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The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman
Nov. 2nd, 2025 03:04 pmThe Impossible Fortune
4/5. Fifth Thursday Murder Club book. Do not start here.
A good romp, with a characteristically absurd premise and various people being variously ridiculous. It’s a bit of an uneven book, though. A few chapters were so piercingly perfect that I couldn’t stand it. He is really good at writing about grief in short but beautiful ways. Also a mother/daughter relationship. Thinking about it, there aren’t that many male authors who do that well and complexly. And this book made me care deeply about Ron in ways I never expected. That’s a real trick, if you can turn a reader around on a main character after four books.
Other parts of this fell completely flat. There is a heel turn by a particular character that I straight up rolled my eyes at, because I didn’t buy it even in the fantasy of this universe. There’s something to that. The fantasy of these books where you know the characters are going to be okay from bombs and hitmen and criminal bosses, but you know they aren’t going to be okay from the other stuff. Age. Time. Loss. He’s reaching for something there that hasn’t connected yet. But in the case of this one particular character, the fantasy of okayness had to reach too far.
Content notes: References to domestic violence. Recollection of police brutality. Grief/mourning.
4/5. Fifth Thursday Murder Club book. Do not start here.
A good romp, with a characteristically absurd premise and various people being variously ridiculous. It’s a bit of an uneven book, though. A few chapters were so piercingly perfect that I couldn’t stand it. He is really good at writing about grief in short but beautiful ways. Also a mother/daughter relationship. Thinking about it, there aren’t that many male authors who do that well and complexly. And this book made me care deeply about Ron in ways I never expected. That’s a real trick, if you can turn a reader around on a main character after four books.
Other parts of this fell completely flat. There is a heel turn by a particular character that I straight up rolled my eyes at, because I didn’t buy it even in the fantasy of this universe. There’s something to that. The fantasy of these books where you know the characters are going to be okay from bombs and hitmen and criminal bosses, but you know they aren’t going to be okay from the other stuff. Age. Time. Loss. He’s reaching for something there that hasn’t connected yet. But in the case of this one particular character, the fantasy of okayness had to reach too far.
Content notes: References to domestic violence. Recollection of police brutality. Grief/mourning.