Book Review – Bad Seeds

by Jassy Mackenzie (Umuzi) ISBN 9781415209509

I haven’t read any of the previous four Jade de Jong novels, and now I’m asking myself why the hell not? (Not that I needed any of the history to make sense of the story – the author has woven enough clues and hints smartly into the narrative.)

Jade de Jong is a private investigator hired to investigate the involvement of a former employee in a breach at a nuclear research centre near Johannesburg.  She tracks him to a seedy motel nearby, but a crime in the next room exposes her, and she is forced to work alongside her suspect to get the information she wants. What she discovers could threaten national security, but the discovery of her true identity could seriously threaten her own.

Bad Seeds is a thriller you can’t put down. It’s pacy, full of detail and filled with twists and turns – all set in the grimy industrial outskirts of the city, which provide a suitably grim environment, and plenty of opportunity for wry social commentary. The lead character is feisty and complex, the plot travels at a brilliant pace and the surprises are mostly unexpected.

I’m loving your work, Jassy Mackenzie!

Judy Ward
4/5