Bad Seeds

January 9, 2017
Jade de Jong has squeaked through some scary situations, but her luck just might have run out in the explosive fifth outing for Mackenzie’s steely Johannesburg PI (after 2013’s Pale Horses). Within days of being hired by Inkomfe nuclear-plant security director Ryan Gillespie to tail AWOL consultant Carlos Botha, who Gillespie suspects is involved in a recent sabotage attempt at the plant, Jade discovers two murder victims and narrowly escapes what look to be professional hit men. She soon finds herself fleeing for her life—with Botha. Though Jade by no means trusts the mysterious Botha, she starts to suspect that Gillespie hasn’t been completely candid. And, truth be told, she isn’t totally immune to the buff Botha’s animal magnetism, especially in the wake of breaking up with her married sometime-colleague, Supt. David Patel. While this installment lacks the haunted poetry of Pale Horses, it is still a propulsive page-turner featuring distinctly South African characters and concerns. Agent: Stephany Evans, FinePrint Literary Management.

March 1, 2017
A nuclear power plant reeling from a sabotage attempt and the slippery loyalties of those in charge make Johannesburg private eye Jade de Jong question whether it's the uranium or the people who are more dangerous."Going nuclear" is generally a warning that doesn't carry any literal radioactive weight behind it, but in Jade's latest explosive outing (after Pale Horses, 2013), the threat of nuclear sabotage is very real. Mackenzie, always adept at mixing current South African social and political issues with her crime stories, plunks Jade in the middle of the country's heated debate about the use of nuclear power when she's hired by Inkomfe Nuclear Research Station security director Ryan Gillespie to track down an employee who's gone rogue and may be tied with a recent break-in. Asked by the secretive Gillespie to find consultant Carlos Botha, Jade almost immediately locates her target in a seedy motel that's also the scene of a grisly murder. She isn't the only one with Botha in her sights, and the two decide that forming an uneasy alliance, but staying alive, is wiser than toughing it out alone when hit men descend on the motel. Soon they're on the run, though Jade must juggle the fact that she's still feeding information about Botha to Gillespie while letting Botha believe they're in it together against the big boss. On the periphery is Police Superintendent David Patel, Jade's former lover, who's grudgingly back with his now-pregnant wife but who becomes entangled in the case when it's discovered that one of the victims at the motel is Wouter Loodts, a former government minister whose corpse shows signs of torture. Adrenaline-fueled action and enough twists and turns to keep even the most astute readers on their toes, this is a thriller with a heroine as forcefully engaging as the subject matter.

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February 15, 2017

This fourth novel (after The Fallen) featuring South African private investigator Jade de Jong begins with her being hired by the head of security for the country's nuclear research facility. Carlos Botha, a former employee, is suspected of sabotage, and there was a recent break-in. Jade takes the assignment to find him and before long connects his disappearance with two bodies found in a rundown Johannesburg motel room. She and Botha are soon on the run from ruthless killers and trying to figure out who is behind the killings and the sabotage and what their ultimate goal might be. The politics of South Africa and its past also play a part in the mystery, but they do not overwhelm the action or mystery elements. VERDICT Series fans won't be disappointed, and newcomers who relish fast-paced thrillers with international locations will be captivated as well.--Dan Forrest, Western Kentucky Univ. Libs., Bowling Green

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Starred review from February 15, 2017
Oh, Jo'berg! Look out. PI Jade de Jong is on a case and tearing around town in a white rental Mazda. She is as relentless and resilient as ever in this fifth outing (after Pale Horses, 2013). Her new employer, the incredibly handsome Ryan Gillespie, has hired her to find a missing security officer after a sabotage attempt at the Inkomfe nuclear plant. Her quarry is Carlos Botha, an all-around smooth operator. She soon finds out that she's not the only one on his tail. After the case she hoped would remain low-profile is blown wide open by a string of murders of Inkomfe employees, Jade finds herself in a shaky alliance with Botha. Support comes from her former lover, Superintendent David Patel, who is staggering under a massive caseload while a resentful pregnant wife isn't making it any easier, and Jade's shady acquaintance Robbie, Rasta braids and all. Mackenzie also introduces us to the remarkable warrant officer Thokoza Mwele and her cat confidante, Chakalaka. The author's mastery of redirection and downright misdirection is everywhere in evidence in a South African setting where rampant development (without the infrastructure to support it) has done little to adjust extreme income inequality. There is lots of kick-ass millennial appeal here. Perfect for fans of J. D. Robb's Eve Dallas and Cara Black's Aimee Leduc.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)