Imagine the horror if, through no fault of your own, you lost everything - home, family, friends, job, reputation, passport, money, credit cards, mobile phone - all gone and you don't know how to get them back? This is what happened to our protagonist one May evening in Chelsea, doing a good turn.
In London for a job interview, climatologist Adam Kindred chats briefly with a stranger in a restaurant. After leaving the restaurant Adam notices the man has left a folder and, finding a business card, he heads to the man’s apartment to return it. There he finds the door to the apartment open and inside is Dr. Philip Wang with a knife in his side. Upon hearing a noise and someone moving around Adam flees. Adam had spoken to someone on reception at the apartments and he’s certain he would be on CCTV. Before long 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 the huge, pitiless city.
Adam has nowhere to go but down - underground. He joins the vast army of the disappeared and the missing. He creates a dwelling in dense undergrowth in a park, and resorts to begging, as he tries to figure out what happened to make his life unravel so spectacularly. His search takes him along the River Thames, from affluent Chelsea to the sink estates of the East End, and on the way he encounters all manner of London's denizens - aristocrats, prostitutes, priests and a policewomen, and version after new version of himself.
In London for a job interview, climatologist Adam Kindred chats briefly with a stranger in a restaurant. After leaving the restaurant Adam notices the man has left a folder and, finding a business card, he heads to the man’s apartment to return it. There he finds the door to the apartment open and inside is Dr. Philip Wang with a knife in his side. Upon hearing a noise and someone moving around Adam flees. Adam had spoken to someone on reception at the apartments and he’s certain he would be on CCTV. Before long 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 the huge, pitiless city.
Adam has nowhere to go but down - underground. He joins the vast army of the disappeared and the missing. He creates a dwelling in dense undergrowth in a park, and resorts to begging, as he tries to figure out what happened to make his life unravel so spectacularly. His search takes him along the River Thames, from affluent Chelsea to the sink estates of the East End, and on the way he encounters all manner of London's denizens - aristocrats, prostitutes, priests and a policewomen, and version after new version of himself.
This is a heart-in-mouth conspiracy novel about the fragility of social identity, the scandal of big business, and the secrets that lie hidden in the filthy underbelly of every city. We had a very good discussion about it at my book club. I thoroughly recommend it.
∼ Happy Reading ∼
Polly x
Sounds very gripping!
ReplyDeleteIt is, I felt as if I was the one on the run!
DeleteI have never read anything by this author and will add this to my reading wish list if it's available at my local library. Thanks for the synopsis, Polly, as a good read is always good to know about!
ReplyDeleteI hope you manage to get it Beatrice.
DeleteAnother book to add to my "want to read" list. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome Pam
DeleteI haven't read that one but I've read several of his other novels - Any Human Heart, The Blue Afternoon, and Sweet Caress. I especially liked Any Human Heart. I must check out Ordinary Thunderstorms.
ReplyDeleteThe only other one I've read is Restless which is a good read.
DeleteThanks for the book review; this one sounds like a book I'd enjoy reading. xo
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome Nancy x
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