Friday, September 7, 2007

The Constant Gardener- John le Carre

This is another typical Peace Corps read. Everyone I've talked to that's read it really liked it, but it wasn't my favorite. It had an extremely slow start and never really picked up even after the story started getting good. It basically presents the idea that populations of undeveloped countries are used as guinea pigs for clinical trials before big pharmaceutical companies get approval to sell their drugs in developed nations. The main character's wife was murdered and he sets about to discover why. He learns of scandal and corruption in the pharma biz from as high up as British Parliament and extending down to the drug distributors. It's kind-of-but-not-really like a John Grisham novel but definitely not as quick.