The Thursday Murder Club members are ageing. It’s inevitable, of course, but how can a person in their 80s still show strength? Perhaps it’s no longer possible to be physically strong, but guile and intelligence might still prove advantageous. As the story begins, Joyce’s daughter, Joanna, is to be married. At the end of that ceremony, the groom’s best man, Nick Silver, tells Elisabeth that someone is trying to kill him. He promptly disappears and his business partner, Holly, is killed by a car bomb. Nick and Holly ran a ‘cold storage’ business. (This isn’t freezers; it’s storing secret files.) A local villain, Davey Noakes, paid them in Bitcoin 20 years prior. That Bitcoin is now worth £350million. Apart from the owners, the only two people who know about the Bitcoin are Davey and Lord Townes, a city banker the pair asked for advice.

In a second narrative thread, Ron’s daughter, Suzi, pulls a gun on her abusive (and long-term crim) husband, Danny, who then promises to return and kill her and their son, Kendrick. Ron’s attention drifts from the Bitcoin case as he must find a way to protect his family. A third thread follows Ibrahim and his mentee and ex-con, Connie Johnson, who is, in turn, mentoring a young ex-prisoner, Tia … although Connie’s mentoring is around how to get away with a crime, rather than not commit one.

Osman’s command of plot in The Impossible Fortune continues to be pitch-perfect. Each thread has its own pace, combining and converging into each other in the clever twisty denouement. This is much more than a plot-driven thriller, however. Osman’s insights into intergenerational relationships are filled with humour and pathos. Long live these seniors.

Reviewed by Bob Moore

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Richard Osman is an author, producer, and television presenter. Each of his novels, The Thursday Murder Club, The Man Who Died Twice, and The Bullet That Missed were number one, million-copy international bestsellers as well as New York Times bestsellers. He lives in London with his wife Ingrid and Liesl the cat.

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