Point of View

The novel is told from the perspective of an omniscient narrator. The narrator is most closely aligned with the protagonist, Isaiah, but often ventures off into the minds of other characters for dramatic effect. It is not uncommon that a scene featuring Isaiah prominently will split off and give the reader an account of a second- or even third-tier character’s past history, thoughts, or motivations. The narrator even spends entire chapters with the antagonist, Skip, although the narrator never gives away the mystery of who hired him to kill Calvin. This omniscience is tricky business in a detective novel, especially when the narrator is constantly flipping into the minds of villains and suspects, but Ide gets away with it by using cinematic pacing.

Language and Meaning

The language of IQ is fairly simple and straightforward. Like much hardboiled detective fiction before it, the novel...