Title: The Bullet That Missed
Author: Richard Osman
Type: Fiction
Page Count/Review Word Count: 426
Rating: 3.5/5
The great thing about these books is that they’re so popular that it’s easy for me to pick these up from charity shops. That does also mean that I get to them a little bit after their release though, but that’s fine by me because that’s exactly what kind of series this is – it’s not one of those where I can’t wait for the next one and pre-order it as soon as it’s announced.
In this book, the Thursday Murder Club investigates yet another murder, to the point at which I’m kind of starting to wonder how they’re gaining access to so many cases. Osman does explain that in the narrative, but it still strains the limits of credibility.
Still, it’s a decent little murder mystery, and the whole point of what Osman does is that it’s also a lot of fun along the way. I think if you judged this book purely as a mystery novel then you could poke all sorts of holes in it. But it’s not a pure mystery, in the same way that Terry Pratchett’s books aren’t pure fantasy novels.
I also like the way that the side characters see their fair share of character development as the novel continues. There are some cute little relationships going on that even I’m in favour of, and I’m not a fan of romance in novels. Perhaps that’s just a sign of how good of a job Osman does with his writing.
Lately, I’ve been reading on the exercise bike at the gym, and this was a fantastic book for doing just that. The time flew by because it’s such a page-turner that it made me want to stay on for an extra ten minutes just to see what was going to happen next. I also thought it did a great job of staying consistent from start to finish, and so it never felt as though it was running out of steam.
Honestly, this might be my favourite book in the series so far, and I think a lot of that is because Osman has done such a good job with the characterisation up to this point that it feels like hanging out with old friends. There are actually quite a lot of characters to keep track of, but it never gets confusing.
All in all then, if you’ve read to this point, keep on reading. Otherwise, find something else.
