When a bookshop patron commits suicide, his favorite store clerk must unravel the puzzle he left behind in this “intriguingly dark, twisty” (Kirkus Reviews) debut novel from an award-winning short story writer. Lydia Smith lives her life hiding in plain sight. A clerk at the Bright Ideas bookstore, she keeps a meticulously crafted existence among her beloved books, eccentric colleagues, and the … colleagues, and the BookFrogs–the lost and lonely regulars who spend every day marauding the store’s overwhelmed shelves.
But when Joey Molina, a young, beguiling BookFrog, kills himself in the bookstore’s upper room, Lydia’s life comes unglued. Always Joey’s favorite bookseller, Lydia has been bequeathed his meager worldly possessions. Trinkets and books; the detritus of a lonely, uncared for man. But when Lydia flips through his books she finds them defaced in ways both disturbing and inexplicable. They reveal the psyche of a young man on the verge of an emotional reckoning. And they seem to contain a hidden message. What did Joey know? And what does it have to do with Lydia?
As Lydia untangles the mystery of Joey’s suicide, she unearths a long buried memory from her own violent childhood. Details from that one bloody night begin to circle back. Her distant father returns to the fold, along with an obsessive local cop, and the Hammerman, a murderer who came into Lydia’s life long ago and, as she soon discovers, never completely left. “Both charming and challenging” (Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review), Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore is a “multi-generational tale of abandonment, desperation, and betrayal…inventive and intricately plotted” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).more
3 out of 5 stars to Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore, a new mystery and thriller novel set to release on June 13, 2017, by author Matthew J. Sullivan.
Why This Book
For all us readers, who wouldn’t love a book with such a title? And when you read the description, learning about a horrific murder from the past, a suicide in the present, and mysterious connections between all the characters, your intrigue and suspense spidey senses will climax. I found it on NetGalley and thought it sounded like a good debut author to take a chance on. And so, I requested it, got approved and dropped it into the reading schedule for this month… as it will be released to the general public in about 3 weeks.
Overview of Story
Lydia’s mother died during childbirth, and she was raised by a father who knew next to nothing about being a parent. Refusing the help from any other family or friends, he did his best to raise his daughter, making a few mistakes along the way. During her childhood, Lydia befriends Raj, whose parents own and operate a Gas Station & Donut shop in their Colorado hometown. Lydia and Raj seem destined to be together in the future. When Raj and Lydia meet another young girl, the three try to maintain a friendship, but something disastrous takes place, changing the future of their lives.
Years later, Lydia works at a book store several towns away, but she no longer speaks with her father. One night, her friend Joey, a “BookFrog” released from prison for a childish prank that went wrong, commits suicide. He leaves behind a few clues and notes for her to find, which lead to her finding something that connects him to her past and the vicious murder of her friend and friend’s parents. Lydia begins to realize her father may have been more involved than he led her to believe. Raj re-emerges in her life, and together, they try to track down Joey’s biological family, in the hopes they can discover all the connections. And when they do, everything implodes on them.
Approach & Style
The story is told in past tense by a third person narrator, who follows Lydia around for most of the book. It jumps time frames from when she was about ten years old to the present, when she’s in her thirties. The primary story is discovering who murdered Lydia’s friend and her family, when Lydia was a child. It’s also about learning who Joey was and why he chose to leave clues for Lydia about both of their pasts. There are a few romantic elements between Lydia and her current boyfriend, as well as Lydia and Raj, her childhood friend who stirs up feelings again in the future. Woven into the story is the common theme of how the characters all love books throughout their lives.
Strengths
There are a lot of different connections between the primary 10 characters, and it keeps you wondering just enough to feel some suspense. The murder scene with the “Hammerman” is dark and grotesque, giving just enough to your imagination while revealing a few core details of the hammer’s physical and emotional impact. I loved the scenes as children. I could see their friendship blossoming. I could sense the growth when meeting new people. I liked the father / daughter relationship. I felt a little slimy with the woman who seemed to sleep around a lot. Sullivan has great character descriptions and imagination. They all felt real, usually through their actions and with minimal physical descriptions.
Characters
Lydia is the primary character. She’s strong-willed, but has had some issues with relationships throughout her life. I don’t think she was as flushed out as a character as she should have been. There were a few holes surrounding: (a) why she and her father stopped speaking, (b) why she ran away, (c) why hasn’t she had many relationships beyond the guy she’s currently dating. It almost feels like there are some missing parts of her life which could have lead to the suspense of what happened all those years ago.
Joey dies almost immediately, so you don’t get enough time with him. There are a few scenes that will immediately draw you to him, but not enough to warrant seeing him as a tragic man. He’s suffered, and suffers a lot more when you learn in the last few chapters what became of him in the days leading up to his death; however, I wanted a longer story to have a better understanding of his lonely life.
Lydia’s dad became a recluse too quickly, and I didn’t buy his “love” for one of the other characters. Needed more story and detail around this section. He felt like two different people between where he began and how he ended.
Open Questions & Concerns
Although the motive and the killer became obvious about two-thirds thru the book, I felt there were too many open holes. I thought there were other murders happening, which confused me as to why the killer murdered anyone but the ones whom (s)he had a vengeance against.
The time gap left too much to my imagination. I wanted to know what happened in Joey’s life and in Lydia’s life to turn them into who they were. There were some details, but I often was left to my own devices, which is not always a good thing!
The ending in the epilogue was weak. It should have explored more about the immediate after-effect of all the drama.
There was another hole (until the ending) over why the person who knew what the killer had done never steps up and says anything. Even if (s)he was scared, this was one of those situations where the police could have protected him/her. It seemed too much like a plot device, especially given everything else that was going on.
Author & Other Similar Books
Although the author co-wrote another book, it’s his debut as a single author of a thriller and suspense novel. It’s a typical suspense novel, jumping around between time periods and characters, dropping clues about the murderer along the way. I cannot think of anything it directly compares to, but has strong elements of family and trust.
Final Thoughts
The book is worth a read. It’s a good mystery, full of drama and emotionally-crippling scenes. It’s got a little horror and some suspense. Think of it like a good piece of cake, but it’s a bit dry at times and is missing a little more filling to hold it together before it’s devoured. As a result, you’ve got some crumbs on the floor, a funny little taste in your mouth and a bit of a thirst to read some more. I like the author’s style and would definitely read another book by him, assuming the plots are tidied up a bit more and the ingredients are fully flushed out.
The title makes it sound like one of those happy little books about a quaint little bookstore with it’s quirky cast of characters–nope! Murder, secrets, childhood trauma, suicide. Heavy stuff.
The mystery unfolds at a pleasing clip, clues given that don’t seem like clues at the time, but become a-ha moments later on. By the end, I got it, but I think you were supposed to. Well done. Enjoyable.
If you are looking for a light fluffy cozy, as the title might suggest, this is not it. It is a good and suspenseful mystery. Different.
This is a wonderful mystery that takes you down paths you didn’t expect. I thought it might be a kind of light-hearted mystery, but it’s more of a drama type. Highly enjoyable with the solution not easily given away. Wonderful book.
This had some scary and sad parts. It had puzzles and mysteries. The characters were great. The ending was sad but satisfying.
Usually books about book stores are light and quirky, but Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore located in Denver Colorado was anything but. The characters were misfits and Denver played a huge part in the drama, which I liked since it connected me with the city in a way I’ve never experienced as a mere tourist there. Lydia is a bookseller who keeps many secrets and has a hard time connecting with people. Just ask Dan her sweet and understanding boyfriend. Though clearly Lydia has a soft spot for the BookFrogs (strays who spend their days in the store). When one young man, Joey, commits suicide in the book store and leaves a series of reasons why in a unique way for Lydia to figure out, we delve into the complicated story (as life always is) that leads to the reason. Lydia’s life is also convoluted and traumatized by an unexpected connection to Joey’s death. We humans are so messed up, and in this case, the decision of one person over twenty-one years before created a traumatic ripple effect that tore Lydia and her father apart, caused the death of three people, ruined three other lives, and ended with yet another death. Still I was engrossed in this story that began when Lydia and her best friend Raj were ten, when a third friend tore them apart, and when Lydia witnessed a horrific act of violence. And even though I knew in my gut immediately who The Hammerman was, I still couldn’t fathom the extensive winding road it would take to get to the truth. Good read. (less)
Overwritten. The author makes the mistake of the novice (in my opinion) of trying to sound “literary” by using elaborate descriptions that are actually absurd. This book needed a good aggressive editing! It has an Interesting premise at the start, but it drags needlessly in the middle. The main character should evoke our sympathy but doesn’t; she is never more than two dimensional. I expected much more from a writer whose short stories have evidently received accolades and who teaches writing at the college level.
WOW! I couldn’t put this book down. To the author: Please don’t stop writing books!
I couldn’t put this book down! Main character Lydia is the owner of the Bright Ideas Bookstore. The story is told in a flash back sequence, beginning one night at the bookstore when Lydia finds one of her regular customers (Joey) hanging (literally) in the History section. Joey leaves cryptic messages in various books that he has sliced little windows into. Lydia is able to match up the books and decipher the messages which leads her on a wild ride through the mystery of Joey’s life and why he met his tragic end. This book does not disappoint! I thought I had it figured out about three different times, but the culprit will surprise you! Fantastic story!!
The author did a great job of creating a wonderful bookstore and interesting characters who had different reasons for being connected to the bookstore and/or each other. It is a unique story with some unpredictable features. I really enjoyed the story and wanted to hurry and finish the book to find out what was going to happen. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read!
Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore sounded a like a fun little mystery. But it has very little to do with a bookstore.
The plot centers around an unsolved murder from many years ago, a recent suicide, and the survivors left struggling to piece together the puzzle and move forward. The multi-perspective narrative had a few twists, as well as some predictable moments.
Though I found the writing to be somewhat stilted and lacking detail, the story itself has many layers and held my interest.
The ending wrapped up nicely and, all in all, it was a decent debut novel.
Not interested in characters.
I enjoyed this twisty and eerie mystery (really TWO mysteries, a murder mystery and an identity mystery). It wasn’t perfect, and I felt that it left a question or two unanswered for me, but overall I really liked it and will be happy to read more from this author.
Alternating between past and present events, Lydia (a bookstore worker) tries to unearth the real identity of a friend and why he committed suicide, and in doing so, she reopens an horrific event from her own past. Very dark and a bit too coincidental in places but still nicely engrossing.
Good page-turner. Liked the characters. Different from what I had been reading, but a nice change.
The book starts out slow but give it a chance. The twists and turns will all make sense in the end. Good read!
Just loved the novelty of plot and enjoyed the ride to unwrap this mystery
From Joey’s suicide through the end of the story there are lots of surprises. The book was well written and enjoyable to read. I would definitely read this author again. I highly recommend it.
I don’t care to leave unfavorable reviews but I could not get into this novel. I found found it disjointed and dull. Sorry – maybe I just was not in the mood.
So well written. Beautifully sad. And so much better than I expected it to be. I’ve been recommending it to my friends who want to read the best books.
Too much coincidence. Like Poirot, I do not believe in coincidence and this book was jam-packed with it.