Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

4/5 Very Good.

IQ returns in book 4 of this excellent series set in LA. Isiah Quuntabe though works in the Hood, and he helps those without much, taking little in payment for his services rendered,

As IQ continues to develop as a character, I noted there was more of a spotlight on Dodson, the Watson to this modern Sherlock Holmes and for me that really adds to the series as it’s grows.

A fine additions fantastic series, with unique characters, a great plot, lots of wit and I’m glad I’ve been able to read the next book straight after this,

Isaiah Quintabe, IQ, is an unlicensed but successful private investigator who has had run-ins with just about every gang in LA. When he received a call from Angus Byrne he is reluctant to meet but Angus threatens his girlfriend and so has Isaiah. His right-hand man has been killed the police have homed in on his daughter Christiana but there is a catch, Christiana has multiple personality disorder and there are five different witnesses in one body. Add into the mix the return of Isaiah's true love, a romance between a rough but kind man and a tough, embittered woman and a valuable gun who possession if fought over by all the major crews and IQ is in a bind he may not get out of.
Ide claims to be a huge fan of Conan Doyle and it can be seen in the plotting of his novels. The setting is rough and tough LA with the gang-related issues to the fore, here ultra-right wing Neo-Nazis come up against a Cambodian crew, the plots are violent with lots of shootings. Yet there is also a cast of well-drawn characters, TK is so sympathetically handled and Dodson's tug between respectable family man and the excitement of life on the edge is really believable. Add into that the cerebral nature of the way Isaiah thinks through his moves and this is a fantastic modern take on an ages-old genre.

It's the first book I read in this series and I think this was an issue as I found hard to understand the plot and the characters.
It's well written and there's a lot of potential but it wasn't my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

5.5/10

I think this one nailed the coffin in the head on this series for me. I wasn't blown away with the last one with this series on a downward curve of enjoyment for me but this was just a bit of a nondescript outing and some of the character traits just weren't there or didn't feel as good as they had in the first couple of books.

I felt some of the characters and narrative grate on me whereas that hadn't been the case previously. I found that some of the charm of IQ and his unique skill set had been diminished on previous novels but this just seem to put him on the back burner completely making him just a regular guy who helps people out.

There were a few enjoyable bits and I think my liking of the original novel made me bump the score of this one up to 3 instead of my original 2 but if there was a half star option this would definitely have taken it. The series is done for me but I wouldn't be against reading some Joe Ide down the line if he were to try something new.

Thanks to NetGalley for the copy

Having not read any of the other books in the series I was a bit wary of starting this one but I’d seen it could be read as a standalone book. I found the book to be pretty chaotic and there was just too much going on. Some of the themes got repetitive too which was a shame as I loved the idea of this series. Towards the end of the book I could see how it was gearing up for the next one. This one just feels like a chaotic gap. I’d love to read the series from the start and see if my review was different.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Orion Publishing Group for an advance copy of Hi Five, the fourth novel to feature unlicensed PI Isaiah “IQ” Quintabe, set in Lost Angeles.

When Angus Byrne’s daughter, Christiana, comes under suspicion for a murder in her shop, he is certain that Isaiah is the only man who can exonerate her and as the biggest gun runner on the West Coast he has the means to ensure Isaiah’s unwilling cooperation. Christiana is the only witness to the murder but there’s a snag, she has multiple personality disorder and getting eye witness accounts will be difficult.

I enjoyed Hi Five which is a high octane thriller with a few detours. There are guns, violence and dangerous situations but there are also personal problems and small stories of life in the hood that have no bearing on the main plot. Life goes on despite one person’s personal difficulties.

The novel is told from various points of view so the reader gets a good overview of the angles and dips into past events in the characters’ lives to make their present day actions more understandable. There are odd moments when the point of view changes faster than the reader is ready for but it’s a momentary confusion and overall the plot is easy to follow and the author does his best to explain the characters’ motivations, most of which I could get but it’s an alien world to me. It’s an interesting, idiosyncratic take on life in East Los Angeles.

IQ is a strange character. He’s supposed to be a genius but he doesn’t have much common sense or street smarts. Fortunately he has his friend Dodson to help but he resents the thought that he might conceivably need help. It’s a good dynamic and IQ is a good protagonist with his insatiable curiosity, loyalty and desire to do the right thing. I’ll be interested to see where he goes next.

Hi Five is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

Having rectified my heinous crime of allowing book three of this series to languish on my tbr for so long I was safe to start this, the fourth book featuring PI Isaiah Quintabe - IQ to his friends, and foes!
There is a lot of backstory that is revisited in this book so, although it's always a good idea to start a series from book one and read in order, I believe this is especially important for this one. That said, the first two books are quite different from the last two as the series has evolved away from the more cerebral Sherlockian nature of IQ and become a lot more action packed. I personally think it's a shame as I did really enjoy that aspect of IQ and what he got up to, but I believe that the author has his reasons for the change in direction and different is not always bad - which it definitely isn't in this book.
When the book opens IQ is in a relationship with Stella, a gifted violinist and his first case is to find her missing violin. IQ is still discovering his emotional side and still struggles with both this and his yearning for Grace, the woman who first woke these feelings in him. One day he is summoned to the house of nasty gangster Angus Byrne who wants him to help his daughter Christiana. One of his business partners, Tyler Barnes, was gunned down in Christiana's shop, her being the only witness. Problem is, she didn't see a thing. Not that she wasn't there. She was. In body anyway. See, the thing is, she suffers from MPD - multiple personality disorder - and she was switched out at the time, coming to when she found Tyler dead in her arms. Now IQ really doesn't want to help Angus, him being an arms dealer and all but when he threatens Stella he has no choice. But where to start, with Christiana's disorder finding out what happened will test even him. But he has people to call on, and he does, there are a lot of blasts from the past rearing up their heads along the way as IQ struggles to get to the truth in his own inimitable way.
For someone reputably so intelligent, IQ can be so dumb at times. And he really doesn't help himself as he plays gangs off against each other all the way through this book. Grace even makes a return which really doesn't help at first as she is a bit of a distraction.
As with previous books there is a lot going on within and without the main plot. Some of which adds to the main narrative but some does distract. I guess it is added for light relief from the brutal action and nasty undertones of some of the things going on in the main plot. Loved the elephants! I found the handling of the MPD was done very well and came across as plausible, whether you believe in it or not.
Plotting is tight and well done. Execution is a bit all over the place at times but that's cos there is so much else going on around and about IQ and Christiana's main storyline. Nothing that my wandering brain couldn't handle though, although I did read pretty much straight through so that helped.
All in all, a solid addition to an already good series... Roll on book five. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I have loved this series so far. Hi Five is still pretty good but I didn’t think it was up to the excellent standard of its predecessors.

This time, Isaiah is forced into helping the daughter of a serious thug and arms trader who looks as though she’s guilty of murder. It turns out that she has multiple personalities, which although quite well researched, felt more like a handy plot device than a serious exploration of a condition. Isaiah’s old love Grace returns and as he becomes drawn deeper into investigating murky gang warfare and white supremacist thuggery, their relationship is analysed and tested. Meanwhile, old friends Dodson and TK both find themselves looking closely at their lives, as do several of the villains of the piece...and as a result, although there’s plenty of action it all felt a good deal more preachy and less shrewdly witty than earlier books. Even the plot and action seemed rather more generic than before, and I think Joe Ide is better than that.

The book is still several cuts above most of the stuff in this genre, but it has far less of that real spark of originality, humour and quiet, understated insight which made the first three IQ novels so special for me. It’s not clear at the end of the book whether Isaiah will return; if he does, I’ll certainly be reading the next one and hoping for a return to Ide’s earlier near-classic standard.

This is still good and still very readable, but not quite up there with Joe Ide’s best.

(My thanks to W&N for an ARC via NetGalley.)

This is an interesting addition to the unlicensed PI, Isiah Quintabe series set in LA, by Joe Ide, a Sherlock Holmes in the hood with Juanell Dodson, con man and hustler, as IQ's John Watson. The series has shifted dramatically from the first book, where all IQ's talents and gifts are laid bare. As we learn more about him, Ide has developed Isiah's character, socially awkward, hints that he is on the autism spectrum, he has difficulties when it comes to reading and understanding emotions, and a traumatic past after the murder of his beloved brother, Marcus. He is far from the all action hero, he doesn't the skills and abilities of being ex-military, although he is beginning to acquire some martial arts skills. He has a girlfriend, violinist Stella McDaniels, but his heart is with traumatised artist, Grace Monorova.

IQ and Dodson's relationship is not in a good place, but both men complement each other's skills so well, a more introspective Dodson's abilities are highlighted in comparison to an IQ with his strangest case yet. Beaumont, a local store owner is gunned down in a gang related drive-by shooting and arms dealer, Angus Byrne, wants IQ to investigate the murder of his right hand man and business partner, Tyler Barnes, at his daughter, Christiana's shop, specialising in custom suits. He wants him to find evidence that will exonerate her as the prime suspect. There is no way on earth that IQ wants to work for a man he so utterly despises but Angus is not a man you can refuse. He begins to become aware of the rabbit hole he has fallen into when Gia, Chriatiana's mother, informs him that her daughter suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder. Christiana lives with radically different others, and that includes Pearl, a submissive personality, Marlene, an out there promiscuous character, and Jasper, a not very good drummer in a rock band. IQ has the unenviable task of interviewing each of these personalities, finding they are hard to pin down and disinclined to be helpful, could one of them have ordered the hit on Tyler?

IQ is over the moon when Grace returns to LA, as far as he is concerned, it is no contest, it has always been Grace, but he is determined to protect Stella from Angus's threats. Ide piles on the pressure on a IQ having to re-examine his conscience as he finds himself organising scenarios which result in the loss of life, even though his intentions are good. The narrative carries storylines that reflect contemporary American issues, such as the growth of white supremacy groups, inter-gang warfare, and the proliferation of guns. For me, a particular highlight was the focus on Dodson, his reflections on his life as a family man and his thoughts on the legacy he is likely to leave behind as he visits the dying Beaumont and his son, Merrill, in hospital. This is a brilliantly entertaining addition to the series that sees IQ as the target of every killer in the region and I can't wait to see where Ide takes him next. Many thanks to Orion for an ARC.