4 stars! I enjoyed this unique and clever mystery revolving around a past crime which is slowly unravelled through clues within several books. It had a feeling of an old fashioned whodunnit

The main character, Lydia Smith, works at the Bright Ideas Bookstore. Lydia gets to know all of the ‘BookFrogs’, the regular customers whose loneliness is cured by daily visits to the bookstore where they often are lined up before the stores opening hour. I really liked Lydia’s character and all of her quirks. She has a tragic history that she hopes is left in her past, but is always lingering

I thoroughly enjoyed this compelling, suspense-filled, highly entertaining read and would recommend it!

Some books you simply cannot put down... I wasn't overly optimistic about this book at the beginning. I know you should never judge a book by it's cover, but I wasn't really sold by the title, and I only really skimmed over the blurb, without fully taking it in.

I don't know what I was expecting from this title, but it certainly wasn't what I got! I can honestly say that I did not put this book down from the moment I started reading until the moment I finished. I was absolutely gripped. The plot is ridiculously good. There are so many unexpected twists and turns - the whole story is linked together in an extremely clever way. The writing style is completely absorbing, the characters incredible and the and the suspense at some points had me trying to read at super speed.

A fairly dark story, but an absolute must read.

"Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore" by Matthew Sullivan is an exceptional book. It has been a few days since I finished reading and I still cannot help but think how much I loved it!
I was initially drawn to it by its... title! It had an Agatha Christie sort of vibe about it and therefore drew me in. The novel itself is quite different from the above author's works but it is still different from the majority of modern crime fiction novels. Most of which focus on violence, chaos and trying to pack as much action into those 200-300 pages as possible. "Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore" did not require that at all since it's brilliant in its simplicity. If I had a copy of it in an audio version I would like the book to be whispered instead of being read out loud. Yes, I know... that won't happen. But this book has such a quiet, misty vibe about it that I would not want any noise to spoil the mood.
I liked the characters in this book and found it especially easy to connect with the protagonist - Lydia. She's such a bookworm ;)
I also loved how the past and present intermingled and the idea of presenting it this way kept my interest going.
All in all, I cannot recommend this wonderful novel enough.
Thank you so much to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

I fancied a change – and Midnight At The Bright Ideas Bookstore was certainly that.

Beautifully written, in a gritty and rather dark way, Matthew Sullivan’s debut had me hooked from the start.
His heroine, Lydia, is unique and engaging and I think the clever way she is written - the words seem so carefully chosen and remain somewhat blank and emotionless - perfectly fits with what she went through as a child when she would have been overloaded with feelings.

At the start of a mystery I always enjoy wondering how the author is going to fit all the pieces of the puzzle together. Sometimes it’s straight forward, other times it’s a bit harder to find a fit. In this case, I certainly didn’t see at least one of them coming. At the time it did feel a little bit implausible but then strange things happen in real life so the more I thought about it, the more I thought ‘yeah, I suppose that could happen’.

It is certainly an engrossing story and it moves along at a pace which means you’ll be making dinner one handed because you don’t want to put it down.

Once it all came out, the ending did seem a little rushed. It was like the author thought: “Phew, mystery solved, time to go”. Although I guess once it’s done, it’s done - and it didn't detract from how much I enjoyed the book.

With thanks to Cornerstone Digital for the ARC in return for my honest opinion.

Book covers are, and are not, my thing. I frequently dismiss a book at first glance on the basis of the cover (photo of a topless guy with a six-pack? woman in a ball-gown? probably not for me). But if a cover doesn't put me off instantly...that's usually the end of its role for me. A book gets a second glance - at the title and maybe the author - and then I either move on, or I pick it up and promptly forget what the cover was like (even more promptly now that most of my reading is ebooks). I'm just far more verbal than visual; video tutorials make me want to tear my hair out.

But this cover drew me in: bright, multi-coloured book spines, set against a dark background. It was appealing, but also intriguing. The title makes this sound like a cosy mystery, maybe something slightly twee. The cover sort-of supports that notion, but there's more there. As it turns out, it's the perfect cover for this book, which begins in a bookstore, which relies heavily on books as plot-device, some of whose main characters live and breathe books...and it's dark and suspenseful and even sometimes gory.

But anyway. On to the words!

There is a solid plot, although it seems to move quite slowly for most of the book, then speed up a lot in the last few chapters. The story is mainly character-driven, with lots of quirky characters who, while entertaining to read, felt a little contrived at times. The main characters are well-written, though: Lydia is complex, although there do seem to be some unexplained gaps in her back-story (why exactly did she stop speaking to her father?), and Raj is loveable and so much more important than he seems - but Joey...Joey is heartbreaking, over and over - quite an achievement for a character who dies almost as soon as you start reading.

This is the author's first novel, and while it doesn't quite have the smoothness and polish of a more experienced author, many more experienced authors don't have that either. In other words, this is pretty good, especially for a debut novel, and this author might well turn out to be one to watch.

Thanks to Net Gallery and Heinemann's for an advanced copy of Matthew Sullivan's latest novel. From the start the reader is drawn into the text - its delightful turn of phrase, its quick introduction to the nature of the tale and the need to find out what happens next.
It is a wonder - I would have said joy but that is the wrong noun given the subject of the novel. A definite enjoyment and the lead to future reads as I look out Matthew's other books.

This was a page turner until I figured out whodunit way too early on in the book. My first thought "oh, it's not that easy is it?" the answer is yep, it's that easy.

I'd settle at 3.5 stars because the overall writing was good and I enjoyed the presentation but I removed stars for the mystery being too easy to figure out. I like a bit of a challenge as a reader.

Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore is an intriguing, dark, clever, and one of the most original and engrossing thrillers we have read. It starts off fast and dramatic and caught our attention right away. It quickly turned into a fast page-turner afternoon with us turning the pages as fast as we could and messaging each other quite often with our theories and guesses until life demanded our attention. Making this the best and funniest Traveling Sister Read we have done so far with Kaceey.

Matthew Sullivan delivers a well-paced and well-written solid story here with one of the most perfect settings in our opinion taking place in an eccentric bookstore with quirky and unique characters. We all loved the feeling with the sense of place and could visualize ourselves walking through the aisles of the bookstore as he described all the areas so vividly. He had us all wanting to visit and explore that bookstore. We were amused by the Bookfrogs and enjoyed how they were part of a community within the bookstore that Lydia and her quirky colleagues would try to protect and embraced them as part of the bookstore.

The clever solid original plot with savvy connections and puzzles incorporated in the storyline had us searching for clues but very little clues were given along the way
for Norma to follow and her detective skills were stalled. So very clever of Sullivan but not clever enough for Kaceey who shocked us and herself with figuring out right away who the Hammerman was but not knowing the reasoning behind it. Of course Brenda is off in left field trying to lure them to join her there with her out of field theories. It really adds more fun to our read with how different of readers we are and how we compliment each other. We could really see that with this book and in this reading experience.

Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore is one not to be missed and we highly recommend pushing this one to the top of your list.

Thank you to NetGalley, Scribner and Matthew J. Sullivan for a copy to read and review.

I was sadly disappointed by this book. There has been a lot of excitement around the premise and I had been looking forward to reading it. However, the writing was poor, the plot contrived and the characters shallow. The male characters, David and Raj, were superfluous and almost interchangeable. The ending and reveal felt lazy and I was utterly unconvinced and frustrated by the protagonist's response to Maya's actions. Maya's experience as a repressed and abused wife was simply brushed aside rather than examined as a motive for dismissing her illegitimate son.

I expected to be captivated but this fell flat.

I was sent Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew J. Sullivan to read and review by NetGalley.
I can’t ever resist a story that has books at its heart so I had high hopes for this novel. The protagonist is librarian Lydia Smith who works at the said Bright Ideas Bookstore, a place that has a myriad of themed reading spaces and many homeless/displaced people, known as BookFrogs, frequenting them. The book concentrates on Lydia’s search to learn the reason why one of the BookFrogs, Joey, bequeaths his book collection to her after committing suicide in the store. As the story unfolds we learn more about Lydia and her traumatic past along with her relationships with her childhood friends.
It is well written and I enjoyed this novel on many levels but I could only bring myself to give it four stars as I wasn’t totally bowled over by it.

Mystery set in a bookshop? Well, that’s me sold already! Small warning, though, that this is not a cosy mystery à la Elementary, She Read, but a fair bit darker. However, it’s firmly in the ‘mystery’ and not ‘thriller’ category, so nothing trying to make you jump – perfect!

We start off with the suicide of a regular patron – a ‘bookfrog’ (heh, it was meant to be reviewed here, wasn’t it!? 🙂 ) – of the titular bookstore. When Lydia finds the body, she also finds a 20-year-old photo of her tenth birthday party in his pocket. How? Why? And then another photo – a newspaper snap of her coming out of the bookstore alongside the stretcher – suddenly brings a rush of her long-avoided past to sweep her back up.

While most of the story follows the current interlacing mysteries, we get plenty of flashback chapters, taking us back to a time just after that first photo was taken, when Lydia lives through a huge trauma – no spoilers! – that is still impacting on her life today. Old friends, estranged parents – it seems like everyone is coming out of the woodwork, and Lydia will no longer be able to put her past behind her.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, including the slightly darker tone. Lydia is a very well-written character, with just the right amount of fear and courage, and believable responses to things that (have) happen(ed). The other characters are kept more secondary, but not 2-dimensional, keeping the focus on the plot’s twists and turns. Okay, so the final denouement perhaps relies on a few too many coincidences, but for the main they are woven very organically into the story and kept me guessing the whole way.

I think, with this book, I’ve come to realise that I really like the mystery genre. I’ve dabbled in the past with more ‘thrillers’, but am rarely in the mood for that kind of ‘Danger! Danger!’ approach. MatBIB kept me mentally intrigued, without having to reach into the disturbing territory. More like this, please!

Wow! Two of my favourite things, murder mystery and a bookshop, what's not to like. Great plotting and characters, but a bit meandering at times. Would probably make a great film as very atmospheric.

This is definitely not my usual kind of read however it was very well written and I actually wanted to continue reading to get the answer to the mystery. I'm not going to say too much because this book is all about the mystery and ruining that would not be good but I did really enjoy the story and the characters.

While not my usual genre I would read more by this author.

This is a murder mystery crossed with a cold case investigation and overall it was a good reading experience.

When a troubled young man commits suicide in the Bright Ideas Bookstore he is found by one of the staff members, Lydia. Like everyone she is deeply shocked, even more so when she finds a picture of herself at her 10th birthday party in his pocket.

What follows is Lydia’s attempts to unravel the mystery and along with some quirky characters dark secrets get exposed. Secrets that are a lot closer to home than what Lydia could ever imagine.

I enjoyed how the almost random connections of the characters were brought together to make sense at the end.

The one think that bothered me though was the reasons why Lydia was estranged from her father for over a decade. From what I can gather in the story, they just drifted apart when she was a teenager, but her reaction when her father tries to re-establish contact was a little over the top for me.

The overall feeling was one of sweet quirky story even though it did veer into darker territory at times. I think this would make a nice holiday read, it was not overly shocking or scary, just a nice and easy reading experience.

I read this at one sitting. An enjoyable book, bookstore as social services centre. Are there really bookstores still open at midnight in the USA?!
(spoiler) The suicide was shocking, as were the murders, and we follow Lydia trying to literally piece together the truth.
There were a few too many coincidences for my taste, Irene in the Vital records dept was a deus ex machina, how convenient that Raj happened to be named on the forms. The characterisations were a little one dimensional, the burnt out cop is too cliche, and it could have used a bit more description of people and places.
Overall i enjoyed the story, and will be recommending it to others.

Thoroughly enjoyable book. Full of twists and turns and the odd red herring thrown in. The lives of the characters were well laid out, to give the reader insight into their pasts and how they all came together. As for the end? Didn't see that coming! Thoroughly recommend this book

A brilliant read! The story unfolds in such an unexpected way that you are gripped to the end.

An interestingly dark little tale, belied by it's cheery title! I liked the gradual unfolding of the backstory and the psycho killer undercurrent but felt the central romance was too fractured for me to invest in particularly. I was a fan of the idea of books as mysterious coded communication devices and the cast of characters who love them was appealing, if somewhat underdeveloped. For instance, we are given several vignettes of bookstore staff which seemed a liitle pointless: why did we need to hear about the backroom worker who just left one day, or the chain smoking older lady who lends Lydia her car but hasn't much other purpose?
I'd read more by this author though.

Absolutely gripping, A fantastic book,not my usual read but it had me hooked.

This book is like a puzzle you get sucked in and can’t resist to complete. There were many ‘Oh’ and ‘Ah’ along the way, because things you get to discover come as a total surprise. The darkness of story is just detached enough to not get melancholy and keep digging along for more clues and discoveries.