The Constant Gardener by John Le Carr茅, Hodder & Stoughton,
拢16.99, ISBN 0340733373
A BRITISH diplomat鈥檚 white, young, beautiful, passionate wife is murdered
outside Nairobi. Her putative lover, a black doctor, goes missing. As the story
unfolds in John Le Carr茅鈥檚 latest thriller, The Constant Gardener,
it becomes clear that the young wife, Tessa, may not have been the victim of
casual violence, but rather the target of an evil pharmaceuticals company that
didn鈥檛 appreciate her meddling.
The tale is furnished with the usual incompetents from Scotland Yard, a
malicious businessman here and there, and upper-crusty English gentlemen. But it
is also liberally peppered with whitecoats: caring doctors, scrupulous
scientists, nasty drugs company lackeys鈥攐ne even drop-dead gorgeous. So
far, so good. It鈥檚 about time scientists got in on some intrigue, eh?
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Problem is, the less you know about drugs companies, the Internet, research
practice and even small Canadian prairie towns, the more likely you are to enjoy
the story. Otherwise, like me, you might get tangled up in the niggling details
that just don鈥檛 ring true.
Like the fact that Scotland Yard can鈥檛 seem to find the names of these pesky
pharmaceuticals heavyweights. Try Google.com for goodness鈥� sake. Or that Le
Carr茅 paints drugs reps as a step below common thugs. Hasn鈥檛 he ever
spoken to one? They are the smoothest of the smooth, unflappable; and they don鈥檛
say the f-word to strangers. And, John, there are no medieval universities and
Victorian row houses in a province as young as Saskatchewan.
All in all, this is a fair read, but Le Carr茅 could have done his own
research a little more carefully.