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A review by jdglasgow
Righteous by Joe Ide
4.0
I found ‘Righteous’ to be about at the same level of quality as ‘IQ’, which is very high. I can’t quite put my finger on what I feel is missing that would put it over the edge for me.
Ide is an excellent writer. As in ‘IQ’, he opts for a style that zigzags through time, flashing back and flashing back again in those flashbacks. Whatever reservations I had about the device last time, I think it works here. In both books, frankly, it is used to develop the story, to complicate the characters’ motivations and add resonance. It works.
My big complaint about the previous book was that the solution to the mystery felt like an afterthought. I get a bit of the same sense here. I didn’t really understand Tommy’s whole deal, or why Janine mattered to him. The action itself was fun as hell, and I am loving Isaiah and Dodson arguing their way through another case (even if it doesn’t totally make sense why Dodson is there to begin with), but it sort of feels like... don’t look too closely at the specifics because it’s kind of hazy.
Also, regarding the side-quest to find the person who killed Isaiah’s brother, I can’t help feeling that it would have made more sense for Tommy and Seb to be one character, to better tie the two halves of the story together.
I don’t mean to hone in on faults; it’s just that the book is so good, I feel like I need to justify why I’m not going the full five rather than explain why it deserves four. It’s snappy, cinematic, funny, and *cool*. When Ide drops the title of the book, ‘Righteous’, at the end of chapter six, it’s in the context of a righteous rage, a hatred that makes you want to kill. That’s dark, but thrilling. The book is never less than thrilling.
I’m totally invested—I can’t wait to read the next three (so far!) in the series. I hope Ide continues at this high level but tightens up the mechanics of the plot a bit.
Ide is an excellent writer. As in ‘IQ’, he opts for a style that zigzags through time, flashing back and flashing back again in those flashbacks. Whatever reservations I had about the device last time, I think it works here. In both books, frankly, it is used to develop the story, to complicate the characters’ motivations and add resonance. It works.
My big complaint about the previous book was that the solution to the mystery felt like an afterthought. I get a bit of the same sense here. I didn’t really understand Tommy’s whole deal, or why Janine mattered to him. The action itself was fun as hell, and I am loving Isaiah and Dodson arguing their way through another case (even if it doesn’t totally make sense why Dodson is there to begin with), but it sort of feels like... don’t look too closely at the specifics because it’s kind of hazy.
Also, regarding the side-quest to find the person who killed Isaiah’s brother, I can’t help feeling that it would have made more sense for Tommy and Seb to be one character, to better tie the two halves of the story together.
I don’t mean to hone in on faults; it’s just that the book is so good, I feel like I need to justify why I’m not going the full five rather than explain why it deserves four. It’s snappy, cinematic, funny, and *cool*. When Ide drops the title of the book, ‘Righteous’, at the end of chapter six, it’s in the context of a righteous rage, a hatred that makes you want to kill. That’s dark, but thrilling. The book is never less than thrilling.
I’m totally invested—I can’t wait to read the next three (so far!) in the series. I hope Ide continues at this high level but tightens up the mechanics of the plot a bit.