Isaiah Quintabe's first love, Grace, has been kidnapped by his sworn enemy, the professional hitman Skip Hanson. Skip is determined to punish Isaiah for sending him to prison and destroying his life. 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 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, each hindering the other's progress.
Sharply rendered characters flesh out the book ... Such varied types make the pages snap, crackle and pop. With sleight of hand and twist of plot, Mr. Ide takes time to render his cast in rich psychological detail.
Ide ably manages his usual trick of mixing comic turns... with ramped-up tension ... And, yet, there is something new here, fighting to be heard: a deep note of all-prevailing sadness.
Ide’s sixth crime thriller featuring genius Isaiah “IQ” Quintabe... disappoints in its shift from deduction to full-tilt action ... The bulk of the plot centers on IQ’s efforts to free Grace, but Ide tosses in another villain eager for revenge on the investigator, which dilutes, rather than increases, the tension ... Awkward prose... and plot contrivances don’t help.
