The Bullet That Missed
Ratings226
Average rating4.3
I loved the first book in this series for how quirky the characters were and how cosy the mystery seemed.
Books 2 and 3 were definitely less cosy so I've just enjoyed them so much less. 😕
I think I'm okay just loving book 1 and leaving the series at that.
Contains spoilers
Another great story in the series. Although I hope it continues in the next story! All the characters are so likeable. Bit worried about Stephen and hoping he sticks around longer!
This is the 3rd book in the Thursday Murder Club series. Each book is better than the last. The plots are layered and interwoven with the characters interacting between the plots and subplots. The characters have more depth, nuance and interesting flaws as the author reveals more of their back stories through the action of the story. Well Done! I'm looking forward to #4.
The Thursday Murder Club series gets better and better. I enjoy the cagey senior citizens who combine their skills and simultaneously pull others into their shenanigans. The humor is such fun and there are places that are so tender that I choke up a little. This one deals with murder and cryptocurrency; there are also some sweet reunions with old acquaintances. As always, this series is best read in order. Highly recommend.
More fun and games with Joyce and her friends. As with the previous books, it's quite improbable and genuinely funny. I know it can't last forever, they're not getting any younger, but I'm happy to keep on reading their exploits as long as Osman is writing them.
Gosh, I just love this series! The characters are so lovable, and the mystery is a fun way to see what new hijinx they are getting up to. I look forward to more books! (Although it IS nice to have at least one series that I am caught up with!)
The third installment of the Thursday Murder Club series is a real hoot. As an author gets deeper into a series, you never know if they're going to effectively copy and paste or find ways to keep you coming back for more.
Richard Osmond's sense of humor shines throughout this book and kept me chuckling even while sone grid one murders happen. I don't want to say too much because it's better to just read this book then get spoilers from me.
If you've read the first two in this series, you know what to expect, and Osman doesn't disappoint. A deceptively simple story, as in the first two books, and an ever-growing cast of retirees chasing the solution to a murder. It's fun, and it's undemanding, and so what if the story ends and the book continues for another 15 pages or so? Not sure if this can stretch to a fourth book, but we'll see.
“It’s the people, in the end, isn’t it?…It’s always the people, You can move halfway around the world to find your perfect life, move to Australia if you like, but it always comes down to the people you meet.”
What’s The Bullet That Missed About?
Consequences, largely.
But that doesn’t tell you much. So let me expand a bit. The end of the book seemed to tie up everything with two nice and tidy bows. But you know what they say about appearances…
In The Man Who Died Twice, the Thursday Murder Club basically ripped off a International Criminal and got away with it. Well, almost. It turns out that a competitor (we’ll call him the Viking) of that criminal has evidence of their theft. The Viking tries to use that evidence to blackmail Elizabeth into killing the other criminal. She resists until the Viking turns it into an offer she can’t refuse.
Meanwhile, Joyce has picked the next case for the Club to look into. Years before, a local news anchor had gone missing and is presumed dead. Over her protests, everyone is sure she wants to look into the case because she wants to meet some people on TV, but the case is interesting enough that they’ll go along with it. Whatever her motives, it is an interesting case and gives the Club a lot to do (and, yes, they get to meet a local celebrity or two along the way).
The case brings Ibrahim into contact with Connie Johnson, the crime boss the Club had helped put away. She hasn’t forgotten him or Ron—and has grim plans for both of them upon her release (which she’s sure isn’t long off). But in the meantime, for her own amusement, she plays along with Ibrahim and helps out.
Murdering a criminal, solving an old missing persons case (that may be a murder), and tangling with an imprisoned drug lord. That’s a lot to squeeze into 337 pages, but there’s more: add in some romance/potential romance, some new friends and old, and Joyce’s continued experiments with Instagram, and you’ve got yourself a novel.
Stephen!
Elizabeth’s husband, Stephen, has been a rock for her throughout this series. He’s had a few good moments when it comes to both story and comedy—and heart, most importantly, the heart—but he’s largely been a supporting character. An important one, but supporting, nonetheless.
But he gets to shine in The Bullet That Missed. He’s thrust into the middle of one of the stories from the beginning, and plays a significant role throughout this storyline. In retrospect, I think I should’ve anticipated this happening at some point, but I hadn’t. It was so good to see this.
There’s a dark side to anything involving Stephen, too. We know from the beginning that he’s struggling with dementia. We all know too well that there’s only one direction for people dealing with that. So every time we see the character—or see Elizabeth thinking about him—the reader is confronted with this reality. As hard as some of the situations the Club faces in this book are—nothing is as hard (for characters or readers) than to see this progression.
Elizabeth seems so strong, so capable—frequently inscrutable and almost omniscient—but when it comes to Stephen, she is so vulnerable, so human (and now Joyce, too but always Stephen first). I have a blast reading über-competent Elizabeth, but I love vulnerable Elizabeth, and Stephen’s where she comes from.
The Heart of this Series
I have to be vague here, but I think I can get across what I want without ruining anything.
That quote I opened with is, ultimately, what this series is about—it’s what gets people hooked on it. The four members of The Thursday Murder Club—and their particular brand of friendship—is so appealing. There’s a chemistry and a warmth to them that inevitably attracts others, they want to be part of it. In the first book, they draw in such disparate people as a middle-aged Detective Chief Inspector, a Police Constable not quite used to the quieter locale, and a pretty shady Polish immigrant. You see something similar in the next book, too. The Bullet that Missed trumps them all—and the band of “Thursday Murder Club Irregulars” that they can now call on is pretty remarkable. It’s even drawn in Joyce’s daughter—not that they’ve ever been at odds, but you can tell their relationship could be better at first (and likely still could), and it’s getting stronger now.
That’s the more impressive part—not only are people drawn in by these characters because they want to spend time with them and help them (even if they’re being pressured, bullied, or blackmailed into it)—their lives are enriched by it. As are the lives of the Murder Club—everyone benefits.
This crosses generations, interests, professions, criminal records, ethnicities, national origins, classes, education levels—you name it. Sure, this is a cozy kind of “blue sky” outlook. But who doesn’t want to live in a world like that? Who doesn’t want to at the very least want to spend some time reading about a world like that? Even if it’s marred by murder, the occasional betrayal, and grief—it’s an optimistic antidote to loneliness and…I don’t know, the ineffable “everything else” that defines contemporary life.
So, what did I think about The Bullet That Missed?
The downside to everything I just said is that I wonder if we don’t have too many players in this book—we’ve got the core four, the extended circle of friends, Stephen, kids, a grandchild, old contacts, new friends, romantic interests, foes old and new. I felt like we didn’t get quite enough time with our protagonists. But I don’t want to lose a moment with the others…maybe Osman should take a page from Galbraith and start putting out a thousand pages at a time. (NOTE: That is absolutely a joke. I would eagerly read it, should he publish it, but I don’t want it.) That hurt the book a little for me, but there wasn’t a moment of this novel I didn’t find wholly charming and delightful.
In sum: the biggest problem with this book was all the new good stuff crowded out the old good stuff. Not the worst problem to run into.
The mystery was great—I got suckered by a red herring or two (and even when I suspected something was a red herring, I ignored that likelihood). The character work was typically fantastic. The conclusion was a knock-out and everything that happened after the killer’s reveal is even better. I’m firmly in raving fanboy mode now, so let me wrap-up.
Basically, this is a the literary equivalent of a cozy blanket and a nice up of tea—if you don’t feel better while reading it, I’ll be shocked. Yes, in this series (as in real life) grief and sorrow are around the corner—potentially great tragedy, too. for now, the Thursday Murder Club has nothing but a great time to offer you in The Bullet That Missed. Highly recommended.
Originally posted at irresponsiblereader.com.
This is a fun, funny, and consistently entertaining series. It's enjoyable, light-hearted reading done well. In this one, I particularly liked the fine-tuning of characters, as well as how the plot came together seamlessly in the end.
Simply put, he is at the top of the Genre, and getting better as the series continues.
I'm convinced no one understands the human condition as well as Richard Osman.