The Concubine

“The Concubine” (also as “McCleary Moves In”) by Michael East (Morris West). Mike McCleary is an out of work oilman in Djakarta, about to be forced out because of some trouble he was in. But then a very rich man offers to help him. Mr. Rubensohn has a surveyor’s map showing strong possibility of an oil strike on an island, and he will pay McCleary to bring in an oil well. Rubensohn also has another prize that McCleary wants, the girl named Lisette; a beautiful Eurasian girl Rubensohn had purchased from the Peacock Pavilion in Saigon. She was a prostitute, but McCleary wanted her, even if it meant killing Rubensohn for her. This was a pretty good story about deceit and power, and a criminal undertaking by a man corrupted with power. Lisette is supposed to be a half-caste, part Tonkinese, and part French. However, she never really acts or sounds the part, and I had trouble believing she was anything but white.