Krishna
First of all, a preamble : Believe me, I am not out to trash the books of famous authors to have fun or to prove anything. This started out as a place to write my honest impressions, and I say what I feel.
This is my first Le Carre and maybe the wrong one to start Le Carre experience, perhaps. It was a disappointment. It tells the story of Justin Quayle, who married a much younger Tessa Abbot and is employed in the British Consulate in Daniel Arap Moi’s Kenya. Tessa has an abiding interest in the downtrodden and takes on the powerful drug company KVH and its local agent ThreeBees. She is befriended by a local doctor who shares her passion and both are brutally murdered while returning from a far away lodge. The grieving husband continues the crusade. The book took so long to take off that I nearly gave up reading, and even after taking off, the international settings do nothing to add to the richness.
There are some tense moments when Justin is targeted and the caricature of Kenneth C, the man who has a vested interest in keeping the dangerous TB drug going is well done. But the story reads more like an aggrieved anti globalization activist’s diary than a spy story and that is a pity.
I have a bit of a rant about the ending too, but will hold back, as I do not want to spoil the book for those who want to read it later. I have heard that the movie is good, but after my experience with the book, I did not want to find out why the movie is highly rated.
My personal rating for this book is no more than a 2/10.
— Krishna