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Ordinary Thunderstorms [Hardcover]

William Boyd (Author)
3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 416 pages
  • Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC; First Edition edition (7 Sep 2009)
  • ISBN-10: 1408802392
  • ISBN-13: 978-1408802397
  • Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.2 x 3.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank:: 183,537 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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More About the Author

William Boyd
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Product Description

Review

`A storm of a story... London has never looked so threatening' --Daily Mirror

`A thriller of hide and seek among London's low life. Think John Buchan meets John le Carre' -- Tatler

`Highly entertaining and characteristically expert' --Daily Telegraph

`He braids a taut plot with musings on identity and corruption, offering lingeringly atmospheric glimpses of London's many hidden selves' -- Daily Mail

`A mini exploration of the nature of modern citizenship combined with a picaresque tour of the various strata of modern metropolitan life' -- Guardian

Product Description

It is May in Chelsea, London. The glittering river is unusually high on an otherwise ordinary afternoon. Adam Kindred, a young climatologist in town for a job interview, ambles along the Embankment, admiring the view. He is pleasantly surprised to come across a little Italian bistro down a leafy side street. During his meal he strikes up a conversation with a solitary diner at the next table, who leaves soon afterwards. With horrifying speed, this chance encounter leads to a series of malign accidents through which Adam will lose everything - home, family, friends, job, reputation, passport, credit cards, mobile phone - never to get them back. The police are searching for him. There is a reward for his capture. A hired killer is stalking him. He is alone and anonymous in a huge, pitiless modern city. Adam has nowhere to go but down - underground. He decides to join that vast army of the disappeared and the missing that throng London's lowest levels as he tries to figure out what to do with his life and struggles to understand the forces that have made it unravel so spectacularly. His quest will take him all along the River Thames, from affluent Chelsea to the sink estates of the East End, and on the way he will encounter all manner of London's denizens - aristocrats, prostitutes, evangelists and policewomen amongst them - and version after new version of himself. William Boyd's electric follow-up to Costa Novel of the Year Restless is a heart-in-mouth conspiracy novel about the fragility of social identity, the corruption at the heart of big business, and the secrets that lie hidden in the filthy underbelly of everyday city.
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Ordinary Thunderstorms
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Customer Reviews

78 Reviews
5 star:
 (17)
4 star:
 (17)
3 star:
 (25)
2 star:
 (6)
1 star:
 (13)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.2 out of 5 stars (78 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant literary thriller...., 18 Sep 2009
By Wynne Kelly "Kellydoll" (Coventry, UK) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Ordinary Thunderstorms (Paperback)
Adam Kindred, a climatologist who has been working in the United States, arrives in London for a job interview at Imperial College. Within hours a series of events cause him to go into hiding in fear of his life. He then goes from being a respected academic to a hunted man forced to plumb the depths of urban society. In order to remain hidden he becomes a non-person - no phone, no credit cards, no bank account, no identity.

As one would expect from William Boyd Ordinary Thunderstorms is beautifully written and all the strata of London are laid out before us. We meet tramps, prostitutes, evangelists, illegal immigrants, drug dealers, shady businessmen and contract killers. The story is adeptly presented - Adam Kindred (despite his loss of identity) adapts himself to his new situation and has many ingenious methods of survival - but along the way the reader shares with him his hunger, despair and isolation. As in some Dickens' novels the city of London and the Thames are central - almost additional characters.

The plot is wonderfully constructed and keeps you gripped to the very end. The characterisations were well observed and believable (although I found the John Christ Church set up a bit far-fetched).

Having read all of Boyd's novels I would say that this is his best since Any Human Heart.

A brilliant literary thriller - highly recommended.
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72 of 76 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A scorcher!, 8 Sep 2009
This review is from: Ordinary Thunderstorms (Paperback)
I'm not what you'd call a longterm fan of Boyd - in fact, I've only ever read Restless, his last novel, which I thought was great - but I saw him on BBC 4 talking to Mark Lawson over the weekend and was immediately moved to buy this, the new one. And the fact that I've already finished it says it all! It's such a joy to read a thriller (and this really is an out-and-out thriller) that's written by someone who actually knows how to write.

The premise, of an innocent man on the run from an unknown adversary, is hardly new, but is incredibly compelling. And his evocation of London's underbelly is so real you almost smell the stench. It also includes a wonderful cast of characters: policemen and crooks, sinister scientists, lowlifes and and prostituets and a hugely real and believeable hero (a rare thing in a good thriller) in the shape of Adam Kindred.

The story has some extraordinary ingredients - as though Charles Dickens, John Buchan and John Le Carré decided to get together and pool their talents - and is so well constructed and propels the characters along as such a zip, that it arguably betters Restless for sheer fizz and verve alone.

In short: good, high-quality reading pleasure of a sort I've not experienced in a long time!


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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A cracking read!, 9 Sep 2009
By Tim Kevan (Braunton, Devon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Ordinary Thunderstorms (Hardcover)
If you're wanting a cracking read this Autumn then look no further than this book. It's a perfectly paced and plotted thriller which is guaranteed to have you turning the pages right from the start. It follows young climatologist Adam Kindred whose life is suddenly turned upside down when he finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time and ends up being the only suspect in a murder. This leads to him going on the run and living off-grid and feral with London's homeless whilst not only the police but the psychopathic real killer try to track him down. It's definitely edge of your seat stuff but it also delivers on many other levels thanks to William Boyd's incredible talent. There's the fragility of our day to day security and identity, something which also resonated in another of his books Any Human Heart. Then there's the idea of the paths we tread and do not tread and where each of these lead and inter-connect with those of others. Above all there is the image of the unreal city that is London and at its heart the Thames which carries away some of its filth whilst retaining sufficient amounts to provide a record or memory of the inter-connecting histories which have taken place within this vast metropolis. Think Dickens, Hogarth, Peter Ackroyd and a dose of Martin Amis's Keith Talent and you start to get a flavour. But then add the pace and simple pzazz that is William Boyd's own and you're halfway there. I couldn't recommend it more highly!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars not one of Boyd's best
This book is well written, as one would expect from Boyd, but lacks the depth of previous works. I failed to understand the significance of the title and felt Adam Kindred could... Read more
Published 10 days ago by J. A. West

5.0 out of 5 stars Cooking up a storm
There is no doubt that William Boyd is one of the best writers we have. His last novel Restless was a great, page turning, pulse quickening read and in Ordinary Thunderstorms,... Read more
Published 10 days ago by DN PERKS

5.0 out of 5 stars fantastic read
This book kept me intrigued the whole way through. I could not wait to see what happened and it is very easy to imagine the story in real life. Read more
Published 11 days ago by Faye

1.0 out of 5 stars boyd to tears
unconvincing and hardly thrilling portrayal of a nonsense 'nightmare' involving cliche pharmaceutical bad guys; other reviews are spot on - boyd must have been reading jeffrey... Read more
Published 15 days ago by M. Guppy

4.0 out of 5 stars John Buchan meets JG Ballard
It's a very fast-moving modern London thriller. Sure, there are implausibilities (it's a thriller, after all) and in covering aristocrats, academics, charismatic preachers, ex-SAS... Read more
Published 19 days ago by Roman Totale

3.0 out of 5 stars Ordinary novel
I was looking forward to reading this as I enjoyed 'Restless' and thought very highly of 'Any Human Heart' but I can hardly believe this was written by the same author. Read more
Published 25 days ago by Leonora351

1.0 out of 5 stars Tosh
I have long admired William Boyd, and automatically buy each new novel knowing that his name is usually a guarantee of quality. Read more
Published 28 days ago by Zuma

1.0 out of 5 stars Where has the guy who wrote New Confessions gone?
Because this is not a patch on that or An Ice Cream War.

I'm not sure what this is, sort of Jeffrey Archer crossed with Christopher Brookmyre without the funny bits... Read more
Published 1 month ago by PJ Sturdee

1.0 out of 5 stars an bundle of stereotype and tired 'thriller' whimsy
sorry but this book, despite the hype, is tame and full of wishful literary coincidences and typecasts that don't engage this reader. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Peter B. Garside

3.0 out of 5 stars Heavy weather
I had to keep reminding myself that this William Boyd is THAT William Boyd.

On the positive side, this book is a competent thriller, moderately gripping, credible in... Read more
Published 1 month ago by NickR

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