G-L - The Irresponsible Reader

Below Zero (Audiobook) by C. J. Box, David Chandler: Joe Pickett’s 9th Adventure is Almost Impossible to Believe

On May 4, 2021

In Audiobook, C. J. Box, Fiction, Joe Pickett, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Before you read on—if you haven’t read the third book in the Joe Pickett series, Winterkill, you probably shouldn’t read anything else in this post. Really, it’s impossible for me to not ruin Winterkill and talk about this book.

Below Zero

by C. J. Box, David Chandler (Narrator)
Series: Joe Pickett, #9

Unabridged Audiobook, 10 hrs., 22 min.
Recorded Books, 2009

Read: March 24-25, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

Don’t say I didn’t warn you if you haven’t read Winterkill…

What’s Below Zero About?

Joe Pickett’s daughter starts getting text messages from a very unlikely source: April, her foster sister. The sister that Joe watched die in a fire during a horrific FBI raid on a group of survivalists. Joe and Marybeth are skeptical at first—Sheridan is a little skeptical, but she wants to believe. Eventually, they provisionally accept that it is April texting them and Joe heads off to rendezvous with her.

The difficulty comes with April’s traveling companions—she’s fuzzy on the details, but the men she’s with are hurting people. Joe’s able to construct a path of where they’ve been (where they’re headed is pretty murky, though) and pieces together some sort of motive. The victims have been significant polluters in their own way—and he’s pretty sure that one of the killers is an environmental activist and the child of a notorious mobster, who might have been learning a lesson from his father.

Joe now has two goals—track down the person claiming to be April and see if she really is who she claims to be—and learn how she survived, and stop the killings.

The Balancing Act

Behind the murders stands a discussion about environmental concerns vs. real-world solutions vs. way of life in West. This is a theme of the last few books in the series (probably all of the books, it just feels more pronounced). Generally, when I’ve encountered this kind of thing it’s not dealt with very well—the novel preaches at readers about the environment, an unrealistic solution is approved/implemented, or the whole concern is shrugged off (either because it’s too late to do any good* or because the characters don’t accept the legitimacy of the concerns. I love the way Box does this and I wish more authors would learn from him.

* Yes, I realize that it might be too late, but we’re not going to focus on that right now.

Poor Old Lu

I don’t want to say that I’ve disliked Lucy, Joe’s younger daughter. But I’ve never been taken with her as I have been with the rest of the family. She’s too much like her grandmother I guess. She’s about clothes and nice things, not about wildlife or her family or whatever it is that makes Sheridan an interesting character.

But her reaction to the possibility of April being alive? What’s more, her reaction to Sheridan being the sole point of contact between Joe and April? It just broke my heart. I actually wanted her to get to tag along with her dad and sister for a change. I hope this is a sign of things to come and that I finally get the chance to get invested in the character.

David Chandler

I’ve got nothing to say here that I haven’t said before. Chandler is Pickett in my mind. When the TV series starts, I’m going to be comparing Michael Dorman to him (and I think Dorman’s not going to fare too well).

So, what did I think about Below Zero?

I hated, hated, hated the way that Box brought April back. This isn’t General Hospital or Days of Our Lives, after all. Also, it ruined some of the gut-punch of an ending of Winterkill. But by the end, Box had won me over and convinced me that it wasn’t the worst idea he’d ever had.

I do wonder how the traveling murderer story would have worked without the April aspect—part of me would have liked a closer focus on that. But I don’t know how much I’d have cared about them without April as a point-of-entry into that story.

I’m curious about where Joe and the family go from here. It’s possible I’ll totally get over my antagonism toward the April story within a book or two, it all depends on what Box does from here.

3.5 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

The Art of Violence by S. J. Rozan: Bill Smith is Hired to Prove His Client IS a Murderer

By HCNewton

On April 26, 2021

In Fiction, Lydia Chin & Bill Smith, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, S. J. Rozan

The Art of Violence

by S. J. Rozan
Series: Lydia Chin & Bill Smith, #13

Hardcover, 275 pg.
Pegasus Crime, 2020

Read: April 7-8, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

… he said, “Aren’t you going to tell me I’m not the serial killer type?”

“I don’t know that.”

“I guess in some weird way that’s a compliment.”

“It’s not. Why did you come here, Sam? Anyone else, I might think he was trying to impress me, but not you.”

“I’m not the type?” A sly smile.

“I hope you didn’t come for help leaving town, laying low, something like that. If you killed those women, you know I’m going to have to turn you in.”

“Good luck.”

“I have the guns,” I reminded him.

“You won’t need them but they won’t help. I already tried it.”

“Tried what?”

“Turning myself in. The detective told me to get lost. She said I wasn’t the type.

What’s The Art of Violence About?

Five years ago, Sam Tabor was sentenced to prison following a homicide. Bill Smith worked for Sam’s lawyer during the case, and was convinced Sam should’ve been put in a treatment center instead of prison—but Sam refused.

Now that he’s been “discovered” as an important artist, several agents and arts worked to get him released from prison. That happened a few weeks ago, and now two women have been killed. Sam’s convinced that he’s the killer, although he doesn’t remember killing these women—or even encountering them. He hires BIll to prove that he did commit the murders, so he can be sent back to prison for life where he can’t hurt anyone. Bill’s skeptical (as is the investigating detective) about Sam’s guilt, but takes the case so he can make sure Sam’s treated right and that his fears are investigated correctly.

So instead of looking for evidence to exonerate Sam, Bill’s looking for things to implicate him (technically, Bill’s still looking for ways to exonerate him, too). This is a very strange reason to hire a PI, and I loved this premise.

PI/Client Relations

Most people in Sam’s life treat him as two things—a murderer with psychological issues and an artistic genius (with shades of a cash cow). His brother and sister-in-law see him as a burden/obligation as well as a murderer with psychological issues. The police are looking for an excuse to lock him up again, hopefully for forever this time.

Bill Smith (and later, Lydia), on the other hand, treats him as a person. He doesn’t dance around Sam’s past, but Bill has always figured he’d paid a dearer price for that than warranted. He doesn’t want Sam to be railroaded by a vengeful detective or his own guilt. He certainly has no ideas about taking advantage of Sam’s wealth, status, or fame. He simply wants to find out what happened to these women.

In this light, Bill reminded me of Elvis Cole with Peter Alan Nelsen and Spenser with the various sports stars he’s worked for or Jill Joyce. They’re clients first and foremost, people who deserve to be treated right—and being celebrities is so far down the list of things they care about, that it almost doesn’t matter. Bill stands in good company there, and something about that way of dealing with a VIP has always appealed to me.

The Role of Art

Lydia and Bill find themselves involved in a crime involving the art world yet again, I can’t think of another detective that spends as much time in this world as these two. Typically, novels focusing on artists, galleries, and so on don’t do much for me. But the way this pair brushes up against this world, not only do I not mind, I find it appealing. I can see why Rozan or other authors find this world appealing.

One of Sam’s few friends in this particular case is a photographer. As hard as it is to give the flavor or an impression of a painting in prose, it seems more difficult to capture a photograph (aside from saying “it was a photo of X”), and Rozan doesn’t spend a lot of time describing individual photographs but she does a great job on the subject and tone of them, instead. I’m pretty glad that there were no pictures included I’m not sure I could’ve taken it (the novel’s title gives a hint about the direction of the photos). A picture may be worth a thousand words, but Rozan doesn’t need that many to get the reader to have the reaction she needs.

By now, it was half past eight. Traffic choked the streets, and pedestrians wove complex patterns on the sidewalks. All traces of last night’s mist had burned away under the April sun. The slanting whiteness of the light, the thin freshness of the day, dazzled me.

Lydia’s suggested any number of times that I consider changing my ways, getting up earlier, taking this in more often. She thinks it’s laziness and old habs that keep me from it. But she’s wrong. This unsullied light, this bright vision, they’re beautiful, but they’re false. They paint over the truth. They promise something they can’t deliver. It’s not until the day gets older, wearier, that it stops making the effort to lie.

The Subtle Slow Burn

Rozan says so little about the non-P. I. relationship between Bill and Lydia, and yet says so much. It’s been clear how Bill has felt about Lydia since the first book in the series, but it’s been a little harder to read Lydia. And Rozan hasn’t been as forthcoming as other mystery novelists when it comes to that sort of thing—and by other, I mean “every other one I can think of.” The Lydia/Bill romance arc is definitely a “less is more” kind of thing. Which is pretty much how Lydia would prefer it, I think.

I’d really prefer that she was less circumspect about it, but I really appreciate her approach to it. Which seems like a contradiction, but it’s not. If I were calling the shots, we’d get a lot more detail about what’s going on between them—and how long that’s been the case. That said, the way that Rozan plays with the audience’s desires/expectations, and instead just gives the reader hints, winks, and nudges work so well. Not just because it is so clearly what Lydia would like and leaves it all to the reader to piece things together. Yet, there have been developments in the relationship and we learn a lot about it (at least by Ronzan’s standards) in this book.

Yet again, the angel on my right shoulder told me to call Grimaldi, and the guy on the other side said I’d get more accomplished on my own. The right-side guy wanted to know if this was about getting things accomplished, or if it was personal. The left-side guy told him to guess.

So, what did I think about The Art of Violence?

The fact that this is the thirteenth book in the series that I’ve read, you probably have a pretty good idea of what I was thinking going in—I fully expected to like this one and I did.

First off, it’s from Bill’s perspective this time, and those usually feel a little different, and we get different details reported than we would have were the shoe on the other foot. I always enjoy the bouncing back and forth between the two narrators. Particularly if the police are involved, Bill has a strange relationship with the police, and it’s always good to see.

There’s a good puzzle to chew on here*, while watching Bill make a nuisance of himself with the people in Sam’s life who are convinced they’re far too good to deal with a P.I. Lydia’s around to smooth things over a bit, but not enough. It’s a dynamic I don’t imagine I’ll get tired of seeing. The (too few) scenes where it’s just Bill and Lydia talking to each other, are again, the highlight of the novel—I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again I don’t care what these two are talking about I’ll gladly read it. The Art of Violence would make a good jumping-on point to this series (almost all of them would be, come to think of it).

* Okay, I pegged the guilty party pretty early on, but not all the whys and hows involved. This is about the journey Bill and Lydia take to get the answers, more than it is the puzzle. Either way, the book scored pretty high on those).

These are characters you like to see in action, with a client who’s more interesting than most of those in a P.I. novel. you get a couple of good surprises out of Lydia’s mom, too. There’s really a lot to commend this book, as is to be expected from this series. You should give it a try.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Blood Trail (Audiobook) by C. J. Box, David Chandler: Who Hunts the Hunters?

By HCNewton

On April 22, 2021

In Audiobook, C. J. Box, Fiction, Joe Pickett, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Blood Trail

by C. J. Box, David Chandler (Narrator)
Series: Joe Pickett, #8

Unabridged Audiobook, 9 hrs, 5 mins.
Recorded Books, 2008

Read: February 10-12, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s Blood Trail About?

Since Governor Rulon re-hired Joe Pickett and made him sort of a Game Warden-at-Large, his life has improved—he and Marybeth have their own home, no longer living in State housing, or at his father-in-law’s. Nor is he really as subject to the whims of Randy Pope, his director. But there’s a price to be paid for this: he’s pretty much at Rulon’s beck and call.

This time, thankfully, he’s called to his former territory—a hunter has been found dead. It’s the beginning of Elk Season, so it’s not that surprising. But…this isn’t your typical dead hunter. This man has been shot and field dressed like an elk. Joe’s garnered a reputation for stumbling into a solution for things like this, and Rulon needs that quickly—people are getting antsy about the killings and pressure is mounting to cancel Elk Season (which would have horrible consequences on Wyoming’s economy). Joe’s been named to a task force with the FBI, and the local sheriff. Not only are they out to preserve hunting season, but they also need to head off a mounting anti-hunting protest movement that is taking advantage of this situation.

Randy Pope decides that this is important enough that he comes to supervise Joe personally—and takes an oddly active and proactive role in fieldwork (which no one has ever accused him of being fit for). I don’t know about anyone else who reads this series, but there isn’t a time that Randy Pope has been around when I haven’t wanted Joe to punch him in the nose (or Marybeth, or Sheridan even), and that’s taken to the nth degree for most of this book.

So not only does Joe have to find a killer (not really his job, ubt he seems good at it) for political and social reasons, he has to put up with antagonism from local law enforcement who resent his role, get micromanaged by an officious twerp who is even less suited for this than he is, and he ends up having to deal with two individuals from his past that he’d rather expected never to have to deal with again over the course of the investigation. I’m not going to identify these people, but neither Joe or Marybeth are prepared to have them in their lives again, frankly, I wasn’t ready either.

We Should Talk About Nate

I get into a spoiler in a vague way here. Feel free to skip to the next header.

For various and sundry spoilery reasons, Joe decides that he needs Nate Romanowski’s tracking help. Now, Nate’s been in FBI custody for a few months, ever since the FBI double-crossed Joe at the end of Free Fire. Given the urgent nature of things, Rulon is able to finagle a release into Joe’s custody.

And then Nate ditches Joe for days. Joe, the good friend, covers for him (he’s also covering for himself and his own ability to maintain custody). Sure, he ultimately comes back and pitches in. But it’s pretty clear he didn’t need that much time to do his thing—I get that Nate has his own way of working and that Nate isn’t that terribly concerned with people who aren’t him (what does he care if someone’s killing hunters?)—but he should care about his friend and the deal that got him out of custody, right?

I lost a lot of sympathy for Nate here. And a good deal for Joe, too, later in the book when it comes to Nate.

A Low-Stakes Antagonist

Now that Joe lives in town, in a normal house with a yard and no need to consult a government budget officer for upkeep on his home, it falls to Joe to take care of things. He has a neighbor now (I forget his name, one of the hazards of audiobooks is that I can’t look it up easily). This man is retired and is far too concerned with his own yard and upkeep, and carries that over to Joe’s.

We don’t spend a lot of time with him, but it’s easy to see that he’s a burr in Joe’s side—a constant problem, a constant annoyance. Sure, Joe’s off working for the governor and trying to stop a killer, but surely he could take the time to mow his lawn, like a decent citizen.

This book needed a little lightness, and this crank delivers it.

A Word About the Narration

At this point, I really don’t know what to say about David Chandler, he’s great at this.

However, ,I have one thing to say. For most of the book, I assumed the killer was one of two people. And despite the fact that we get the killer’s POV frequently, it was still pretty unclear which one of the two it was (assuming I was right). Until about halfway through in one scene, Chandler makes 1 choice when he reads one line. And we “hear” the character in a voice Chandler would use for that character, not just the generic Killer’s POV voice he’d been using throughout. And then I knew exactly who it was.

I understand why he made that choice. But, man. It ruined things a little bit for me.

So, what did I think about Blood Trail?

This was, hands down, my favorite entry in the series. The tension, the huge character events, the motive for the crime, and the way it ended…I can’t explain all my reasoning without ruining the novel.

But man…this is the standard I’ll be judging books in this series by. Is it going to be that impactful for new readers? No, but it would work as a jumping-on point if you’re not in the mood to read the seven previous books.

Blood Trail is a great entry in this solid series, with entries like this, it’s easy to see why it’s lasted for twenty-one (so far) books. Check it out.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Drop the Mikes by Duncan MacMaster: The Scrawny, Geeky, Jessica Fletcher-esque Kirby Baxter find Trouble in a Caribbean Paradise

By HCNewton

On April 7, 2021

In Duncan MacMaster, Fiction, Kirby Baxter, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Drop the Mikes

by Duncan MacMaster
Series: Kirby Baxter, #3

Paperback, 243 pg.
Fahrenheit Press, 2016

Read: March 29-30, 2021

“Mathilda, my wife, says that archaeology runs in your family.”

“My parents are archaeologists,” said Baxter with a nod. “They teach, and every summer they go to digs in Europe or the Middle East.”

“They’re pretty respected,” said West, “what do they think about their son the cartoonist, turned detective?”

“I don’t think they ever fully understood what I do,”said Baxter. “In fact, most days, I don’t fully understand what I do.”

A Little Bit about Kirby Baxter

Before I get into this book, let me give a quick run-down of the series. Kirby Baxter is a comic book artist/writer. A few years ago, he came into a lot of money and took some time for himself in Europe. Kirby has the kind of eye for observation and powers of deduction comparable to Shawn Spencer or Adrian Monk (you could include several incarnations of Holmes, etc., too—but Shawn and Monk are closer in tone to this series). While in Europe, he found himself in situations where he could use those gifts to help solve some crimes—this got him a bodyguard, valet, assistant, or whatever, named Gustav, and both of them were made official Interpol consultants.

His talent(?) for being in the general vicinity of crimes continued once he got back to the States and he’s ended up helping the police in various cities with murders and other crimes. He’s frequently helped in this by the aforementioned Gustav; his girlfriend, Molly; her gossip-blogger cousin, Shelly; and his friend and colorist, Mitch Mandelbaum.

What’s Drop the Mikes About?

As a thanks for a bit of deduction that saved a New York Hotel a lot of money and even more bad publicity, Kirby and his friends (Molly Mitch, Gustav and Gustav’s girlfriend, Miriam) were given the opportunity to spend two weeks in some villas at a resort that’s about to open on a Caribbean island. Sounds like a fun little getaway, right?

Kirby Baxter doesn’t get those anymore. But we’ll get to that in a minute.

At the same time they arrive on the island, so do many other people—these people are largely young, with a lot of money, and/or are social media “influencers.” They’re on the island of a big luxury music festival to help promote a new product from a company called HÿpStar. Except the festival didn’t have any musicians (their checks bounced), or food (same), or decent places for the attendees to stay (you probably have guessed why by now).*

* If you’re thinking, this sounds a lot like Fyre Festival, give yourself a pat on the back.

Before the situation can totally deteriorate with the festival, the right-hand man to the organizer is found murdered. So you have thousands of disgruntled festival-goers, all with a reason to be angry with the victim, with almost every one of them trying to get off the island as fast as possible. It’s a bit much for the small island police force—thankfully, there’s a renowned detective in the neighborhood.

So Kirby and his friends have their vacation cut short.

The Hÿp Festival

I think I was largely offline for whatever reason about the time the whole Fyre Festival thing happened, and I missed most of the early hubbub, and then when I started to become aware of it, I didn’t exert a whole lot of effort into it. I’ve picked up a thing or two in the years since then, but that’s about it. So while I’d like to say something about the way that MacMaster satirizes The Fyre Festival, but I can’t. Seems outlandish and crooked enough.

But I can say that some of the more outlandish characters are hilariously drawn—like the influencer who cannot help speaking in text-speak acronyms, like “Double-you-tee-eff” or “Ess-em-aitch.” I appreciated MacMaster not using the acronyms themselves but going the extra mile and spelling out the letters, it added just enough to make her ridiculously charming. Carting around a ceramic Buddha statue and calling it her “Good luck Gandhi” was borderline-too-much, but I found it amusing every time it came up, so I’m not going to criticize it.

Too Much Going On

The two earlier Kirby Baxter books had a lot going on—several characters, each with their own arcs intertwined with the others—and that’s repeated here as expected. But this time it felt like there were too many other characters and their arcs running around—it wasn’t confusing or anything (we’ve all seen that before, this isn’t one for that list), but to do an adequate job for each of those, MacMaster had to use Kirby less.

But also, his friends—his self-labeled Scooby Gang—are running around doing their own thing while he’s looking into the murder (some are acting independently to help, others are working along with him), and that ends up taking time away from Kirby getting to shine. Sure, (to refer to that other Scooby Gang) we all know Fred, Velma, and Daphne have to look for clues on their own—either paired up or on their own—but the viewers came to see Scooby and Shaggy (possibly Scrappy-Do, too) and the more time we spend with Fred and his ascot doing things the less we see Scooby and Shaggy and the less entertaining the episode is. The same applies here. Molly’s great doing her own thing. Ditto for Miriam—and even Mitch is pretty darn amusing and got to do things we don’t normally associate with him. I’m all in favor of it, but Kirby was off-screen too much of this book.

A Small Gift for Long-Time MacMaster Fans

Readers of MacMaster’s other series, the Jake Mooney books, might recognize this particular part of the Caribbean, as it was the setting for Hack (and if you don’t recognize it, that’s okay, a couple of characters will make sure you get the connection).

It’s one of those things that won’t bother you if you don’t get the references as you read, but if you do, you’ll appreciate the ties between the two.

Now, what are the odds we can get Jake and Kirby working the same mystery from different angles?

Baxter had long thought that the adventures that afflicted his life the last few years had immunized him from ever feeling shocked, or surprised. It was one of the very rare instances where he was very, very wrong.

So, what did I think about Drop the Mikes?

Drop the Mikes is 243 pages of pure enjoyment. It’s that simple. You have Kirby being geeky and almost supernaturally-clever self. You get Molly and Gustav doing their usual thing. Mitch gets to be repulsive yet endearing—and even a little heroic, and we get to meet Miranda, the librarian who could be an action star if she really wanted to.

Throw in a handful or two of whacky characters, the disaster of the Hÿp Festival, a couple of murders, financial hijinks, another couple of crimes that really have nothing to do with the Festival outside of location—and you just can’t stop turning the pages to see what MacMaster has left up his sleeve.

These books are like ice cream or pizza—even if the one you’re eating isn’t as good as others you’ve had, they’re still ice cream or pizza, and you’d rather be eating them than just about anything else. I strongly recommend this book—and the rest in the series, too—well, anything with Duncan MacMaster’s name on it. I can’t think of another book this year that I’ve had as much fun reading as this one. And I bet there won’t be many in the 7+ months yet to come.

4 Stars

Pub Day Repost: Smoke by Joe Ide: What Happens When Isaiah Quintabe Leaves LA?

By HCNewton

On February 23, 2021

In Fiction, IQ/Isaiah Quintabe, Joe Ide, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Smoke

by Joe Ide
Series: IQ</a, #5

eARC, 336 pg.
Mulholland Books, 2021

Read: February 8-12, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

Not that any of the previous IQ novels have been cookie cutters of the rest, but this really feels less like an IQ novel than I was ready for. In fact, it felt* like this was more of a Juanell Dodson novel for most of it. When Isaiah left town at the end of Hi Five, he left his friends behind. But their problems didn’t leave with him, they all have to step up and take care of things now without him. But the way they go about taking care of these problems is heavily influenced by Isaiah—he might not be playing an active role in most of the storylines in this book, but this is still his book.

* Yes, I said “felt like,” I could be wrong. This isn’t the kind of blog where you’re going to find me doing word counts to prove things like this.

The LA Stories

Grace is trying to get over Isaiah and focus on her art. She’s got a show coming up and needs to get some more paintings ready—that’s all that matters.

But while she and Isaiah know they’re over—most people don’t (and some of those who do know, believe it’s temporary). When someone that Isaiah helped put away gets back to town and is looking for a little payback, he only hears that Grace is Isaiah’s girl. Which puts her right in the cross-hairs.

Deronda’s life is going great—she’s getting some media attention for her success (which is only serving to build that success), her food trucks are doing great, and her son is fantastic (just ask Deronda, she’ll tell you). But then someone comes along to help himself to a share of that success and uses Janeel as his tool. Deronda goes nuclear and tries everything she can think of to stop this.

Grace tries to help—and gets one of Isaiah’s former clients involved, too. And even Dodson gets in on it. There’s nothing about what they try or the solutions they come up with that Isaiah would have done. In fact, I’m pretty sure he’d have seen some of the problems with her theories and stopped Deronda before she tried to act on them. But for fear of repeating myself, without Isaiah’s influence on the three of them, none of them would’ve tried anything like they did.

Cherise has had enough of Dodson’s bouncing around from opportunity to opportunity, trying to make some money, but with no stability. He needs to grow up and get a real job, and to help with that, she’s arranged for an internship at a local advertising agency. Dodson isn’t interested at all in this, but she’s not negotiating.

So he shows up for the first day, and something clicks. He thinks about the way Isaiah had approached goals in his life and applies it in his way to this situation. It wasn’t quite a “What Would Isaiah Do?” thing, more of a “How Would Isaiah Do This?”

Now there is zero percent of the Dodson storyline that is Crime Fiction. It’s about character development, character growth—it’s a transition point for Dodson. Yet this is my favorite part of this Crime Novel. Because it’s Dodson going through all this. Also, as Dodson pops up in their storylines to help Grace and Deronda, he gets plenty of Crime Fiction action.

There’s a fun part of this storyline where Dodson, who started as Isaiah’s Dr. John Watson, now becomes an Eliza Doolittle figure. Cherise’s mother, Gloria, who tries to equip him into someone who could make it in the Corporate World. On the one hand, I felt bad for poor Dodson—this wasn’t easy for him—but man, it was funny. We also got Dodson’s commentary on Pop Music and TV—which is not to be missed.

The LA stories interweave, Grace helps Dodson, Dodson helps Grace, Dodson chips in with Deronda…and so on. IQ is mentioned, he’s talked about and he even converses with some of them—but not about the challenges they’re dealing with (and vice versa) in this novel. He’s as removed from their stories as possible. Yet, without him, without his influence in their lives—none of this would’ve happened. So it absolutely was still part of an IQ novel, even if it was for all intents and purposes IQ free.

Isaiah’s Story

Isaiah’s trying to be IQ-free, too. He’s pulled up stakes to get away from the enemies he made in Hi-Five, and away from everything else, too. He’s decided he wants a new life. He wants nothing to do with the violence, the depravity, the danger that has so characterized the last few years of his life.

Which, of course, means that despite his best efforts—and really by dumb chance—he’s brought into a hunt for a serial killer by one of the least likely, least credible people we’ve encountered in this series.

While I did say this felt like Dodson’s book most of the time, at one point the Isaiah/Serial Killer story took over—and we see heroism and depravity on display (not quite in equal parts, but we get an excess of both). As much as Isaiah has said he wants away from this life—when the chips are down, he finds a way to try to stop another murder, at great risk to himself.

The final confrontation can be seen as darkly comic or as intensely human and maybe even realistic to an extent you don’t usually see. There’s a visceral desperation to it—everyone involved seems to believe on some level that they’re doomed, but they press on anyway. It’s harrowing really.

So, what did I think about Smoke?

This really feels like a transition novel—probably for the series as a whole, and definitely for all these characters. In a book or two, it’ll be easier to see (not that it’s difficult now) exactly what role this is going to play in things, but choices are made, steps are taken that insure wherever Isaiah ends up, he’s going to be a different man than he was in Hi-Five, ditto for everyone else. I’m particularly looking forward to seeing where Dodson is. Hopefully, he’s still going in the direction he started to move in here.

But that’s for 2023. What about the 2021 novel? While Ide seemed to be writing with an eye to the 2022 and 2023 novels, he also produces a fine read in Smoke. There are a lot of balls in the air, a lot of Point of View characters (those we know and those we only meet here). There are blasts from the past and new characters that we could be seeing in the future.

And while we get some very strong resolution to just about everything in the novel, there’s a cliffhanger at the end that makes it difficult for me to say most of what I want to say. It’s a complete novel, this isn’t just a book that you read so that you have to read the next. But I tell you what, when you finish you want that next IQ novel now.

I think it says a lot about the kind of world that Ide has created that his main character can only show up in 50±% of a novel/its stories and the novel to still be as strong as any of the others. The series isn’t about Isaiah (and other characters) now. It’s about Isaiah, Grace, Dodson, and Deronda—and their families, no matter what the series is called. I love that evolution, that development.

I think existing fans will find their enthusiasm for this series rewarded. I think new readers are going to want to grab the earlier novels to fill in how the characters got to where they are. Either way, people who pick up Smoke are in for a treat.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Mulholland Books via NetGalley in exchange for this post—thanks to both for this.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Smoke by Joe Ide: What Happens When Isaiah Quintabe Leaves LA?

By HCNewton

On February 16, 2021

In Fiction, IQ/Isaiah Quintabe, Joe Ide, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Smoke

by Joe Ide
Series: IQ, #5