Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd Fourth Estate HK$271
British band the Beautiful South once explained the unexpectedly enormous sales of their greatest hits by saying that while they were no one's favourite group, they were an awful lot of people's fifth or sixth favourite. I occasionally think similar reasoning could explain William Boyd's vast success (or Sebastian Faulks' for that matter). Neither as stylish as Martin Amis nor as accomplished as Ian McEwan, Boyd writes intelligent and addictive stories that pack a satisfying emotional punch. Ordinary Thunderstorms is Boyd at his best. Adam Kindred is a typical Boydian everyman hero. A climatologist, he travels from the US to London for a job interview - although 'on the run to London' is closer to the truth after his marriage and career collapse. A few chapters in and Kindred really is on the run after he finds a casual acquaintance, Philip Wang, dead, sliced by a bread knife. With both the police and the murderer on his trail, Kindred dives into the subterranean world of London's homeless as he tries to clear his name. Boyd creates a good baddie (the eminently nasty Jonjo Case) and even throws in a bit of romance for good measure.
