The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman | Book Review

The fans of witty and entertaining murder mysteries have a new installment to enjoy. Author Richard Osman‘s adorable pensioners are back in full stride in the third book in the series. Published by Viking (Penguin Random House UK) in 2022, The Bullet That Missed, is already on the bestseller list and on waiting lists of readers all around the world.

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We have enjoyed the first two books of this series and shared our views on those with you here at Thinkerviews:

• The Thursday Murder Club
• The Man Who Died Twice

Book Cover:

Let us take a look at the cover page of this book.

The cover page of this book continues the minimalistic theme with a beige background outline in green and the title and author’s name in the colors Red, black and green. The little, cunning animal is still here – almost a signature element now on the cover pages of this series.

Storyline:

Ron is appearing on a TV show, in a story, about retirement villages. Actually, it is a ruse arranged by The Thursday Murder Club, in connection with the current murder they are investigating – that of Bethany Waites. Bethany Waites was a TV journalist and co-host on South East news and the club are using this opportunity to interview her co-host and friend Mike Waghorn.

We learn about how Bethany was chasing a VAT fraud and disappeared on one night, how her car was found with traces of her blood but no body off the cliffs and in the sea. The fraud case was trialled and a woman called Heather Garbutt has been jailed as the primary guilty person. Her boss Jack Mason was never trialled and continues living a privileged life. The police never found the murdered of Bethany.

So now, the club takes the case in hand, as Ron approaches Jack Mason, while Ibrahim meets Connie Johnson – who is in prison for drug dealing – and asks her to approach Heather. A few days later, Heather is found dead in her jail cell.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth and her husband are kidnapped by a giant – the gang amicably names him the Viking. He tasks Elizabeth with assasination of an ex-KGB agent Viktor Illyich, nicknamed the Bullet. If Elizabeth wouldn’t kill Viktor, then the Viking will kill Elizabeth’s friends.

So, Elizabeth fakes Viktor’s assassination and he moves into the guest room at Joyce’s. He happily joins the Club in their investigation and eventually even the Viking becomes an informal member of the club.

And so all these people come together and try and find what happened to Bethany Waites. Will they succeed?

Views and Reviews:

The book brings all the members of the club back – Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim. But also adds a few new ones like Viktor and the Viking. But the more interesting bits are how new relationships are developing between Donna and Bogdan or Ron and Pauline. As the author has shown us in the previous books, it is the people in our lives who make it our life – friends, family and companions. No matter where we are in the world, it is the strangers that turn into friends and friends who become the mirrors of our selves.

And this is emphasized as Viktor comes to love the gang and thinks of joining them or how Pauline and Ron find each other’s company leading to new experiences or Donna and Bogdan starting a new journey, even Ibrahim’s sessions with Connie. Additionally, we have young people who are looking for a place in the world and I enjoyed how Viktor counsels the young man on the phone, or how the elderlies take the Viking and his social awkwardness and make him feel at home.

You think everyone around you knows some secret about how to live life. That there was a lesson you missed somewhere.

As the years go by, you will find that people need someone who is bright and kind more than they need someone who knows how to dance and has got the right haircut.

Show yourself the same kindness, you show others.

I enjoyed the humorous, witty prose as much as the previous books. With the wisdom of age and experience of a lifetime, we can see that all our lives are just games. Whatever profession we choose, what we sometimes make into a matter of life and death, our dreams and our heartbreaks, in the end, it all passes by and we can appreciate some of the harsh truths and also laugh at our own ideas of self-importance:

Very few things are so important that you would risk your life for them, but all sorts of things are important enough to risk somebody else’s life.

There’s always a report. I have written many, and no one looks at them.

And all through the book, there is a sense of almost bizarre, as the author brings on the dangerous spies, money launderers, drug-dealers and all kinds of criminal and sort of puts them in their place :-). Then we have the pensioners who make the most of their remaining days even on the ones where they are in pain and where they can’t stop the loss of loved ones or their memories…

And the mysteries keep you interested as secrets keep coming out around every corner….

Summary:

An entertaining, witty and satirical installment in this life-affirming series of adventures..

ThinkerViews Rating:

Around 8.5 stars out of 10.

Quick Purchase Links:

• Buy - The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman - Paperback - Amazon IN
• Buy - The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman - Kindle EBook - Amazon IN
• Buy - The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman - Paperback - Amazon US
• Buy - The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman - Kindle EBook - Amazon US

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