The Man Who Died Twice by Richard OsmanMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Better than the The Thursday Murder Club in many ways: e.g. we find out about Elizabeth's past instead of getting loads of stupid hints; we get to know most of the characters better; I didn't have the same moral unease about the character's actions this time (although some of their actions were still morally dubious); one of the characters has an Instagram account that exists in the "real" world and one of the new characters, Connie Johnson, was very good value (I hope Richard Osman finds some way to bring her back in book 3).
It is not all positives though. For example, while it had me laughing out loud within the first few pages ("I thought I might either get a dog or join Instagram... Not a big dog, of course," says Joyce. "I haven't got the hoover for a big dog.") I didn't find it as consistently funny as the first book. I also have a slight concern that Bogdan has turned from a character who was more than a little dodgy into a lovable rogue but, as I like the new Bogdan better, I'm willing to turn a blind eye on this occasion.
I have one major issue though and, while I admit that it is a fairly small hill to die on, I'm going to complain about it anyway. (I don't think this is a spoiler... but look away now if you are of a nervous of such things.) A character uses an "infra-red light" to read something. No, no and once again, no! An ultraviolet light perhaps but "infra-red" - NO! At first I thought that Richard is a clever bloke, this must be an infra-red herring that will pay off in a joke later but he just seems to have got it wrong. If I ever bump into him, I'll give him a piece of my mind... before gushing stupidly like a fanboy about how much I enjoyed the books.
Overall though, I thoroughly enjoyed the second outing of the Thursday Murder Club. The observations about old age remain razor sharp: "Joyce thinks about kneeling, but really, kneeling over the age of sixty-five is a pipedream, so she sits on the step above instead." and the plot carried me along effortlessly. I hope I have companions as lively and fun as the Thursday Murder Club in my retirement years.
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