The Bullet That Missed (Thursday Murder Club #3)
Richard Osman
★★★★★ 4.5/5
Fiction
On Target
Unlike the title, this latest installment, Richard Osman’s third (and presumably final) book in the Thursday Murder Club series, is bang on target— just like the previous two. With the Thursday Murder Club series, Mr. Osman has created a most unexpected yet delightful mystery solving foursome—Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron—a group of pensioners at a retirement home in Kent. It’s a seemingly harmless gang, but one that is wilier than many criminals and willing to bend the law to get what they want.
The books have it all: unpleasant murders, murderous (and non murderous) villains, geriatric investigators, incipient romance, a quirky yet lovable cast of non central characters, and most importantly, that understated wit and humor that only British writing seems able to provide! All ingredients for top notch entertainment which the books provides end to end. Best of all, the books can be read independently out of sequence.
Also, if like me, you’re on the side of 40 closer to our aged investigators than your youth—you might take hope in the possibility of a retirement that is more exciting than all the years preceding (it surely seems like the case for Joyce and Ibrahim)!
When’s the Guy Ritchie movie adaptation coming out?
This time around, our foursome are working on an unsolved case from a decade ago—the disappearance of TV journalist Bethany Waites.
This third book is more ambitious than the others: money laundering KGB and Swedes, more gruesome murders than before (not one, but two, or maybe three!), gory threats, fortunate and unfortunate coincidences, a growing cast of quirky characters now working with the Thursday Murder Club, and all tied together in a more intricate plot than the earlier books. All of which got me thinking how this would be a great story for a Guy Ritchie movie. Though I’m not sure who Jason Statham would play!
Mr. Osman excels at creating quirky yet likable characters. And this surprisingly includes the thugs and murderers the Club ends up getting entangled with—who, while they act with abandon when it comes to the law, are sufficiently maladjusted and unhappy, to draw on our sympathy. They also spout deep wisdom at times:
I can’t think of anything more fun: a couple of mates, a glass of whiskey, a game of snooker. Everything else is ego and greed. It’s taken me a long time to work that out.
This is all very Wodehouseian. And come to think of it, the humor is as well.
Mr. Osman keeps his chapters to about 4 pages on average—that sweet spot that beguiles you in to reading just one more chapter before putting the book down, and before you know it, you end up binging on the whole book in one sitting!
If the book has a flaw it is that at times, Mr. Osman takes some liberties with what is technologically possible e.g. cloning of SIM cards. But these are easily overlooked in the engaging storyline.
Overall
An excellent heartwarming read guaranteed to have you chuckling in delight and will leave you supremely entertained. Be sure to add it to your summer reading list! Don’t worry if you haven’t read the first two books in the series—the books can be read independently.
Everyone wants to feel special, but nobody wants to feel different.