Editorial Content for Fixit: An IQ Novel
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Reviewer (text)
PI Isaiah Quintabe fixes things for people. Is someone threatening your mom? Talk to IQ. Did that guy down the street steal your car? Talk to IQ. But now Isaiah wants to quit being IQ. He’s lived on the edge for too long. It’s seeped into every part of his life. So he would like to retire while he still can.
If Isaiah endangered only himself, maybe it wouldn’t be such a problem. But being IQ puts everyone he cares about in danger. When he goes after the bad guys, they go after his friends as well. At this point, Isaiah simply wants to live quietly with Grace, the woman he loves. But just as he’s deciding this, Skip Hanson, a ruthless hitman whose entire life IQ ruined (according to Skip), is kidnapping Grace. It’s all about revenge on Isaiah. This is not a good start to IQ’s retirement.
"FIXIT is far more than a fast-paced suspense, or even a heart-wrenching race to rescue Grace and, by extension, Isaiah. It is a demonstration of the power of working together, the value of friendship, and the meaning of love. And loss."
Isaiah was in the hospital, recovering from some nasty injuries, when he heard the news, so he’s not at the top of his game. And the more he struggles to find Grace, the more he realizes how much he’s messing up. That’s where his vast group of friends and people from his past step in to help. His close buddy, Juanell Dodson, drops everything to try to keep him thinking straight and be his voice of reason. But Isaiah is blinded by his passion --- passion that causes a hot rage yet blurs his mind with a cold fog. It seems he’s one step behind Skip at every turn. But he must save Grace. He’s done it before. He can do it again.
In the meantime, Grace --- one tough woman who is not to be underestimated --- is hoping and praying that Isaiah will come to her rescue. However, she’s not depending on it. Using all of her wiles, she plays Skip any way she can in an effort to free herself. But it seems she encounters one hitch after another. Freedom is right within her grasp but snatched away, over and over again. Why can’t she catch a break?
As usual, Isaiah elects to trust himself above everybody else. With the possible exception of Dodson, that is. But no cops. He doesn’t believe the police can do a better job than he can. Until he runs out of options. Slowly realizing he can’t save Grace by himself, he learns how many in his community genuinely care about him…and Grace. More people come forward to aid in her rescue than he even thought he knew. Friends and acquaintances open their wallets, raid their savings, and sign checks for eye-popping amounts. But without IQ, those people might not even be there. The sheer enormity of their generosity truly touches Isaiah’s heart.
All the while, Grace is fighting for survival. She’s hanging on by her wits, and cursing Isaiah for getting her into this. She knows it’s not his fault. And yet, she believes it is. Skip is using her as bait to get to Isaiah. That’s her only value to the hitman. Grace is tired of this cat-and-mouse game. She can’t take it anymore. She loves Isaiah and knows he loves her. But she doesn’t want to forever live in fear. What to do?
Joe Ide’s FIXIT is far more than a fast-paced suspense, or even a heart-wrenching race to rescue Grace and, by extension, Isaiah. It is a demonstration of the power of working together, the value of friendship, and the meaning of love. And loss. IQ is a complicated personality all to himself. He is a knight in shining armor, as much as he is an ordinary man. But days have changed. He has played with fire and gotten burnt. Has he lost his edge? Has he waited too long to retire? Well, the answer is no --- at least for readers.
Teaser
Danger has always followed Isaiah Quintabe, a reality he’s keenly aware of as he’s laid up in a hospital bed, recovering from injuries sustained in his last case. So he’s unaware that Grace, the love of his life, has been abducted by his sworn enemy, the professional hitman Skip Hanson. Now, Isaiah and his sometimes partner, ex-hustler Juanell Dodson, must track scant clues through L.A.’s perilous landscape as Grace’s predicament grows more uncertain. A complication arises in the form of Winnie Hando, a homicide detective with something to prove. Stubborn and effective, Winnie sees his efforts as an obstruction to the investigation. As the desperate hunt winds on, Isaiah fears that even if he can bring Grace home alive, things between them will never be the same.
Promo
Danger has always followed Isaiah Quintabe, a reality he’s keenly aware of as he’s laid up in a hospital bed, recovering from injuries sustained in his last case. So he’s unaware that Grace, the love of his life, has been abducted by his sworn enemy, the professional hitman Skip Hanson. Now, Isaiah and his sometimes partner, ex-hustler Juanell Dodson, must track scant clues through L.A.’s perilous landscape as Grace’s predicament grows more uncertain. A complication arises in the form of Winnie Hando, a homicide detective with something to prove. Stubborn and effective, Winnie sees his efforts as an obstruction to the investigation. As the desperate hunt winds on, Isaiah fears that even if he can bring Grace home alive, things between them will never be the same.
About the Book
In the latest installment in Joe Ide's "superb" series (Washington Post), relentless, hard-bitten PI Isaiah Quintabe is faced with a nightmarish scenario when the love of his life is kidnapped by a maniacal hitman who bears a grudge against him.
Danger has always followed IQ, a reality he’s keenly aware of as he’s laid up in a hospital bed, recovering from injuries sustained in his last case. Isaiah cannot help himself from being the hero, and any misery he’s suffered as a result --- wounds from a knife fight, gnawing paranoia --- he’s suffered alone. Yet as IQ recovers, 500 miles from East Long Beach, he’s unaware that Grace has been abducted by his sworn enemy, the professional hitman Skip Hanson. Skip is savage and psychotic, determined to punish Isaiah for sending him to prison and destroying his life. Now, Isaiah and his sometimes partner, ex-hustler Juanell Dodson, must track scant clues through L.A.’s perilous landscape as Grace’s predicament grows more uncertain.
A complication arises in the form of Winnie Hando, a homicide detective with something to prove. Stubborn and effective, Winnie sees Isaiah’s efforts as an obstruction to the investigation and a possible embarrassment: an unlicensed PI can’t be seen doing the department’s job better than the department. Winnie tries to stop Isaiah while pursuing the case herself, their struggles clashing and slowing their progress. As the desperate hunt winds on, Isaiah fears that even if he can bring Grace home alive, things between them will never be the same.
This latest series installment is an explosive collision of drug dealers, thieves, maniacs, shotguns, vicious dogs, stampeding horses, and Ide’s signature energy, grit and profundity.
Audiobook available, read by Zeno Robinson
