Hi Five
An electrifying combination of Holmesian mystery and SoCal grit
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3.9 • 7 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
THE TIMES BEST CRIME NOVELS OF THE YEAR
NEW YORK TIMES BEST THRILLERS OF 2020: 'Playful, fresh, full of life'
WALL STREET JOURNAL BEST MYSTERIES OF 2020: 'Among the most inventive and smartly written books in the genre'
'Extraordinary verve' The Times
'Crackles with life' New York Times
'The Holmes of the 21st century' Daily Mail
'One of the hottest mystery novelists at work' Washington Post
'Writing so sharp you may cut your fingers on the pages' Attica Locke
'The best new discovery I've come across in a long time' Michael Connelly
One witness. Five versions of the truth.
Cristiana is the daughter of the biggest arms dealers on the West Coast. She's also the sole witness and number one suspect in the murder of her boyfriend.
Isaiah Quintabe is coerced into taking the case to prove her innocence but there's a catch: Christiana has multiple personalities - five of them, to be precise - and no one personality saw the entire incident.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.
Customer Reviews
Famous five
3.5 stars
Author
Japanese American. Grew up in South Central and took his speech, style, musical tastes and attitudes from the hood, at the same time as reading a lot of Conan Doyle. He became a teacher eventually, then moved through other positions before ending up at an NGO providing shelter to abused women and children. He wrote screenplays that didn’t get picked up, then turned his hand to novels in the crime genre. This is the fourth in a series about Isiah Quintabe (or IQ), an unlicensed PI in the East Long Beach/Compton area who solves crimes in Holmesian fashion (Holmes in da Hood) in tandem his Dr Watson: con man and hustler Juanell Dodson.
Plot
After successfully reuniting a lady with her stolen Pomerarian, our hero gets involved investigating a gang related drive-by shooting of a local African-American convenience store owner as well as the murder of the business partner of a local arms dealer. The guy went down in a clothing store operated by arms dealer’s daughter, who is a suspect. Her Dad wants IQ to prove she didn’t do it. IQ doesn’t like the guy, but never knocks back a case. Turns out the daughter has multiple personality disorder (hence the title). Her housemates are a collection of weirdos too. Meanwhile, IQ’s old GF is back in town, and his new GF, who is a violinist with the local symphony, gets her violin knicked, and, and…
Characters
IQ is odd, out on the spectrum somewhere, but then so was Sherlock. The supporting cast could best be described as quirky as well, if for different reasons, so no relief there.
Narrative
Third person from our hero’s POV
Prose
Mr Ide is getting better with each outing, but it still feels derivative to me, like if Conan Doyle and Damon Runyan maybe, or Kinky Friedman, did a wild thing on Tone Loc’s leg. Or not..
Bottom line
This is my third IQ story, and I can’t seem to get as enthusiastic as lot of reviewers seem to be. It’s entertaining, and didn’t piss me off as much as most stories involving multiple personality disorder do. (Is that even a thing? I’m in two minds about the answer, or maybe three minds.)