Ordinary Thunderstorms in Espionage Aficionados

Jan 21, 2025 Michael Martz rated it really liked it

"Ordinary Thunderstorms" is anything but ordinary. It's the strange, sometimes meandering story of a pretty brilliant man, Adam Kindred, who leaves his research job in the US to interview for a position in England and makes a big, big mistake. Or 2. Or 3....

Adam is enjoying a London restaurant when he meets a stranger, Philip Wang, a research scientist. They part ways, the man inadvertently leaves some documents behind which Adam, nice guy that he is, decides to return to him. Upon showing up a "Ordinary Thunderstorms" is anything but ordinary. It's the strange, sometimes meandering story of a pretty brilliant man, Adam Kindred, who leaves his research job in the US to interview for a position in England and makes a big, big mistake. Or 2. Or 3....

Adam is enjoying a London restaurant when he meets a stranger, Philip Wang, a research scientist. They part ways, the man inadvertently leaves some documents behind which Adam, nice guy that he is, decides to return to him. Upon showing up at Wang's room, he discovers he's been murdered with a knife, which Adam removes from the body, not only putting his prints on the weapon but also getting blood all over himself. He hears noises in the apartment, realizes the killer may still be on the premises, and flees the scene taking the documents with him. While walking around the area trying to decide whether to turn himself into the cops, Adam gets accosted and fights off the attacker by braining him with his briefcase. He realizes he's suspect #1 to the police and doesn't know why he was attacked after he left the scene of the crime, so he finds himself a nice hiding place in a bunch of bushes near a bridge over the Thames and hunkers down. What was expected to be a short term "sleeping rough" period turns into much more as Adam discovers that not only are the police searching for him, but Wang's killer as well. In the meantime, a pharma company that Wang was associated with is preparing to release a blockbuster drug that'll make a bunch of people rich, provided final testing goes well and approvals are received. And, for some reason, they're concerned about the documents Wang was carrying that Adam now possesses.

The remainder of Ordinary Thunderstorms details Adam's struggles to stay ahead of both the police and Wang's killer, his changes of his features, identity, and abode, his life in London's underground population, and his eventual (and I do mean eventual... it indeed takes awhile) figuring out of exactly what the documents he now carries with him represent and why they're so important that he's now a target for a contract killer.

William Boyd is a brilliant writer, always understated and in control. The story is an unusual one but the plot is expertly planned and realized, the characters are nicely drawn, and the conclusion is agreeable. There's a dollop or two of humor along the way as well, almost seeming as if Boyd knows the story is a little out there but wants to have some fun telling it. Boyd has become a favorite and I look forward to delving further into his catalog. ...more

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