Ordinary Thunderstorms - Review

One May evening in London, Adam Kindred, a young climatologist in town for a job interview, is feeling good about the future as he sits down for a meal at a little Italian bistro. He strikes up a conversation with a solitary diner at the next table, who leaves soon afterward. With horrifying speed, this chance encounter leads to a series of malign accidents, through which Adam loses everything—home, family, friends, job, reputation, passport, credit cards, cell phone—never to get them back.

William Boyd’s electrifying follow-up to the Costa Award-winning Restless, Ordinary Thunderstorms is a profound and gripping novel about the fragility of social identity, the corruption at the heart of big business, and the secrets that lie hidden in the seamy underbelly of every city

About William Boyd

William Boyd is the author of ten novels, including Ordinary Thunderstorms; A Good Man in Africa, winner of the Whitbread Award and the Somerset Maugham Award; An Ice-Cream War, winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and shortlisted for the Booker Prize; Brazzaville Beach, winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize; Any Human Heart, winner of the Prix Jean Monnet; and Restless, winner of the Costa Novel of the Year.

Visit William Boyd's Website.
Buy Ordinary Thunderstorms.

Review
An ordinary thunderstorm comes with noise, flashing lights and wind but moves on and is gone. But ordinary thunderstorms can in a very short time morph into something much more powerful. It is those fast moving super cell storms that can change our lives forever.

When I first started reading Ordinary Thunderstorms I thought here we go again, another ordinary guy stumbles into something he shouldn't have seen/done and now he is being chased by the bad guys. But as I read I discovered this story was moving in a different direction than I was expecting. No only is the lead character on the run but he loses every possession we consider essential to make our way in today's world. His identification, credit cards, phone and money are gone and worse yet he cannot rely on friends or family. With all ties suddenly broken he finds himself on the fringe of what we call society.

Broken, battered and hungry. Where do you turn? Perhaps follow the advice of a street wise hooker and seek out The Church of John Christ?

The story give a gritty glimpse into a hidden world that we choose not to see. It is the characters that make up this world that I found most interesting. The situations and language are both very coarse much of the time but then so is that part of our world.

If you want a book that will hold you in its clutches from the start and take you places you would never dare to dream about, and most certainly would never go, this is the one. I enjoyed Ordinary Thunderstorms and will be looking for more of William Boyd's novels.

What you would do if everything that ties you to this society was suddenly lost?
I was not compensated for my review. I received a copy of the book from the publisher for review but all opinions are my own.