Jade de Jong, a private investigator and daughter of a police inspector, returns to Johannesburg to help a friend and protege of her father track down the killer of a seemingly senseless murder of a woman. Doggedly following leads, Jade discovers a pattern of killings and helps bring the perpetrators to justice. Compelling novel, read about in NY Times Book Review. ( )

After ten years away, PI Jade de Jong returns to Johannesburg to take care of unfinished business and signs on to help the police solve an apparent hi-jacking/murder case. Being home gives her the chance to renew a special friendship but also brings back memories of her police commissioner father and his suspicious death. As the multiple cases converge tables turn, good guys do bad, bad guys do good, and a lead suspect's involvement is questionable right up until the very end. In Random Violence Jassy Mackenzie keeps all these elements in the air while she fills us in on Jade's back-story. I feel I got a full introduction to spunky Jade de Jong in this first book of the series. ( )

Pure pleasure to read. Jassy Mackenzie delivers an intelligent, fast paced and utterly intriguing mystery set in Johannesburg, South Africa. There are twists and turns that make for a wild ride. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be on the lookout for more of Mackenzie's work. Definitely recommended. ( )

Mackenzie thrills again with the next in the Jade De Jong series. Jade, a private detective has recently returned from self-exile in England after needing time to get her head together following her last caper.
She immediately falls back in not only with the criminal underworld informants she had cultivated, but also into a semi-partnership with police detective David Patel. Hoping to stay close to Patel in order to foster a romantic relationship, they find themselves at loggerheads, especially when he admits that he has married and had a child since her absence. The fact that his wife and he are separated only seems to open more wounds for the couple.
Her arrival back in Johannesburg is also timed for the release of a hardened criminal that Jade believes was involved in the death of her father—a police commander whose death was set up to look like a simple auto accident—a decade previously. Along with helping Patel solve a possible home invasion style murder that leads to a much more complicated case with multiple victims and a vicious gang of murderers, Jade has her hands full keeping Patel’s new commander off his back as well as keeping from him the knowledge that she has already shot and killed a notorious thug with a gun she was not supposed to have been carrying.
All of this mayhem helps complicate a simple plot. One that is a simple P.I. out does the police at their own game, figures out the bad guy first, girl gets guy in a happy ending. At least the murders and car chases keep us entertained enough to stay interested.
Not quite a page turner, but remarkable nevertheless as the reader is held spell bound by the author’s interpretation of South Africa, the rhythms of her cities, and their cry for help.
( )

Mackenzie thrills again with the next in the Jade De Jong series. Jade, a private detective has recently returned from self-exile in England after needing time to get her head together following her last caper.
She immediately falls back in not only with the criminal underworld informants she had cultivated, but also into a semi-partnership with police detective David Patel. Hoping to stay close to Patel in order to foster a romantic relationship, they find themselves at loggerheads, especially when he admits that he has married and had a child since her absence. The fact that his wife and he are separated only seems to open more wounds for the couple.
Her arrival back in Johannesburg is also timed for the release of a hardened criminal that Jade believes was involved in the death of her father—a police commander whose death was set up to look like a simple auto accident—a decade previously. Along with helping Patel solve a possible home invasion style murder that leads to a much more complicated case with multiple victims and a vicious gang of murderers, Jade has her hands full keeping Patel’s new commander off his back as well as keeping from him the knowledge that she has already shot and killed a notorious thug with a gun she was not supposed to have been carrying.
All of this mayhem helps complicate a simple plot. One that is a simple P.I. out does the police at their own game, figures out the bad guy first, girl gets guy in a happy ending. At least the murders and car chases keep us entertained enough to stay interested.
Not quite a page turner, but remarkable nevertheless as the reader is held spell bound by the author’s interpretation of South Africa, the rhythms of her cities, and their cry for help.
( )