The Bullet That Missed (Thursday Murder Club, #3)

by Richard Osman

“I’m sure,” says Elizabeth. “If murder were easy, none of us would survive Christmas.”

People were always trying to tell you something, and all you really had to do was let them.

People drift in and out of your life, and, when you are younger, you know you will see them again. But now every old friend is a miracle.

If life ever seems too complicated, if you think no one can help, sometimes the right person to turn to is an eight-year-old.

“You’re living in the past,” says the Viking. “There is truth in that,” says Viktor. “I live where I am comfortable. I live where my skills are. You will be the same in thirty, forty years. Talking about cryptocurrency while the youngsters laugh at you. But you know what is good for you here? I live in the past because I’m old. I am old, my Viking friend, and you know what that means? It means you don’t have to kill me, you just have to be patient. The cells in my body, they atrophy as we speak. Everyone you see before you will be dead before you know it.”

“It’s the people, in the end, isn’t it?” says Viktor. “It’s always the people. You can move halfway around the world to find your perfect life, move to Australia if you like, but it always comes down to the people you meet.”