Random Violence: A Jade de Jong Investigation (Jade de Jong Investigations) [Hardcover]

Jassy Mackenzie (Author)

Book Description

Series: Jade de Jong Investigations | Publication Date: April 1, 2010

In Johannesburg prosperous whites live in gated communities; when they exit their cars to open the gates, car-jackings are common. But seldom is the victim killed, much less shot twice, like Annette Botha. Piet Botha, the husband of the wealthy woman, is the primary suspect in his wife's murder.

P.I. Jade de Jong fled South Africa ten years ago after her father was killed. Now back in town, she offers to help her father's former assistant, Superintendent David Patel, with his investigation of this case. Under apartheid, Patel, of Indian descent, could
never have attained his present position. But he is feeling pressure from his "old line" boss with respect to this investigation and fears lingering prejudice is at work.

As Jade probes into this and other recent car-jacking cases, a pattern begins to emerge, a pattern that goes back to her father's murder and that involves a vast and intricate series of crimes for profit.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Set in contemporary South Africa, Mackenzie's triumphant debut introduces PI Jade de Jong. After roaming the world for a decade, Jade returns home to Johannesburg to take her revenge on the convicted murderer, about to be released from prison, who she believes killed her highly respected police commissioner father. Meanwhile, David Patel, her father's former assistant, asks Jade for help in investigating the murder of Annette Botha, gunned down one night after getting out of her car to unlock a malfunctioning automatic gate outside her home. David and Jade later learn that robbers killed Botha's brother a few years earlier, and that the dead woman recently retained a detective, who has since disappeared. The plot has more than its fair share of nice twists, and Mackenzie does a superb job of making the reader care for her gutsy lead while offering a glimpse at life in South Africa after apartheid. Readers will wish Jade a long fictional career. (Apr.)
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Review

“A new generation of crime writers is trying to put apartheid and modern South Africa in focus ... [Random Violence is] a thought-provoking book.”—Portland Oregonian

"Mackenzie, who has lived in South Africa from an early age, plays her hand deftly, with a page turner of a story, intriguing characters—Jade is particularly memorable—and a wealth of South African color, including its appalling racial history. At once brutal and beautiful, Random Violence leaves nothing to chance in hooking the reader."—Richmond Times Dispatch

“With surprising characters and an intriguing plot, you’ll be guessing right up until the very end.”—Tulsa Examiner

Starred Review: "South African writer Mackenzie has created a strong female character with amazing resilience, unusual friends, and incredible luck.... Gripping."—Library Journal

Starred Review: "Set in contemporary South Africa, Mackenzie's triumphant debut
introduces PI Jade de Jong.... The plot has more than its fair share of nice twists, and Mackenzie does a superb job of making the reader care for her gutsy lead while offering a glimpse at life in South Africa after apartheid. Readers will wish Jade a long fictional career."—Publishers Weekly

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Soho Crime; First Edition edition (April 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569476292
• ISBN-13: 978-1569476291
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 1.1 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,209,532 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jassy Mackenzie is from a family where books weren't just more important than television, they were so important that television was banned from the house.

Jassy was born in Zimbabwe and moved to South Africa when she was eight years old. She is now 40, and lives in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg with her partner Dion, two horses and two cats. She was inspired to write her first novel, Random Violence, after getting hijacked at gunpoint in her own driveway.

She has a day job - editing a hair and beauty magazine - but is lucky enough to work from home, so instead of sitting in traffic for hours every day, she stays in bed and writes.

Random Violence, which introduced the renegade PI Jade de Jong, was shortlisted for Best First Book in the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, Africa region, and received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Library Journal.

Her second book, My Brother's Keeper, (not yet available in the USA) was shortlisted for Best First Novel - Paperback Original in the International Thriller Awards.

Jassy's third book, Stolen Lives, the second in the Jade de Jong series, will be published in April 2011. She is currently hard at work on book number four, The Fallen.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great new detective story from South Africa, April 3, 2010

By 

Mack Lundy (Virginia USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Random Violence: A Jade de Jong Investigation (Jade de Jong Investigations) (Kindle Edition)

Jade de Jong is a welcome addition to the P.I. genre. She's hard-boiled, exercising a moral flexibility when the situation demands it but not so hard-boiled that she is without human feelings. Readers who like a strong sense of location in their crime fiction (and I'm one) won't be disappointed with the setting or the way Mackenzie weaves in post-apartheid social and cultural adjustments as well as South Africa's extraordinarily violent crime problem. Random Violence has an excellent plot with two story lines that are both compelling and a pacing that made me keep reading. My only disappointment is that the next book in the series isn't immediately available.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Random Violence, June 15, 2010

By 

Gloria Feit (Long Beach, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Random Violence: A Jade de Jong Investigation (Jade de Jong Investigations) (Hardcover)

Jade deJong , the headstrong protagonist of this terrific new novel, is a p.i. who has left her native South Africa, but after a ten-year absence has returned after, most recently, doing surveillance work in England. Her father, before his death, had been police commissioner in Johannesburg, described as a city filled with crime and brutality. The tale opens with the brutal murder of a young woman in what initially appears to have been an attempted carjacking, the first but hardly the last violent act in this novel.

Jade, thirty-four years old, has long-standing relationships with two men, who couldn't be less alike: David, a cop who trained under her father's mentorship and is now a Superintendent in the Johannesburg Central police headquarters, with whom she has a chaste friendship which she would like to see evolve into something more intimate; and Robbie, a small-time gangster whose own attempts at intimacy she rejects, but who serves a purpose. She has timed her return home with the expected release from prison of a convicted murderer who she blames for her father's death. Ultimately, her sense of justice, and her determination to see it done, provides her motivation despite some narrow escapes and the continuing jeopardy in which she finds herself.

The author, who was raised in South Africa, has written a debut novel which brings the country to gritty life, a fast-paced and gripping tale with memorable characters. Readers, including this one, can look forward to her follow-up entry in the series, due out in 2011.

Recommended.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars compelling well written, July 16, 2010

By 

L. Meyer (Henderson, NV United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Random Violence: A Jade de Jong Investigation (Jade de Jong Investigations) (Kindle Edition)

if you like intelligent compelling detective fiction you will love this. I am an addict for this genre and this book is a treat.