like a new invention."—Maureen Corrigan, The Washington Post
"While novels about hotshot detectives have thrived since the days of Sherlock Holmes, Joe Ide delivers a fresh and wholly modern update to the genre. . . . Ide's rapid-paced, colorful dialogue pops off the page as he brings to life rappers, arms dealers, loan sharks and gangsters across four novels."—TIME
"Buy Hi Five by the great Joe Ide, the latest in his brilliant series about Isaiah Quintabe, a modern Sherlock Holmes from Long Beach, Calif. Trust me on this: There's nobody out there right now better than Joe Ide."—Mike Lupica, New York Daily News
I"t's a mark of Ide's skill that he's able to pull off such a plot, and he does it with credibility and more than a little poignancy."—Michele Ross, The Plain Dealer
"It's all part of the evolution of the character that in Hi Five sees Isaiah moving into darker places."—Peter Larsen, The Orange County Register
"In Edgar-finalist Ide's stellar fourth IQ novel...readers will root for Ide's distinctive lead every step of the way. This innovative series continues to show promise for a long, high-quality run."—Publishers Weekly, starred review
Library Journal - Audio
04/01/2020
Isaiah "IQ" Quintabe is a self-styled detective in Long Beach, CA. IQ is coerced by Angus Byrne, a black-market arms dealer, into clearing his daughter Christiana from blame in a murder that took place in her Newport Beach boutique. Christiana suffers from multiple personality disorder, and no one personality saw the entire incident. To find out what really happened the night of the murder, Isaiah must piece together clues from each of the personalities. If he can't, Angus will end the career of IQ's new girlfriend. Zeno Robinson, a Disney voice actor, gives personality to a huge cast of characters and enables the listener to empathize and understand their motivation and entrapment in a very desperate society. VERDICT This is a fast-moving, violent story with lots of sociopolitical commentary, and is highly recommended for adult audio fiction collections.—Cliff Glaviano, formerly with Bowling Green State Univ. Libs., OH
Library Journal
11/15/2019
Isaiah Quintabe has had some wild cases in the past, but nothing like this latest gig working for notorious criminal and all-around bad guy Angus Byrne. The odious Angus strong-arms IQ into investigating the murder of fellow criminal, Tyler Barnes, who was killed in his daughter Christiana Byrne's Newport Beach shop. Christiana is the lone witness and naturally the prime suspect, and Angus threatens to harm Isaiah's girlfriend, Stella, if IQ doesn't find out who finished off Tyler. It's difficult enough to work the case under duress, but Christiana suffers from multiple personality disorder and each personality saw something that night but not one of them saw it all go down. In the midst of this mess, Isaiah's lost love Grace has returned to town, wreaking havoc on his heart. Add to that a Cambodian street gang and some illegal arms dealing and you've got just another day in the life of East Long Beach's most acclaimed private eye.
VERDICT With a convoluted plot that is hard to keep straight, as well as numerous overt political screeds against the current administration, Ide's fourth IQ novel (Wrecked; Righteous) forsakes a winning cast and excellent storytelling for something less satisfying than a compelling mystery. [See Prepub Alert, 7/8/19.]—Amy Nolan, St. Joseph, MI
JANUARY 2020 - AudioFile
Zeno Robinson narrates the fourth audiobook in the series featuring private investigator Isaiah Quintabe (IQ). IQ’s latest case involves especially high stakes. For one, the powerful arms dealer Angus Byrne is forcing him to solve a shooting death and threatening to break the hands of IQ’s girlfriend, a violinist, if he fails. Also, the main witness/suspect is Byrne’s daughter, who has five distinct personalities, each with a different version of the events leading to the shooting in question. It’s a messy story with many subplots, but it’s still completely entertaining, thanks to the sharp writing and Robinson’s stellar performance. While providing narrative clarity and excellent pacing, Robinson expertly voices a large cast of characters to the point where it’s hard to believe he’s this audiobook’s sole narrator. A.T.N. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2020 Best Audiobook © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2019-10-27
Unlicensed, untrammeled, uncensored South Central shamus Isaiah Quintabe's fourth case could be his toughest—and not because it's so hard to figure out whodunit.
Nobody says no to arms dealer Angus Byrne, and he certainly doesn't intend for IQ to be the first. So when East Long Beach's premiere unofficial investigator, who's been kidnapped and marched into the dealer's presence after declining an earlier invitation from his goons, indicates in no uncertain terms that no, he's not interested in clearing Angus' daughter, custom tailor Christiana Byrne, from suspicion of shooting Tyler Barnes, Angus' very best employee, Angus promptly turns up the heat, threatening to break the hand of IQ's girlfriend, violinist Stella McDaniels, if Christiana is so much as arrested for murder. Not enough pressure for you? Well, IQ's attachment to Stella is about to be seriously tested by the return of his lost love Grace Monarova, who took off for New Mexico with IQ's dog in the wake of his last adventure (Wrecked, 2018). And Christiana turns out to be not one but five suspects, including homebody Pearl, seductive Marlene, adolescent Jasper, and guardian Bertrand, all fighting for attention and control inside Christiana's tormented psyche. Figuring out which of the five personalities witnessed which events on the night of the murder and which of them can remember and describe anything about what really happened would be a tall order for any sleuth. But although he isn't just any sleuth, IQ has to juggle a record number of subplots and distractions, from his buddy Thomas Kahill's sudden yearning for true love to the maneuvering of Angus' lieutenants for control of his arms empire to a series of increasingly intemperate skirmishes over a particular prize, a modern rendition of a Gatling gun.
Mystery and detection compete with a gorgeous swarm of supercharged personalities on their own wild rides.
