The Constant Gardener (original 2001; edition 2005)

This is my first John le Carre book and now I am reading the rest. Set in Africa with government baddies and bif Pharma. The movie is lovely and moving but it was better for reading the book. ( )

After I saw the movie, I thought I'd start again with a book in English. This one.
I liked it a lot, it was beter than the movie, like most books are better than 'the movies of..'. It was certainly not an easy read for me, starting again where I left off so many years ago. I was very impressed. Still I'll have to read it again to let it sink in properly. Will do. In ... ... (has no idea how many years ;-)) ( )

This book is a bit longer the it needs to be but I enjoyed sitting with a cool drink on hot summer days. An intriguing story. ( )

News comes in that a British subject has been found violently murdered near Lake Turkana in Kenya. Tessa, the wife of a British diplomat named Justin Quayle, is found dead in a locked car with the headless corpse of her driver next to her. Her companion on the trip, Dr. Arnold Bluhm, a handsome black Belgian doctor, is nowhere to be found, putting him on the top of the police's suspect list. He is not the only person of interest, both Justin and his superior, Sandy, are also on the list, the latter because he had a large crush on Tessa. British police fly out to work on the case, which has far reaching implications.

Tessa is the thorn in the side of the authorities, she has thrown herself into aid work in Kenya, not content to be a lady who lunches. She is passionate about the country and its people, and not unwilling to speak out about injustices. Along with Dr. Arnold, she uncovers discrepancies in a pharmaceutical company's drug trials. As investigations into the murders goes deeper, attempts at getting at the truth are hindered, with no one, not even her husband, Justin, telling the whole truth.

The author jumps from narrator to narrator, as well as using Tessa's own words, to give us the insider's view, as the characters struggle with their conscience, reminding us that we are all human and life can not be determined in black and white.

Le Carre brings together a convincing, compelling thriller, one which in today's climate appears all too realistic. The God of Profit, as one of the characters terms it, is all too omnipresent today. The reality is that developing world is being used as a testing ground for new drugs and that our governments pick and choose when to support or condemn a regime on financial grounds. The book had even more resonance for me in the wake of the Arab Spring and various scandals about the misuse of aid.

This arrived in a bookbox not long after seeing the film adaptation. The film differs rather a lot from the book, but both are worth your attention. ( )

Slow start and quite complicated but great story. Loved the film when I saw it a few years ago. Plan to watch it again. ( )