LeCarre has produced what might be his best novel since The Spy Who Came in From the Cold with his newest story, The Constant Gardener. Once again, LeCarre tackles social, political, and ethical issues while weaving a well-crafted story about, well, a man with a passion for gardening, and for his beautiful wife, Tessa.
The story
Justin Quayle, older diplomat with the British foreign service, is posted in Kenya, a former British colony. He and his stodgy co-workers are there, not for the sake of the Kenyan people, but to protect British interests in the former colony. Tessa Quayle, Justin’s young, beautiful wife is an heiress with a conscience. Unlike her husband and his cronies, she cares deeply about the people in this impoverished nation. So deeply, in fact, that she is murdered.
The story revolves around the bereaved Justin’s search for his wife’s murderer(s). As he retraces her steps he finds that she has uncovered a horrible truth -- a British company is distributing an improperly tested tuberculosis drug and using the people of Africa as guinea pigs. Determined to right this terrible injustice, the young Tessa is brazen in her threats to the drug’s makers and distributors. Is this what got her killed, or was it merely a random killing or the work of her colleague and suspected lover as the authorities are encouraging Justin to believe?
LeCarre takes a stab at pharmaceutical companies and their actual practices in the Third World, he exposes the corruption of governments and the hypocrisy of the foreign service and some aid agencies. Yet the novel is not overly moralistic or preachy, it is a well told mystery with deep, intelligent ethical introspection.
A genuinely good read!