Best 2001 Adventures (5)

By: Joshua Glenn
December 12, 2020

One in a series of 10 posts identifying Josh Glenn’s favorite 2001 adventure novels.

John le Carré’s espionage adventure The Constant Gardener.

When his beautiful younger wife, Tessa, is murdered in a remote are of Kenya while in the company of her fellow humanitarian activist, Arnold Bluhm, British diplomat Justin Quayle heads home to England… in order to get to the bottom of what he suspects to be a conspiracy involving KVH, a pharmaceutical company that has been testing a new TB drug in Africa. As with some of my other favorite Le Carré novels, from Call for the Dead (1961) to Our Game (1995), this one is a hybrid of murder mystery and political thriller. Quayle, whose hobby is gardening, proves himself “constant” — that is, both unstoppable in his quest for the truth, and faithful to his love for Tessa — as he navigates British Intelligence, the pharma industry, and the world of do-good NGOs. Were Tessa and Arnold lovers? Had they discovered a truly sinister secret? Who betrayed them? This is a posthumous love story, if you can imagine such a thing, as well as a compelling hunted-man story. We cheer Justin on, as he eludes the good guys and bad guys alike, until the bitter end. PS: “There is only a fleeting reference to gardening,” warns a dumb Goodreads review, “so horticulturists need not get their hopes up.”

Fun facts: Le Carré based his story on a real-life case in Kano, Nigeria. The 2005 film adaptation, directed by Fernando Meirelles, starred Ralph Fiennes as Justin, Rachel Weisz as Tessa, Hubert Koundé as Arnold, and Bill Nighy as Sir Bernard Pellegrin.

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Best 2001 Adventures (5)

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