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Jayne Keeney #2
The Half-Child
A new case for expat private investigator Jayne Keeney
Jayne Keeney is a fiesty thirty-something Aussie who has been living in Bangkok for many years. She has been hired to investigate the alleged suicide of a young Australian woman in a seedy Thai coastal town. Maryanne Delbeck was happy and harmless, her father refuses to believe she took her own life. Jayne immerses herself in the case, navigating the backstreet world of Thai ladyboys, monks, strippers, expats and corrupt officials.
Maryanne's death is not the only mystery awaiting Jayne among Pattaya's neon signs and go-go bars. While working undercover at the orphanage where Maryanne volunteered, Jayne discovers something far more sinister. Now her life is in danger, her case is still unsolved and she barely has time for dinner with her handsome new love interest, Rajiv. With love and death both circling, Jayne now has two cases to crack and very little time to do it.
The Half-Child is not your standard crime novel, and Jayne Keeney is not your everyday detective
Jayne Keeney is a fiesty thirty-something Aussie who has been living in Bangkok for many years. She has been hired to investigate the alleged suicide of a young Australian woman in a seedy Thai coastal town. Maryanne Delbeck was happy and harmless, her father refuses to believe she took her own life. Jayne immerses herself in the case, navigating the backstreet world of Thai ladyboys, monks, strippers, expats and corrupt officials.
Maryanne's death is not the only mystery awaiting Jayne among Pattaya's neon signs and go-go bars. While working undercover at the orphanage where Maryanne volunteered, Jayne discovers something far more sinister. Now her life is in danger, her case is still unsolved and she barely has time for dinner with her handsome new love interest, Rajiv. With love and death both circling, Jayne now has two cases to crack and very little time to do it.
The Half-Child is not your standard crime novel, and Jayne Keeney is not your everyday detective
304 pages, Paperback
First published August 30, 2010
1 person is currently reading
85 people want to read
About the author
Angela Savage
9 books60 followersI'm the author of Mother of Pearl, a work of literary fiction, three crime novels, and a selection of short stories.
My crime fiction novels are set in Thailand and feature Australian expat detective Jayne Keeney. The first book in the series Behind the Night Bazaar (Text, 2006) won the 2004 Victorian Premiers' Literary Award for Unpublished Manuscript and was short-listed for the 2007 Ned Kelly Award for Best First Book. The second book The Half-Child (Text, 2010), and third, The Dying Beach, were both shortlisted for Ned Kelly Awards for Best Crime Fiction, with The Dying Beach also shortlisted for the 2014 Davitt Award.
My short story 'The Teardrop Tattoos' won the Sisters in Crime Scarlet Stiletto in 2011. An early Jayne Keeney story, 'The Mole on the Temple', won third prize in 1998.
My crime fiction novels are set in Thailand and feature Australian expat detective Jayne Keeney. The first book in the series Behind the Night Bazaar (Text, 2006) won the 2004 Victorian Premiers' Literary Award for Unpublished Manuscript and was short-listed for the 2007 Ned Kelly Award for Best First Book. The second book The Half-Child (Text, 2010), and third, The Dying Beach, were both shortlisted for Ned Kelly Awards for Best Crime Fiction, with The Dying Beach also shortlisted for the 2014 Davitt Award.
My short story 'The Teardrop Tattoos' won the Sisters in Crime Scarlet Stiletto in 2011. An early Jayne Keeney story, 'The Mole on the Temple', won third prize in 1998.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 9, 2010
Good crime fiction, for me anyway, frequently goes hand in hand with a spotlight on social issues. If it incorporates a good, strong sense of place and great characters that you can really feel something about, then even better.
THE HALF-CHILD is Melbourne author Angela Savage's second Jayne Keeney book. This book is set in Thailand, but the focus this time is on the beachside resort of Pattaya, a strange combination of tourist resort, family friendly locations, sleazy bars and strip-joints. Jayne finds herself in Pattaya as she is hired to investigate the case of a young Australian woman who died there, falling from the roof of one of the tourist hotels. Jayne's investigation involves undercover work, hiding the fact that she can speak fluent Thai, working at the most menial of volunteering tasks in an orphanage, coming to grips in a hurry with the way that this orphanage balances the care of local children, often with their single mothers working nearby in the tourist bars and strip-joints, with the requirements of abandoned or orphaned children intended for overseas adoption.
The impetus behind this story is overseas adoptions when unscrupulous people get involved, people who effectively are trafficking babies to unsuspecting foreign couples, desperate to adopt. Savage has not given herself a particularly easy subject to tackle. The book has to negotiate a minefield, illustrating the experience for everyone involved, careful to show the impact on all sides, whilst still maintaining an investigative imperative. This is not a book that lectures about the pitfalls, and there's a part of the resolution of this complex emotional situation that's possibly going to startle some readers, sadden and confront.
The other thing about these books is that Jayne, herself, isn't a straight-forward character. She's a little bit out there, unpredictable, upfront and frequently prickly, she's no fool, even though she can get a little, let's call it "over enthusiastic". And perhaps that's the only thing that might annoy some readers - what I'm calling "over enthusiastic" some may want to say teeters on the edge of crazy - but then I can see Jayne's very much a "poke the bear / none of this let sleeping bears lie nonsense" sort of a girl. There are therefore times when you admire her, and times you want to slap her. Times you think she's a raging idiot, and then she'll be quite cunning. There's even a little romantic tension - although Jayne seems to be alternatively intrigued, sometimes underwhelmed or just flat out indifferent.
It's always interesting, with the second book in a series, to see what changes the author has undertaken in their writing, to look at the quality of the plot, and how the central character is progressing. THE HALF-CHILD is more assured than the first book, and as strange as it seems given the subject matter, a little more relaxed. There's great humour, particularly in the personality of Jayne herself, who doesn't take herself too seriously, and in that of her potential new partner, Rajiv, who provides some much needed patience and sanity in the face of Jayne's more exuberant behaviour.
The great thing about THE HALF-CHILD is that reading this book, you can see there's a lot more to be done with Jane.
THE HALF-CHILD is Melbourne author Angela Savage's second Jayne Keeney book. This book is set in Thailand, but the focus this time is on the beachside resort of Pattaya, a strange combination of tourist resort, family friendly locations, sleazy bars and strip-joints. Jayne finds herself in Pattaya as she is hired to investigate the case of a young Australian woman who died there, falling from the roof of one of the tourist hotels. Jayne's investigation involves undercover work, hiding the fact that she can speak fluent Thai, working at the most menial of volunteering tasks in an orphanage, coming to grips in a hurry with the way that this orphanage balances the care of local children, often with their single mothers working nearby in the tourist bars and strip-joints, with the requirements of abandoned or orphaned children intended for overseas adoption.
The impetus behind this story is overseas adoptions when unscrupulous people get involved, people who effectively are trafficking babies to unsuspecting foreign couples, desperate to adopt. Savage has not given herself a particularly easy subject to tackle. The book has to negotiate a minefield, illustrating the experience for everyone involved, careful to show the impact on all sides, whilst still maintaining an investigative imperative. This is not a book that lectures about the pitfalls, and there's a part of the resolution of this complex emotional situation that's possibly going to startle some readers, sadden and confront.
The other thing about these books is that Jayne, herself, isn't a straight-forward character. She's a little bit out there, unpredictable, upfront and frequently prickly, she's no fool, even though she can get a little, let's call it "over enthusiastic". And perhaps that's the only thing that might annoy some readers - what I'm calling "over enthusiastic" some may want to say teeters on the edge of crazy - but then I can see Jayne's very much a "poke the bear / none of this let sleeping bears lie nonsense" sort of a girl. There are therefore times when you admire her, and times you want to slap her. Times you think she's a raging idiot, and then she'll be quite cunning. There's even a little romantic tension - although Jayne seems to be alternatively intrigued, sometimes underwhelmed or just flat out indifferent.
It's always interesting, with the second book in a series, to see what changes the author has undertaken in their writing, to look at the quality of the plot, and how the central character is progressing. THE HALF-CHILD is more assured than the first book, and as strange as it seems given the subject matter, a little more relaxed. There's great humour, particularly in the personality of Jayne herself, who doesn't take herself too seriously, and in that of her potential new partner, Rajiv, who provides some much needed patience and sanity in the face of Jayne's more exuberant behaviour.
The great thing about THE HALF-CHILD is that reading this book, you can see there's a lot more to be done with Jane.
February 12, 2012
This is the second of this series I've read and I've enjoyed them both. There are lots of interesting cultural insights to Thailand, seen through the eyes of an expat Aussie, and interesting story lines. This is the one that mentioned Fearless Nadia, an Australian born Bollywood stunt and action heroine from the 1930s to 60s. I was agreeably surprised to find she was a real character (in both senses) and disappointed that she wasn't more well known. She seems to have been a pioneer and star of the genre and we should know her as well as we do Errol Flynn.
December 22, 2012
Another book where the winding surprised me.
I enjoyed the hard smoking and drinking female protagonist and the little insights into Thailand and Thai culture.
I think I'll keep an eye out for more by this author.
I enjoyed the hard smoking and drinking female protagonist and the little insights into Thailand and Thai culture.
I think I'll keep an eye out for more by this author.
Read
March 8, 2014I love the social justice themes to Jayne Keeney PI investigations, and Savage's affectionate and knowledgable portraits of Thailand.
May 18, 2025
Interesting crime novel. Nice development of themes including race, religion and ex-pat communities in Asia.
February 20, 2012
I haven't read any Angela Savage books before, and would have liked to start with the first of the Jayne Keeney series, had I known it was part of a series, rather than join this private detective's adventures after they'd begun. Right from the start, however, I enjoyed the book's Thai setting and was intrigued by the mystery presented. As I read on, I discovered more and more to like.
In the past, I've been a fan of both conspiracy stories and detective stories for light reading, but not usually ones with the degree of humour I found in Savage's story. (For example, Alexander McCall Smith's The Number One Ladies Detective Agency Volume 6 has never appealed to me to pick up and read, even though I enjoyed hearing excerpts on the radio.) As I read on with The Half-Child, I warmed to its humour, especially as it plays out in Savage's depiction of the protagonist Jayne's relationship with her Indian offsider, Rajiv. While Savage's insights into the seedier side of touristic Thailand give rise to indulgent laughter, however, there is also a fair degree of pathos as the tragic plight of some of these sex workers is touched on. Flashes of political comment and insights in regard to inter-race relations, inter-country adoptions, and the attitude of Australians to Asian immigrants in the 1990s, are also woven through the narrative. The story held my interest till the end, the twists, as well as the characters and their relationships, avoiding cliche.
I'd recommend this book to readers who enjoy tom-boy Aussie female 'anti-hero' protagonists, quirky humour and exotic settings, and who don't mind their detective stories giving them something more to think about than your average mystery.
In the past, I've been a fan of both conspiracy stories and detective stories for light reading, but not usually ones with the degree of humour I found in Savage's story. (For example, Alexander McCall Smith's The Number One Ladies Detective Agency Volume 6 has never appealed to me to pick up and read, even though I enjoyed hearing excerpts on the radio.) As I read on with The Half-Child, I warmed to its humour, especially as it plays out in Savage's depiction of the protagonist Jayne's relationship with her Indian offsider, Rajiv. While Savage's insights into the seedier side of touristic Thailand give rise to indulgent laughter, however, there is also a fair degree of pathos as the tragic plight of some of these sex workers is touched on. Flashes of political comment and insights in regard to inter-race relations, inter-country adoptions, and the attitude of Australians to Asian immigrants in the 1990s, are also woven through the narrative. The story held my interest till the end, the twists, as well as the characters and their relationships, avoiding cliche.
I'd recommend this book to readers who enjoy tom-boy Aussie female 'anti-hero' protagonists, quirky humour and exotic settings, and who don't mind their detective stories giving them something more to think about than your average mystery.
July 23, 2015
4.5
Another intense and memorable mystery from Australian crime writer Angela Savage.
A mysterious suicide draws ex-pat PI Jayne Keeney to Pattaya and to a case that exposes the plight of young mothers in a culture that shuns those labelled ‘half-child’. Posing as a volunteer Jayne finds herself at the New Life Children's Centre caring for children awaiting adoption, but it soon becomes clear there's more going on at the centre than finding homes for orphaned children. Jayne’s investigation moves in a direction that raises more questions than answers and exposes her to powerful enemies. Finding the truth could have devastating consequences for Jayne and for a young mother who would do anything for her half-child.
The Half-Child is highly emotive. As with her previous novel, Behind the Night Bazaar, Savage does not shy from showing the harsh reality of those who by choice or circumstance live outside accepted Thai society. The young women who find their way to the centre's clinic are abandoned and pregnant. They can’t return home because of their shame, and they are just as vulnerable to those in authority as they are from the men who use their bodies. All the characters are well rounded and complex with differing views of the cultural and political climate, which feeds well into a story that is as much an exploration of foreign adoption as it is a crime story. We see a lot more of Jayne Keeney’s vulnerabilities in this novel, yet I still found her hard to relate to as a character. Having said that, there were moments when I had to stop reading because I was furious at the girls’ treatment by those who should protect them. That is a sure sign of Savage’s power as a writer.
Pacey and penetrating, The Half Child is the type of novel that leaves you pondering an ethical question while longing for the next Jayne Keeney installment.
Another intense and memorable mystery from Australian crime writer Angela Savage.
A mysterious suicide draws ex-pat PI Jayne Keeney to Pattaya and to a case that exposes the plight of young mothers in a culture that shuns those labelled ‘half-child’. Posing as a volunteer Jayne finds herself at the New Life Children's Centre caring for children awaiting adoption, but it soon becomes clear there's more going on at the centre than finding homes for orphaned children. Jayne’s investigation moves in a direction that raises more questions than answers and exposes her to powerful enemies. Finding the truth could have devastating consequences for Jayne and for a young mother who would do anything for her half-child.
The Half-Child is highly emotive. As with her previous novel, Behind the Night Bazaar, Savage does not shy from showing the harsh reality of those who by choice or circumstance live outside accepted Thai society. The young women who find their way to the centre's clinic are abandoned and pregnant. They can’t return home because of their shame, and they are just as vulnerable to those in authority as they are from the men who use their bodies. All the characters are well rounded and complex with differing views of the cultural and political climate, which feeds well into a story that is as much an exploration of foreign adoption as it is a crime story. We see a lot more of Jayne Keeney’s vulnerabilities in this novel, yet I still found her hard to relate to as a character. Having said that, there were moments when I had to stop reading because I was furious at the girls’ treatment by those who should protect them. That is a sure sign of Savage’s power as a writer.
Pacey and penetrating, The Half Child is the type of novel that leaves you pondering an ethical question while longing for the next Jayne Keeney installment.
November 8, 2015
I raced through this in hours, it was such a stunningly different kind of crime novel.
The second in Savage's Jayne Keeney, P.I., series, "The Half-Child" was bursting with moral complexity and a cast of diverse characters. Of course, there's Jayne herself - a thirty-something farang or white woman investigating two interconnected crimes in the sleazy beach town of Pattaya on the Thai Coast - then there's her Indian love interest / new business partner Rajiv, an assortment of Thai policeman, US marines, Thai bar girls, lady-men, prostitutes and priests, and the "look kreung" or half-caste people that are pivotal to both cases.
Terrible things happen to people in this novel: like how the body of a sixteen-year-old prostitute is dumped in a laneway while her newborn baby is illegally adopted out to the West. Everyone is complicit in the degradation of the local women including corrupt policemen and zealous Christian aid workers. The most heartbreaking character in the story was one of the bereaved mothers, Mayuree, whose baby is stolen, but who trusts that fate will treat her child more kindly than it has treated her.
In and amongst the despair and the sleaze there are flashes of humanity and humour. Loved how Rajiv decided to serenade Jayne on a floating karaoke bar boat (so she couldn't escape, possibly) with REO Speedwagon's "I can't fight this feeling anymore" and how Jayne's made up aid worker CV included a stint at a well-known Melbourne school.
If you want a different kind of crime novel from the usual slice 'em and dice 'em fare that makes you think, and gives you pause, then Savage's novels are just the thing.
The second in Savage's Jayne Keeney, P.I., series, "The Half-Child" was bursting with moral complexity and a cast of diverse characters. Of course, there's Jayne herself - a thirty-something farang or white woman investigating two interconnected crimes in the sleazy beach town of Pattaya on the Thai Coast - then there's her Indian love interest / new business partner Rajiv, an assortment of Thai policeman, US marines, Thai bar girls, lady-men, prostitutes and priests, and the "look kreung" or half-caste people that are pivotal to both cases.
Terrible things happen to people in this novel: like how the body of a sixteen-year-old prostitute is dumped in a laneway while her newborn baby is illegally adopted out to the West. Everyone is complicit in the degradation of the local women including corrupt policemen and zealous Christian aid workers. The most heartbreaking character in the story was one of the bereaved mothers, Mayuree, whose baby is stolen, but who trusts that fate will treat her child more kindly than it has treated her.
In and amongst the despair and the sleaze there are flashes of humanity and humour. Loved how Rajiv decided to serenade Jayne on a floating karaoke bar boat (so she couldn't escape, possibly) with REO Speedwagon's "I can't fight this feeling anymore" and how Jayne's made up aid worker CV included a stint at a well-known Melbourne school.
If you want a different kind of crime novel from the usual slice 'em and dice 'em fare that makes you think, and gives you pause, then Savage's novels are just the thing.
September 17, 2015
In her second book of the Jayne Keeney series, Angela Savage has given added depth to an engrossing mystery by skillfully weaving Thai culture, politics, language and social issues into the fabric of her story. Peopled with realistic characters, with insight into both the exotic and the everyday life in Thailand, The Half-Child is a fascinating mystery that adds up to more than the sum of its parts.
May 28, 2013
really enjoyable
September 29, 2013
Not quite as good as the first, but still a pacey and entertaining read.
September 23, 2014
Clever, clever writing; dark themes handled with a deft touch combined with a likeable protagonist and a great story. I enjoyed this immensely!
January 16, 2016
This book was fun to read, it had a well paced storyline, some twists and turns, and a conclusion that was different. I enjoyed reading this book.
April 6, 2016
I enjoy the lead character, Australian Frenchand Thai-speaking PI Jayne Keeney. And there's the added bonus of capturing some of the culture and flavour of Thailand.
October 24, 2018
Enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Thought it would be a basic crime novel but the characters were well written and I liked that it didn't end 'comfortably'.
January 14, 2017
Enjoyed lots about this highly readble detective story from Angela Savage: the shifting points of view, the well-crafted suspense, the insights about cultural perception. Read in two sittings!
April 28, 2017
So I had to read this book for a university class, and I was expecting pain and misery (I rarely like books for uni) but I got a pleasant surprise in the fact that I actually quite enjoyed it.
Whilst it is the second book in a series it was quite easy to read, any links to the previous book were relatively well explained or so minor they didn't really matter. For the most part the characters were interesting and well written (though Jayne got on my nerves in the final 50 pages). The story was intriguing and I feel like there will be more on it in the future.
Whilst it is the second book in a series it was quite easy to read, any links to the previous book were relatively well explained or so minor they didn't really matter. For the most part the characters were interesting and well written (though Jayne got on my nerves in the final 50 pages). The story was intriguing and I feel like there will be more on it in the future.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews