Review: The Lonely Hearts Crime Club by Tanya Bullock

Title: The Lonely Hearts Crime Club

Author:  Tanya Bullock
Publisher: Blackbird Digital Books
Publishing Date:  April 16th, 2019

Pages: 288
Genre: Adult Mystery

Series:  Stand Alone
Source:  ARC

 

An elderly resident of an inner-city tower block is brutally attacked and left for dead. Her neighbours, a pregnant alcoholic, a vulnerable youth, a failed actress and a cameraman with a dark secret, are thrown together in their search for answers. Misfits and loners, they are forced to confront uncomfortable realities about themselves and each other, as their investigation leads them towards the shocking finale.

I stumbled upon this book on Netgalley and thought it sounded fun. I rally loved the cover and the description made me think great mystery read. It was a mystery but it was more about the characters and their lives. I loved the idea of the residents solving the crime and the title really does fit perfectly with the read. I enjoyed this read. 


There are a group of residents that live in the building. Some are there with the help of a social worker because of their circumstances and some are just there for a change in life. There are 4 main characters that get together to solve a crime that happened in their building. An elderly lady was attacked and is in the hospital in a coma. These 4... whom barely know each other get together to find out who and why. 


There were some really great things that I loved with this read and then there were a few things that kept me from loving this read. 

The things that kept me from loving the read. I was in the mood for more of a mystery. The synopsis and the title makes it sound like a mystery and the solving of that said mystery. The mystery and the solving was there but not enough. The book didn't focus on this aspect as much as I wanted it to. 

The start was a bit slow and confusing for me. I love multiple POVs but if they aren't done well then they can be a tad confusing. This was one of those. Only at the beginning. Now part of what made this book slow at the beginning was also the part that developed the characters so I would get to know whose POV I was reading from. So it was kind of like a double edge sword. I would have liked to see more happen at the beginning... more excitement and less lessons of the past from each character.. but in doing this a more developed voice for each character.  Each character did have their own distinguished voice but it took me a bit to find those. 

Now what I liked...

I liked the group that were in this book.  I loved each and every flawed character that there was. I enjoyed their struggles, their brokenness, and their life. I enjoyed getting to know each and every one of them. They each were very different and lived very different lives, but they all lived in the same building and had the same goal. To find out who attacked their neighbor.  

The mystery was good too. I don't know if it was a shock to me for the reveal because I wasn't trying hard... due to the focus was not on the mystery, or if was just that well done. Either way... I had no clue who done it. I was thinking the entire time that it was one of the residents but I couldn't decide who and never did have a why. So the ending was a total surprise. 

The book really had some great writing. It was well plotted and well put together and written smoothly. Even though it was a bit slow and confusing at the beginning... once it was past that I was so totally into the stories of these residents. 

My only main complaint.... I think this should be a series... multiple books with different mysteries being solved by the residents of this building.  I think it would make a great series! 


I quite enjoyed this little gem. 

Tanya Bullock is a college lecturer, writer and award-winning filmmaker. She lives in the UK with her husband and two young children. She has a passion for foreign culture and languages (inherited from her French mother) and, in her youth, travelled extensively throughout Australia, America, Asia and Europe. As a filmmaker, she has gained local recognition, including funding and regional television broadcast, through ITV’s First Cut scheme, two nominations for a Royal Television Society Midlands Award, and, in 2010, a Royal Television Society Award in the category of best promotional film. On maternity leave in 2011 and in need of a creative outlet, Tanya began to write That Special Someone, the story of a mother’s quest to help her learning-disabled daughter find love. It was a finalist for The People's Book Prize and The Beryl Bainbridge First Time Author Award 2016. Her second novel, Homecoming, a love story with an unexpected twist, was published in 2016. The Lonely Hearts Crime Club is Tanya's third novel. A psychological thriller with a shocking finale, it will be published in the spring of 2019. All Tanya's novels are published by Blackbird Digital Books.