The Lonely Hearts Crime Club

This book starts from Ella’s point of view. She’s pregnant, an alcoholic, and has just moved into a flat on floor 19 of the tower block having lived on the streets and in hostels. While her flat might be sparse she’s determined to make a fresh start and having bumped into Aggie, one of her neighbours on the 19th floor she can see that she might be able to finally call this place home.

Then theres Birdie, Aggies best friend and neighbour. She’s a failed actress hoping for her big break, but at 52 is starting to think its never going to happen. While she works part time to pay the bills she finds comfort in a wine bottle.

Ethan also lives on the 19th floor, hes a cameraman who is haunted by the memory of his mother.

William, a vulnerable young adult with asd, has just moved into the ground floor and is still adjusting to living on his own without his Mum to look after him.

Four different people, four different stories that all start to cross each other when it’s discovered that Aggie, an elderly resident living on the 19th floor is attacked and left for dead.

Who would want to harm lovely Aggie? Ella decides she wants to find out and enlists her neighbours to help. Four misfits trying to solve the attack. Is it one of them?

This is a great read and is from the perspectives of the various characters on different days. Whilst it can be a difficult concept to start with the overlapping stories of each resident works really well and makes the story enjoyable with some depth.

Some of the characters are more developed than others, for example with find out a bit about Ellas story but not much about Ethans or Williams which I think would have made the book even better.

I enjoyed this one. The first 35% was somewhat slow, but once the characters met and interacted, the pace picked up significantly. I also thought the mystery aspect was well done. I didn't see that ending coming AT ALL. The romance reader in me was hoping for a happily ever after between Ethan and Ella, alas we were just left with a tease of something romantic (maybe). What can you do? (lol) It was still an enjoyable story even without that.

The title of this book really appealed to me and when the description was not quite what I expected I was intrigued.

Set in a London towerblock, an unlikely group of neighbours, each one dealing with their own addiction and mental health problems, team up to solve the mystery of who has left a neighbour for dead after a vicious attack.

Each chapter is told from a different perspective and it takes a few chapters to get going, but the voices are clear and distinct and before long I was immersed in their lives. I absolutely did not see the ending coming.

The friendship and tower block community are the stand out part of this novel, and the character stayed with me after I had finished reading.

Thank you Blackbird, Tanya Bullock and Netgalley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

3 and 1 / 2 stars

This book has a collection of isolated and lonely people.

There is Birdie, an aging actress, who is so stuck on herself that she doesn't see that her behavior is sabotaging her life. There is Ella who is a pregnant alcoholic who until recently lived on the streets. She is afraid of everything and is mourning the loss of her friends on the street. She loves her unborn baby though. And William who is a young man who is very OCD – perhaps even a little on the Asperger's continuum. This is his first time living on his own. And, lastly, Ethan who is a cameraman who films weddings mostly for his livlihood. He lives with and is tortured by his own demons. They all live in the same building. Something has happened to Aggie, a neighbor of theirs.

Mixed in with these misfits is Ted. Ted is a social worker with nefarious plans. His motives are mysterious. He is Birdie, Ella and Aggie's social worker. And he has a secret.

Ella ropes the other three into assisting with an investigation of who attacked Aggie and why. Along the way, they learn profound truths about themselves and their new friends.

The first third of this book moves really slowly. I almost gave up a couple of times. I stuck with it, however, and it got much better and more interesting. I enjoyed it in the end – and what an ending! The writing is not bad and the plotting is linear and follows a logical path. I was very sad to see William move back home though. I never did warm to Birdie. Ella and Ethan were interesting and nice to get to know. This is my first Tanya Bullock book, and I do believe that I'll take a look into her other novels.

I want to thank NetGalley and Blackbird Books for forwarding to me a copy of this good book for me to read, enjoy and review.

For a reason I can’t quite put my finger on, this mystery involving tenants in an apartment building is disturbing yet a read I couldn’t put down.

The cast of characters for this book were very interesting in the fact that all of them are severely flawed. When combined they formed a group of misfits similar to those of The Breakfast Club or The Sandlot. Each person brought something different to the "team." The main characters are listed below



Ella-pregnant, 3rd trimester, recovering alcoholic, on her own
Ethan-film maker, orphan, history of anger and hurt
Birdie-failed actress, broke/no job, abandoned by only family member (daughter)
William-autistic, first time living alone as an adult
Mr. Jenkins-angry caretaker
Ted-social worker for Ella, previous social worker for Aggie (still visits her)
Christine-Aggie's sister
Aggie-Victim, mentally handicapped, sweet towards everyone
Once Aggie is attacked, Ella decides to pair with Ethan to find the attacker. Birdie and William eventually join the team in an attempt to find anyone who would have bad feelings towards Aggie. This leads them to discover a deep family secret covered up by Christine AND Ted. The end of the book is truly shocking, and is one ending I never saw coming.



I enjoyed this book. The characters were well developed. The emotions of the different characters were accurate, and I found myself rooting for them to find the attacker. There is a bit of a love connection between Ethan and Ella, and I ended up wanting them to end up together to form a happy family. The family secret was truly disturbing and quite sad. This book pulled at my heartstrings. I went from pity for the family secret to anger and shock upon finding out who attacked Aggie. Overall, this was a fast but great read. I can't wait until this is released to see how others felt reading it. It's going to be very hard to keep the family secret to myself until then! 💙



🌟🌟🌟🌟/5 Stars

I love reads by Tanya Bullock, why? Because they’re just like a box of chocolates, “you never know what your gonna get”
This is so gloriously true, the storylines are such that , not only do you want to keep on reading but you NEED to keep on reading. It’s rivetting!
The characters in The Lonely Hearts Crime Club take you in to their homes and their confidence. So .... who on earth could it have been that would ever want to hurt Aggie? Could it really be any of our well known favourite people, someone they know?
The characters TOTALLY make this book absolutely 100% they move about in your life as if you are moving about in theirs, living with them .
One thing I have learned about work by Ms Bullock is never try and guess the end just read the book and let it into your soul “sigh”
THEN you will feel the impact of the full story.
No spoilers from me but do read the blurb to prepare yourself. It could come as a shock .
I will buy this book as gifts for Birthdays and Christmas , it is a definite favourite and one that a lot of people will call ‘their’ book.

very interesting cast of characters with focus on mental illness and how it affects everyday life. the crime part of the book gets subdued in favor of a more character focused approaxh, which makes it a lovely read. it is the kind of book you wanna finish in one sitting and might keep you from falling asleep at a reasonable time, but it works wonders in exploring how different personalities can work together, the idea of loneliness in a crowd is a great motivator and through these MCs, we can feel the big city anonimity upside and downfall.

I really like this book, written with each character given their version what happened, the mystery of the victim becomes, the side story. As I read, I became more and more entangled in the lives of these people living in shelter accommodation. The mystery almost stopped being important and the individual lives took over.
The ending brings it back to the mystery, but one can't stop wanting more about the people.
Well done, well written and intriguing.

I enjoyed reading this book and once I had adapted to the style of the book, I became fascinated with the tale and had to finish it. Recommended to those who enjoy this genre.