The Constant Gardener

A plausible and compelling read detailing a complicity of corruption and the attempts of one man to penetrate and expose it. le Carré has always been a superb storyteller, whether narrating espionage during the Cold War or the venalities of modern life in a novel such as this. Beyond the page-turning nature of the work, le Carré — like Graham Greene — addresses superbly the moral ambiguities of human nature; what might constitute the ‘right’ course of action and the extent to which the means justify the ends. Even the eponymous ‘gardener’ (Justin) succeeds in exposing his knowledge of the conspiracy to three of its enabling perpetrators (Sir Bernard Pellegrin, Sandy Woodrow, and Markus Lorbeer). He still finds himself defeated — shot — at the novel's close. le Carré maintains the suspense until the very end, but his conclusion is unfortunately depressing: however hard the honourable individual tries, with his ‘constancy’, the machine (the status quo) will endure.

By John le Carré