Ordinary Thunderstorms, by William Boyd

It seems great writers can be successful in any genre. John Banville has written an excellent series of crime fiction books under his pen name Benjamin Black. Banville says he writes differently when he writes as Black – it is “liberating”, he says, and makes him write differently and much faster. I don’t know if Whitbread-winner William Boyd has released the same terrific liberating energy in his new thriller – written in his own name – but he is every bit as successful as Banville in his switching of genres.

Ordinary Thunderstorms is an odd title – there is no such thing, to me at least – as an ordinary thunderstorm. They are all frightening displays of the force of nature, extremely random in nature. The words “thunderstorm” and “ordinary” used this way gives me a feeling that something is amiss, the words feel almost contradictory; the first word constrains the other, or the second word challenges the first. There is a fundamental tension somehow in this choice of words. And in this sense the title nicely illustrates the way the book is written: tension, suspense, events spiraling out of control, dynamic forces breaking loose.

This is a brilliant, very fast-paced thriller that sends shivers down your spine. Climatologist Adam Kindred by chance meets immunologist Philip Wang at a restaurant in London. Wang leaves a folder full of papers behind. Adam does what is ordinarily done – tries to return them to Wang. But at Wang’s flat he finds Wang dying from a violent attack, and leaves evidence of his visit all over.

Now Adam is hunted by the police and flees. And soon he is hunted by a hired assassin as well. What started as ordinary is no longer that.

At the same time, in Wang’s pharmaceutical company, Calenture-Deutz, things are also amiss. There is pressure to rush a new drug for children with asthma to the market. And the CEO of the corporation, who knows it is too early to do this, finds himself threatened to rush the release. Crucial data from the drug trials are missing as well.

Craftsman-like, all the time paying great attention to language and writing meticulously, William Boyd develops and weaves together the disparate threads of this chilling tale – a classic wrong-man whodunit story. As it develops we come face to face with greed, deception, riches beyond belief, corporate constraints that are insufficient, corporate power struggles and incompetence in this wonderfully observed book. We also meet poverty and hopelessness. Ordinary Thunderstorms is a book that keeps you on your toes and where the writing is so good that implausible elements in the plot just pass you by while you enjoy the writing and feel the tension build– in the contrasts and the wild dynamics of the situation. The characters are alive and real – they almost stand out from the pages and speak to you.

If you want to enjoy a great thriller, one that is written almost to perfection, then this is it. What can I say? I loved it. Ordinary Thunderstorms is no ordinary book, it is a thunderstorm, so go and get it!

Links to books by William Boyd at Amazon US and Amazon UK.

Tagged as: excellent, new release, Thriller, William Boyd