I expected that this would be just my cup of tea, but I couldn't get into it – didn't like the writing style and didn't find the characters compelling. I'd try another by this author though.

This novel will certainly appeal to fans of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. This is a quick and delightful read. One of the better examples of a biblio-mystery that i've read.

Brief Summary: Kate Sullivan is the lead counsel on a big case versus a pharmaceutical company. When key witnesses die or disappear, Kate realizes this is a high stakes case and hires a private investigator to assist her. A romance develops between the two, as the investigator, Landon, goes to great lengths to keep her safe.

Highlights: This was a quickly engaging and easy book to read. I was quickly engrossed and finished in two days during a busy trip. I liked the aspects of the legal case preparation. Kate Sullivan was an admirable protagonist. I was not as interested in the Christian aspects of the novel, though it was not a major focus. Ultimately, the ending was predictable. Though the novel held my interest, it didn’t really involve any major provocative issues that will stay with me.

Explanation of Rating 3/5: It definitely engrossed me but didn’t really make me think differently and I doubt it will stay with me. I would definitely consider reading future books in this series.

Psychology Factors: Military and veterans issues play a small role. I do believe the author portrayed them accurately.

Thank you to Net Galley and Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review

Published by Scribner on June 13, 2017

It isn’t surprising that books are central to Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore. In addition to the bookstore, a library plays a role in the novel, as does a character who maintains his own library of books nobody wants, a home full of crowded shelves where books go to die. The plot features a way to communicate via books, a communication of messages that is more intimate those communicated by the books themselves.

Joey hung himself in the history section of the Bright Ideas Bookstore. Lydia finds Joey’s dangling body near midnight, at closing time. She also finds a picture of herself, taken in her childhood, poking out of Joey’s pocket. It is a picture she had never seen before, taken at her birthday party 20 years earlier.

Joey was one of the store’s BookFrogs, the anonymous men who roam the aisles or sit in the chairs, reading or staring, perhaps homeless or seeking respite from home. Joey had a criminal history but a (mostly) gentle soul. Joey was inevitably accompanied by his friend and mentor Lyle, but Lyle was not present at Joey’s death. Joey left everything he owned, consisting primarily of books, to Lydia.

A deepening mystery surrounds the books. Seemingly random holes are cut from the pages; price tag labels have been swapped with other books. With the help of her friends Raj (who still holds a childhood crush on Lydia) and David (her boyfriend), Lydia tries to make sense of the holes in the books, as well as the holes in her life.

Lydia’s backstory involves an unsolved murder, leaving the reader to wonder how it will fit into Lydia’s present. It quickly becomes evident that Lydia, like some of the BookFrogs, is concealing herself in the bookstore, using it as a place to hide from life. In that regard, she may be replicating a traumatic moment from her childhood, one that the mystery of Joey’s death forces her to reexamine. The mystery also forces Lydia to reconsider her voluntary estrangement from her father.

The plot initially struck me as being a bit contrived, but mysteries are often based on contrivances and I found it easy to suspend disbelief given the novel’s other virtues. In fact, by the novel’s end, the central events in the story were so carefully woven together that the plot didn’t seem contrived at all.

The novel is, in part, a tribute to the power of books. It’s also about making connections with people who are isolated, about caring for people nobody else cares about. Lydia is almost saintly in her kindness to the unfortunate, but her compassion is credible and it makes her a very likable character.

Sympathizing and empathizing with the characters is easy because Matthew Sullivan pushes the right emotional buttons. He does that honestly, not in an overtly manipulative way but because the story is naturally full of emotional triggers. The novel starts out telling a light and amusing story, then gradually becomes a dark and tragic story. Humor and tragedy are skillfully balanced. The is a good novel for crime story fans, but its emphasis of books makes it an easy novel for any book lover to enjoy.

RECOMMENDED

Well written with a twist at the end. Well paced with an intricate plot and characters. The characters are wonderfully realistic.

3.5*

I guess I expected more...books?

Lydia works in a bookstore, her dad was a librarian, and I think I expected books to take a more prominent place in the plot. Books are there, but perhaps more tangentially than I hoped. Having said that, I enjoyed the book. I would have liked Joey's character to be a bit more developed (his death is quite early on), but the reader does get to know the other characters somewhat more in depth. It was a quick read - not quite a page-turner as many mysteries and thrillers are, but still compelling.

I talk about Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore in my #ARCAugust Wrap-Up starting from 10:39 and ending at 13:00

https://youtu.be/03DiFs4EzQw?t=10m39s

I REALLY liked this book! It's been a while since a book has really grabbed me like this one did. It was intriguing and was a wonderful puzzle to watch come together. The characters were complex and had dimension which just added a layer to the book that made it even better. I was drawn in and then shocked in a way that I love. If you are looking for a good mystery, with great character development, and a plot that was unique - this is the book for you!

I love the setting and the use of books in Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore, the debut novel by Matthew Sullivan. Both are perfect for the bibliophile in me. The mystery of the book is a graphic and violent crime unlike the cozy description of a book store with its cast of eccentric characters. Given an interesting plot and great descriptions, I look forward to reading more from Matthew Sullivan.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2017/09/midnight-at-bright-ideas-bookstore.html

Reviewed for NetGalley

This is a unique take on a story of magic. Part urban fantasy with a yen for more serious literature, it paints most of its characters more robustly than the typical UF fare. Fractured relationships play a very important part of the story also giving it depth and realism. I look forward to the next book.

This was a very enjoyable and well constructed mystery surrounding the death of a young man in a bookstore and the past of the bookseller, Lydia, who finds him. The plot is quite intricate and moves at a great pace, introducing new clues along the way and allowing the reader the freedom to put two and two together to make five. I loved some of the characters - Lyle and Plath in particular and felt that the author had found some emotional depth in characters that at face value, could seem a little stereotypical. What I loved most of all, was the overwhelming love of books that radiates from every page. From the sprawling bookstore with a makeshift church in the religion and spirituality section to the mystery of Joey's books and the hidden messages they may contain, this is a story that revolves around books and the people who love them. Consequently, it was a book that was right up my street!
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Scribner and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

Lydia Smith is going through the closing procedures for the bookstore in which she works, when she makes a grisly discovery. One of her patrons, a young man named Joey, had hung himself on one of the upper floors. With a childhood photo of her in his pocket and a note to his landlord bequeathing his possessions to her as well, Lydia embarks on a journey to discover the hidden message in the items left behind. As the search brings back Lydia's own violent past, will she be able to uncover that which remained hidden in her own life?

Midnight at the Bright ideas Bookstore contains an engaging story, but I never quite felt a connection with the characters. The story loses focus with all of the side plots, some of which do not even make sense in the larger context of the book. Lydia's issues with her father were never fully explained, as well as his behavioral oddities. I really wanted to know more about Joey, whose character was the purpose behind the whole book. Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore will appeal to readers who like mysteries and I do look forward to reading more by this author in the future.

Another example that just goes to show the value of a well-designed cover because, apart from the bookshop setting, there is not much in a contemporary mystery and crime novel that would usually draw my attention. Fortunately Matthew Sullivan has written an engaging page-turner that showcases his ability to craft a slow, pot-boiler of a puzzle with a love of books and an eye for detail that makes some of his characters funny and poignant. The premise is simple, a regular but isolated patron of the Bright Ideas bookstore commits suicide on the premises and is discovered by Lydia, a store clerk with a mysterious past. Devastated by the experience Lydia is left reeling when it emerges that Joey has left her all of his worldly belongings, including a number of oddly defaced books as well as a link to a traumatic event in her own childhood.

The structure, as we pass back and forth between Lydia's present and her future, adds depth and mystery as details slowly emerge to reveal two deeply entwined stories that threaten to destabilise the anonymous life Lydia has built and her long-term relationship with long-term partner David. The mystery of Lydia's secret and bloody past, the identity of the "Hammerman" is less interesting, and certainly less surprising, than many of the other events and relationships that Sullivan constructs. The real hooks of the novel are more peripheral to the violent acts at its heart; the sad story of Joey's lonely and isolated and the deterioration of Lydia's once-close relationship with her father, Joey's only real friendship with older man Lyle. These stories in particular reveal a skill in drawing complex characters and their interactions with each other and the world. There's a sympathy for those occupying a marginalised place in society with Joey in particular providing the story with a (broken) heart that is unusual and welcome in this genre.

My only major issue was the relationship between Lydia and her boyfriend and her childhood friend Raj. At the beginning these were nicely drawn and developed but as the novel progressed the turns they took were increasingly artificial. By the end it seemed like the character of David had become an obstacle to the way Sullivan imagined the configuration of his characters and the resolution of the situation was abrupt, clumsy and out of keeping with the rest of the novel. Despite this I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this novel. Sullivan has an excellent grasp of pace and structure and while some of the coincidences that occur challenge the willing suspension of disbelief there's enough heart and suspense and style to make it thoroughly entertaining.

I really wish that the Bright Ideas Bookstore was real- I would spend all my time there! Lots of puzzles in this story, addictive in their need to be solved.

The Tattered Cover Bookstore Here in Denver Has Never Been More Exciting

The characters in this book are interesting and nicely developed. They aren't quirky or outrageous, but they are crafted with an eye toward what makes a personality on the page worth reading about and following. Their thoughts and observations, motivations, doubts and fears, come across as genuine and relatable. Our heroine narrator is appealing and worthy, and so we care about her situation and are curious as to how it all resolves. Since this is a murder mystery the characters' circumstances are, of course, out of the ordinary. The situations in which they find themselves, and their backstories, are more colorful, complex and consequential than the norm. On the other hand, just riding home with Lydia on the Colfax bus is an authentic hoot.

The author nicely captures the feel of the bookstore at which Lydia works, which certainly seems to match up with Denver's honored "Tattered Cover". But there are lots of other nice Denver touches, so this book also appealed to me as a cozy "homer".

The resolution of the mystery is satisfying, although neither shocking nor unsettling. The solution is fair and none of the most important mystery conventions are harmed in the making of this book. No last page character appears, and no out of the blue revelation changes anything. Lots of twists and turns. At worst there are a few tight plot corners that the author has to wiggle out of, but that's true for almost any mystery author.

The upshot is that our heroine is good, thoughtful and engaging company, and it was a pleasure to join her as this mystery unfolded.

(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

This book had a hard time deciding what it was. It started out as a quirky contemporary fiction, went dark and mysterious, and finished as a family drama. It was difficult to really get into, and by the time I was enjoying it, it was ending.

A psychological mystery with more psychology than mystery, full of idiosyncratic characters. Worth reading.

This was 100% NOT what I was expecting! I thought this was going to be a light mystery centered around a bookstore and boy was I wrong.

Though books play a central part in this story (major bibliophile appeal here) there is so, SO much more going on on these pages. While hoping not to give much away, let's just say the history that unfolded here was both parts fascinating and haunting.

I did not anticipate the gruesome backstory that popped up here, and therefore wasn't prepared for it. Graphic violence is absolutely something I try to avoid with my thrillers, and I was not mentally prepared for a few scenes here which I personally had to skim over. So here is my trigger warning; if this is something you're sensitive in nature to as well, you may want to gear up or skip it altogether.

This is a hard one to rate, while I didn't love the violence and I did figure out the mystery quite early on, I was still glued to the pages and finished this one in less than 24 hours. There is something to be said about a book that you just can't put down and this was one of those for me!

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Lydia has a complicated backstory that she doesn’t want anyone to know about. Estranged from her father, and with no other family to speak of, she finds solace in her workplace, the amazing Bright Ideas Bookstore in Denver, Colorado. Not only does she have the job of her dreams, she happily lives with her boyfriend, and has found a family in her coworkers. But when an unexpected tragedy occurs at the bookstore, to one of her favorite customers, she finds an unexpected connection to her past. Unable to let the mystery go unsolved, she pursues the truth, but in so doing, starts to unravel her past, risking exposure to those she’s been hiding it from.

My interest in this book is the result of cover lust plus the word “bookstore” in the title. I’m sure that at the time I selected it, I read the blurbs, but by the time I started reading it, I couldn’t have told you anything about the premise – just “I love the cover because books” and it says “bookstore” in the title. But you know what? This time my simple selection process worked out for me. This book rocked hard!

Character development was great. I loved Lydia. Loved her workmates. Plot development was superb. Little bits of backstory were eked out in increments just big enough to keep you intrigued without giving too much away. Characters were brought to the forefront at times that made you suspicious, widening the suspect pool. What are their intentions? Why are they here? And there were all these underlying side stories that fed into the primary narrative, enriching it but also blurring the lines a bit. Without a doubt, I can say that I in no way guessed the full story until the very end. I did have a strong suspicion about who the perpetrator was, but I didn’t correctly work out the motive. And the mood of the book was midway between cozy and suspense/thriller. A really solid mystery. Without a doubt, I’ll be reading more by Matthew J. Sullivan.

Note: I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley. I pride myself on writing fair and honest reviews.