56 pages • 1 hour read
Richard OsmanThe Bullet That Missed
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Importance of Friendship
The heart of the novel is in the friendships between the characters. These relationships are the most important thing in life. Osman, in an interview with his publisher, said:
You don’t choose your family, but you do choose your friends, and I love the strength of the friendships between Joyce, Elizabeth, Ron, and Ibrahim, and the lengths they will go to protect one another and to protect their friends. They know that one day they will lose one another, and they make the most of the days they have (“The Bullet that Missed Reader’s Guide.” Penguin Random House.).
As Viktor says, “It’s the people in the end, isn’t it?” (407). The friend group includes the members of the Thursday Murder Club. They “carried a kind of magic, the four of them” (40), that is, Joyce, Elizabeth, Ron, and Ibrahim. Bogdan is adopted by this group in a previous installment of Osman’s series. In this novel, his friendship with Stephen, Elizabeth’s husband, is touching. They play chess together and Bogdan helps groom Stephen as Stephen’s dementia progresses. At the end of the book, Stephen forgets how to play chess, which saddens Bogdan, but he is still there for his friend.
The friend group expands further in The Bullet That Missed to include Viktor. The Viking tries to get Elizabeth to kill Viktor, not knowing that he was a “rival who became her friend. The enemy who became…her lover? Had they? Elizabeth doesn’t recall, but she wouldn’t put it past herself” (72). After they fake Viktor’s death, he stays with Joyce. Joyce writes in her diary that she and Viktor “rub along just fine” (271). He is accepted by everyone in the group. They also attempt to include Jack in their friend group. Ron worries that Jack played a role in Bethany’s murder and thinks it would be just his “luck if his potential new snooker partner turns out to be a murderer” (126). Jack becomes friendly with Ron and Viktor when he decides to drop hints about Andrew. When they are bonding, Jack says, he values 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” (283). This quote speaks to the importance of friendship. Unfortunately, Andrew discovers that Jack has started talking, and Andrew murders him. This ends the development of his friendship with the others.
The police officers Donna and Chris are friendly with the Thursday Murder Club, as well as Mike. When they see Mike on the Instagram livestream in the police station, other police officers call out that Mike is Donna’s “mate” (373). This is because she appears on South East Tonight with him. Chris mentions that he was friends with Mike first, meaning that he screen-tested for the show before Donna did. Mike’s friendship with Bethany motivates him to help the Thursday Murder Club solve her murder. He enjoys the new group of friends, but Bethany stays on his mind because she helped him come out as gay. Henrik remains on the edges of the group: “not everyone wants to be in a gang, do they?” (379). He does send Viktor funny animal videos (after he decides not to kill Viktor), but Henrik prefers to be a loner. Everyone else, however, believes that friendship is the most important thing in life.
Friendship in The Bullet That Missed offers important opportunities for the characters to avoid isolation, experience community, care for one another, and share a common purpose. According to the National Institute on Aging:
[…] as people age, they often find themselves […] vulnerable to loneliness and social isolation, which can affect their health and well-being. Studies show that loneliness and social isolation are associated with higher risks for health problems such as heart disease, depression, and cognitive decline (NIA. “Loneliness and Social Isolation—Tips for Staying Connected.” January 2021).
Each of the characters finds connection and purpose through friendship, and those relationships improve their quality of life.
The Importance of Books
The Bullet That Missed also emphasizes books, reading, and writing. Books provide clues to solving both mysteries. In the mystery of Elizabeth’s kidnapper, Henrik’s identity is discovered through his collection of rare books. Stephen is able to recall some of the editions he sees on Henrik’s shelves during the kidnapping, such as a “first edition of Wind in the Willows” (307). However, Stephen’s worsening dementia causes him to misremember where he saw the books. He believes a book dealer has them, but Bogdan is nearby to make sure the correct information gets to the antiques dealer that Stephen consults about the rare editions. Books are something that helps old and new friends bond, as seen in the book club of Coopers Chase.
The Thursday Murder Club also attends meetings of the book club at their retirement community: the “Coopers Chase Literary Society” (127). Andrew visits this society to read from one of his detective novels. During his reading, Ibrahim asks if the protagonist’s name, Catherine Howard, is a “literary trick” (129) that refers to the queen of England. The name ends up being a clue in solving the mystery of Bethany’s disappearance. Ibrahim notices that a name in the VAT fraud files, Carron Whitehead, is an “anagram of Catherine Howard” (356). This clue points to Andrew being in charge of the fraud. Joyce also notices a clue as she reads Andrew’s books. Another name that comes up in the VAT fraud files, Michael Gullis, is the full name of “Big Mick” (238), a villain in Andrew’s book. This also helps the club discover that Andrew was the mastermind of the crime. The fraud itself was originally a plot for a novel. After he gets caught, Andrew thinks he “should have left it as a book. Trusted his writing” (398). His writing is an attempt to gain fortune and fame.
The success of Andrew’s books after he confesses to the crime on the livestream and goes to prison is a commentary on the modern publishing industry. It centers on Amazon publishing, which Andrew uses to publish his e-books. Once he publicly goes from police chief to criminal, his book To Remain Silent becomes “number one in Amazon’s Movers and Shakers’ book chart” (373). Andrew’s approach to writing can be contrasted with Joyce’s interest in writing. She enters a “short-story competition in the Evening Argus” (312). However, the prize is secondary to the story giving Joyce catharsis and an emotional outlet. She models her protagonist after her late husband, Gerry, as a way to cope with her grief over his loss. She also finds researching her stories to be a good excuse to give in to her nosy impulses, similar to investigating murders. While Andrew’s use of names in both his fiction and his criminal activity is shown in a negative light, Joyce’s approach to reading and writing is positive and productive.
The Role of Television and Other Media
The mystery of Bethany’s disappearance results in the Thursday Murder Club, and the police, interacting with news media and social media. When they go to a filming of Stop the Clock, Joyce asks Elizabeth if she has ever been on television. Elizabeth says she was “once called to give evidence to the Defense Select Committee [...] but, legally, they had to blur my face. And I was once in a hostage video” (249). As a former spy, Elizabeth avoided being a recognizable public figure and isn’t interested in people simply because they are famous. Joyce, on the other hand, is starstruck by their local newscaster Mike, as well as national TV star Fiona. She watches both Stop the Clock and South East Tonight regularly.
Police officials make appearances on South East Tonight. Andrew comes on the show when the segment about Coopers Chase airs. This appearance causes Andrew to track down Ibrahim at the retirement community because Ibrahim visited Connie in prison. Chris and Donna are also connected to the show. Mike, after seeing Chris, suggests he do a screen test. However, once Mike sees Donna, he wants her on the show instead of Chris. Her appearances make her mother, Patrice, proud. Donna notes that “People are much more impressed when you’re on TV than when you’re catching criminals” (228). She contrasts the fame that comes from appearing on television with police work and suggests that simply being a celebrity carries more social capital than does a job as a public servant.
The story about Andrew’s crimes breaks on Fiona’s Instagram, pointing to the changing landscape of media. One example of the modern digital era is Google searches. Joyce struggles with searching for some of the names from the VAT fraud files, such as Heather having the same name as a famous hockey player. Bethany uses this confusion to keep her identity secret after faking her death. She takes the name “Alice Cooper” (388), which is impossible to google because of the famous singer. On the Instagram live-streamed video, Mike comments on the ephemeral nature of news content. He says that the day after a story breaks, you’ll talk about it “although a little less. And maybe you’ll have the off word about it the day after, but then it will be gone. That’s how news works [...] when your interest is piqued by the next shiny story, I’d ask that you remember her name from time to time” (375). He hopes the audience will remember Bethany’s name, the victim’s name, instead of Andrew’s name, the name of the criminal. The Instagram live stream is an example of using social media to challenge a criminal in a position of power.
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