Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd is a pacy mystery story in the mould of John Buchan’s The 39 Steps and the Will Smith film Enemy of the State. Innocent man in the wrong place at the wrong time. Cloud scientist Adam Kindred is eating a meal alone in a quiet West London restaurant when his instinct to help a fellow diner sends him on the run, accused of a crime he didn’t commit. This is a fast-paced story that takes suspected murderer Kindred from a forgotten triangle of wasteland near Chelsea Bridge to the East End of London. As his name and face become media headlines, he finds a new identity at the Church of John Christ. As ‘John 1603’ he meets fellow dropouts, all with their own reasons for leaving behind a previous identity, all willing to sit through a two-hour sermon for the hearty meal that follows. Adam’s first priority, with his stash of cash running out, is to make money. Second, he sets out to discover the truth of the crime he witnessed and is accused of doing; the murder of Dr Philip Wang, head of research and development at pharmaceutical company Calenture-Deutz.
This is Kindred’s story and 70% of the action is told from his viewpoint. But Boyd adds pace to the story by adding the narrative of Ingram Fryzer, CEO of Calenture-Deutz, river police officer Rita Nashe and ex-soldier JonJo Case. Essentially this is a story of corporate greed and pharmaceutical fraud lightened by dark humour and the touching relationship of Kindred, Mhouse and her son Ly-on.
There are a few sticky coincidences but, forgiving these, this is an entertaining ‘what would I do if it happened to me’ tale. An average thriller elevated by the quality of Boyd’s writing.

Here are my reviews of other books by William Boyd:-
ANY HUMAN HEART
LOVE IS BLIND
NAT TATE: AN AMERICAN ARTIST 1928-1960
SWEET CARESS
THE BLUE AFTERNOON
THE DREAMS OF BETHANY MELLMOTH
TRIO
WAITING FOR SUNRISE

… and try the first paragraph of ARMADILLO.

If you like this, try these:-
‘Reservoir 13’ by Jon McGregor
‘Thornyhold’ by Mary Stewart
‘Brat Farrar’ by Josephine Tey

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview ORDINARY THUNDERSTORMS by William Boyd‪ https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-6zO via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:-