Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore

 Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew Sullivan is by no means a cozy mystery, but it is a thrilling, exciting puzzle. Throughout her adult life, Lydia Smith has been hiding in plain sight from a frightening childhood experience.  

Working at the Bright Ideas Bookstore, Lydia immerses herself in the books and the quirky customers in the store, especially the BookFrogs, the lost and lonely who spend every day in the bookstore wandering the three floors. One of the BookFrogs, Joey Molina has taken a shine to Lydia. He keeps to himself most times, but always seeks out Lydia to pay for his books.

One night Joey hangs himself on the third floor of the bookstore and Lydia discovers him to her shock and horror. Stunned by the event, Lydia is even more puzzled when she discovers a photo of herself and two friends when she was 10 years old in his pocket.

To add to her confusion about their relationship, Joey left his meager possessions to her. They consist of books defaced in strange ways with little windows cut out in a random fashion. Some of the messages point to Lydia's past. What could Joey know about the bloody night when she was ten years old?

Slowly she unravels his message from the books and it leads her back to that horrifying night when her friend Carol and her parents were brutally murdered and Lydia, hidden under the kitchen sink, survived.

Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore is a chilling, intricate puzzle that will surprise the reader until the very last page. I highly recommend it.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I just finished reading this book and it was a great read. The story had a good pace and a great cast of characters. Once I started I pretty much just kept turning pages til I was done. Thanks for the recommendation Chris!!