‘Random Violence’ by Jassy Mackenzie

Published by Soho Crime,
14 March 2013.
ISBN: 978-1-61695-218-1

South Africa is, sadly, a country where random acts of violence are all too common. So, when solitary divorcee Annette Botha is murdered outside her house in a prosperous Johannesburg suburb, it is dismissed as yet another botched carjacking which the police think not worth pursuing. Except, that is, for superintendent David Patel who, faced with his colleagues’ indifference, brings in his friend P I Jade de Jong, back in her native country after a ten-year absence.

Jade quickly establishes that Annette’s killer was no amateur but clearly a professional, highly unusual for this type of crime. Then, from a work colleague of Annette’s, she discovers that Annette was being followed and has hired a private detective to find out who. But the detective has disappeared and when Annette visits his office she is attacked, and the office set on fire. Then Annette’s work computer is stolen and the private detective is found brutally murdered. And when Annette’s ex-husband, an obvious suspect, is also killed, it becomes clear that Annette’s death was not just an act of random violence but has deeper, even more sinister, motives.

At the same time there are other complications: Jade’s father, Police Commissioner de Jong, was murdered ten years ago and his killer is about to be released from jail. Jade fears her life will be in danger; not wishing to involve the police she asks another old friend, small-time gangster Robbie, to help her. And Jade’s feelings for David Patel are rather more than friendship: but what are his feelings for her? Jade needs all her courage and determination to answer not only the questions arising from Annette’s murder but also her own father’s death all those years ago.

A dark and complex portrayal of aspects of South African life by an author who knows the country well.
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Reviewer: Radmila May
Other books by Jassy Mackenzie: Pale Horses, Stolen Lives, Fallen.

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 is the second youngest of five daughters. Her mother Ann Mackenzie was a well-known short story writer in her day. Jassy’s sister Vicky Jones, who lives in New Zealand, is a prize-winning author of children’s books. Today, Jassy is the editor of HJ, a hair and beauty trade magazine. She has had numerous non-fiction articles on a wide variety of subjects published locally and internationally over the past 11 years. She lives in Kyalami with her partner Dion, two horses and two cats. 

http://www.jassymackenzie.com/