“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.
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