ARC REVIEW IQ by Joe Ide

A modern day Sherlock Holmes, if he was born in the California Ghettos. IQ is the nickname they gave Isaiah Quintabe after he solved a very sensitive and exposing blackmailing scheme involving a rapper which he later published in a major magazine. Isaiah is a brilliant young man who at a young age tested above genius but due to circumstances out of his control it lead him on a path of destruction. You can see elements of Sherlock in the story his brother Marcus (Mycroft), his friend and I use the term loosely Dodson (Watson), and even Goliath (the Hound of Baskerville) along with Isaiah's deductive skills are that of Sherlock. This modern day almost realistic Sherlock is one of the best I've seen.

The story really starts off with a bang, it pulled you in and shows you how good Isaiah is at what he does. From then on it ping pongs back and forth between 2005-06 and 2013. It shows the progression of how Isaiah became what he is and most importantly why. The two timelines have nothing to do with each other but the past timeline does slowly reveal more about Isaiah and Dodson and their ambiguous friendship. In the modern timeline Dodson has come back to Isaiah with a high profile job. It's all hush hush but it promises a very nice paycheck. The rapper Calvin "Black the Knife" Wright has had a very curious assassination attempt, a very large dog almost killed him. Cal is determined to find out who tried to kill him, especailly if it's his ex-wife. Isaiah agreed to the job and no matter that everyone is trying to talk him out of it or stump him Isaiah isn't going to stop until he finds out the truth. Through the years Isaiah has made plenty of contact and through those contacts he is able to unravel the whole mystery.

The story is third person but does switch perspective throughout the list of characters even the assassin, but you don't find out the whodunit until the very end. Overall, I really truly enjoyed this one and I hope there are more stories about IQ to come.      

ARC REVIEW Try Not to Breathe by Holly Seddon

Try Not to Breathe is a debut psychological suspense by author Holly Seddon. This was a good mystery, I really enjoyed the how the events unfolded moving from past to present and an insightful look into the mind of a comatose girl. It was a little slow paced for me, but that is just personal preference. The characters are perfectly imperfect it makes them seem more real, their pain more palpable. I liked reading it, it kept me intrigued; I kinda figured it out early in the book but it was entertaining to find out how the characters reached the conclusion.

The main character Alex Dale has her own demons to fight and she thinks she has her alcoholism under control. Alex was a great journalist but the death of her mother and her alcoholism which played a part in the death of her unborn child and in part why her husband left her, and in turn her career tanked. She thought she hit rock bottom until her doctor told her unless she stops drinking entirely and seek treatment she will die in a year. Alex was working freelance doing fluff pieces trying to get her her place back at the paper. One of her pieces lead her to the coma ward at one of the hospitals Alex's life changed dramatically after that.

Amy Stevenson was a typical teenage girl until she went missing and found several days later almost dead. They never found who did it, and ever since Amy has been considered a vegetable. Her brain is active she just can't wake up. Alex feels a kinship with this woman it has been a whole decade since Amy has seen the world and Alex remembers when Amy went missing have grown up not far from where it happened. Alex feels like she owes it to Amy to find out what happened. Alex diligently works to uncover the truth about what really happened to Amy all those years ago. She recruits the help of her police officer ex-husband, Amy's Step-father and Amy's high school boyfriend. All the while Amy is reliving the events up to her disappearance over and over again until she finally remembers but still stuck in her uncooperative body.

The revelation of the whodunit was very exciting. Overall, I liked the book well enough. It was beautifully written and the characters were all very real.