Wrecked by Joe Ide

Mulholland Books, 352 pages, $27

“Wrecked” is the third Isaiah “IQ” Quintabe novel. Joe Ide has infused more danger, anger, and violence into this book. Here’s an early warning, Abu Ghraib, that notorious prison/containment center in Iraq, features in this book. People were tortured and humiliated there, all in the name of international security. I will not speak to guilt or innocence or national policy, but if there was guilt in the holding cells, there was also guilt in the armed forces guarding the facility as well. Joe Ide jumps off of this idea into his story about what ex-military/agency people would be doing now, among U.S. civilians. Serious stuff for a series that usually has a strong humorous vein running among the tragedy and sadness.

IQ is a Sherlock Holmes-like detective in a mostly black community of Long Beach, California. His self-appointed investigation partner, Dodson, is attempting to go straight while hanging on IQ’s coattails. Other eccentric characters introduced in the other books also make appearances. The gang’s all here. They are needed because IQ has committed to finding Grace’s mother.

Grace is a young woman who seems as though she is carrying a big secret. IQ likes her a lot. She showed up in the last book, and in this one, she commits to hiring IQ to track down the mother who abandoned her ten years ago. It takes IQ a while to find out why Grace seems more intent on impeding his investigation than helping. Aha! It turns out Sarah, Grace’s mother, has a murder warrant out on her.

The ex-Abu Ghraib team, chock-a-block with nasty, dysfunctional characters, is trying to find Sarah. Grace is trying to find Sarah. IQ is trying to find Sarah. All parties are set on a collision course. 

Why did Sarah murder her husband? Why is the team after her? How can IQ find a woman who does not want to be found, with the scant information provided by Grace, and up against the weapons, moves, and access to information the team has?

There is a lot of violence, intimately described, in this book. I guess Ide really wants it to sink in that the torture techniques used in military installations to “get information” from prisoners was beyond brutal. Can any feelings of kindness and humanity survive in people who carried out inhumane acts? The team is joined by a non-military member: an ex-cop who has his own demons to fight and acts of cruelty to live down. Ghastly grisly group of ghouls vs. IQ.

The best part of the book has to be when IQ unveils his McGyver-like arsenal. The worst has to be the going-over IQ is subjected to. Joe Ide gives, then slaps away.

I read an ARC, a pre-publication edition. There were some oddities in it: a person who was in jail also taking part in surveillance on the outside at the same time, the vast emptiness of the lead villain’s mansion — where was the staff; maybe the villain did his own dusting and cooking and gardening. These were probably corrected in the final version. But this is the kind of stuff that throws me off; I’ll be both reading on but distracted at the same time by the puzzles.

Nevertheless, the overall quality of this series compels the reading of each book. This is one of my favorite series.