ORDINARY THUNDERSTORMS

William Boyd (Bloomsbury, £18.99)

An industry insider, who knew I was a big fan of the author, handed me an uncorrected proof copy of this six months before publication. I read about 100 pages before being told to hand back the manuscript, leaving me tantalised by the dramatic first few chapters.

In a page-turning opening, Adam Kindred, a young climatologist in London for a job interview, pops into a pizza restaurant in Chelsea and picks up a package left by another diner.

He finds the man’s phone number on the paperwork, and offers to return the package to the man's hotel.

When he arrives, he finds the dying researcher with a knife sticking out of his chest. Instead of calling the police, Kindred goes on the run, both from the law and from sinister forces trying to get their hands on the papers.

This gripping start to the story is worth the entrance fee alone, and I thought I was embarking on a straightforward chase thriller, but what follows is more complex.

The package contains vital research, countering a pharmaceutical company's bid to develop a lucrative cure for asthma. After going underground, Kindred tries to expose the corruption at the heart of the company’s bid, abandoning his identity to live rough on a triangle of grass between the Embankment and Chelsea Bridge.

Ordinary Thunderstorms never ceases to be an engaging read, but plot structure inevitably triumphs over character development and promising relationships are callously ditched by Boyd, mirroring the unforgiving nature of life in the big smoke.