Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  As we follow the twists and turns as Lydia tries to unravel Joey’s messages, the mystery of his last days, and his connection to her, her father, and that terrible night, we feel with her the choice of both wanting to know, and not wanting to know; of wanting to know the truth of that night and what her father’s part was, or just wanting to get on with her life with him out of it. Lydia, hiding in a cupboard under a kitchen sink, is spared. But when Lydia flips through his books she finds them defaced in ways both disturbing and inexplicable. And I love your photo! I picked it up from the library today! Go solve a twisty windy mystery my fellow bookworms! This book is told from Lydia’s point of view and from her father’s point of view. A clerk at the Bright Ideas bookstore, she keeps a meticulously crafted existence among her beloved books, eccentric colleagues, and the BookFrogs—the lost and lonely regulars who spend every day marauding the store’s overwhelmed … New York: Simon & Schuster, 2018. ( Log Out /  Maybe a bigger house….lol, My husband has put bits of wood across the top of the wardrobe doors for extra shelves. A clerk at the Bright… Who doesn’t love a book filled with mystery and a main characters backstory that comes to light? Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore Matthew Sullivan - 336 p. by Molly Lundquist | 0 comments If you like mysteries … with obscure puzzles … and stories set in bookstores … and damaged protagonists … and a cast of kooky characters, then you will positively love MIDNIGHT AT THE BRIGHT IDEAS BOOKSTORE. On thumbing through them, Lydia discovers that pages and pages have been carefully, methodically defaced—with small rectangular cut-outs. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Molly Lundquist . Review: It begins with a suicide: Joey, a young man in his twenties who is a regular bookstore patron, hangs himself from a shelf in the Bright Ideas Bookstore—which is where this novel's main character, Lydia, is an employee. One meaning seems obvious: Joey wants Lydia to decode a message he’s painstakingly composed. I know I love books that keep me intrigued and if they are filled with twists and turns it makes them even better. I have my Snoopy and Agatha Christie books up there. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Your email address will not be published. Always Joey’s favorite bookseller, Lydia has been bequeathed his meager worldly possessions. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. When the books are matched up, page for page, they reveal messages that point Lydia to the reason Joey took his life. If Molly’s not working on LitLovers, she’s sleeping. See our Reading Guide for Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore. Learn how your comment data is processed. ." They reveal the psyche of a young man on the verge of an emotional reckoning. Summary: When Joey the Bookfrog commits suicide at the Bright Ideas Bookstore, Lydia Smith's ordered life is overturned as she discovers a connection between his death and buried memories from childhood that had marked her life ever since. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. That is, until the night she finds Joey, one of the Bookfrogs with whom she had a special connection, dead by suicide in the store. Lydia learns to her surprise that Joey has left all of his belongings to her, primarily boxes of books. Review of “Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore” by Matthew J. Sullivan Posted on 06/21/2017 by rhapsodyinbooks This unusual and disturbing story is part mystery, and part examination of a small, very dysfunctional group of people. But not to worry: you’ll still find Midnight an absorbing read. 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.”. When Lydia’s past is discovered this comes in handy because you get to see two points of view about one night, and also learn the truth in the process. While this is not an edge-of-your-seat suspense thriller, I found my interest and curiosity building until the final pages where all the connections become clear including what happened on that terrible night. Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew J. Sullivan, has all the above and than some. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Pingback: The Month in Reviews: August 2019 | Bob on Books. , I buy a lot of books. Shy and bookish, Lydia has two good friends: Raj Patel, whose parents own the local Donuts ‘n Gas (! Lydia Smith works in Denver’s Bright Ideas Bookstore where, between shelving her beloved books and cashing out sales, she tends to her flock of misfits, forlorn wanderers who use the bookstore as a home of sorts. Tomas had totally forgotten about taking a bookmobile to a remote location outside Denver and his boss insisted he drive there that night, in a snowstorm. You will have to let me know what you think of it!!! But one night Lydia’s world is split apart when Carol and her family are brutally murdered by the Hammerman. A great source for books reviewed here. © Robert C Trube and Bob on Books, 2013-2020. I just might have to try that.. A picture she had not know existed. Lydia Smith lives her life hiding in plain sight. Trinkets and books; the detritus of a lonely, uncared for man. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. The description was taken from the Goodreads website: “When a bookshop patron commits suicide, his favorite store clerk must unravel the puzzle he left behind. Also disturbing, Joey is carrying a childhood photo of Lydia in his pocket. I am an avid reader, who loves to devour books and go on an amazing journey! Lol that is a good idea. The store and its eccentric staff are a source of security, warmth, … See our Reading Guide for Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore, Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup, Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell. That is the ultimate mystery to be solved. Details from that one bloody night begin to circle back. Lydia Smith seems to finally have found the haven she was looking for as a bookseller at the Bright Ideas Bookstore. If, however, a lot of this feels like familiar territory, you’re not alone. The Hammerman is never found, though at least one detective, now retired continues to suspect Tomas, who was having an affair with Dottie O’Toole, and when he came for Lydia in the morning, had compromised the crime scene. Awesome! Follow I Won't Say I'm In Love With Reading on WordPress.com, The Book Blogger Memory Challenge Book Tag. - Ephesians 2:10, Exploring life through pilgrimage, literature, and faith, think deeply • see differently • act faithfully, Review: Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore, Review: Confronting Old Testament Controversies, The Month in Reviews: August 2019 | Bob on Books, Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Forest Lawn Memorial Park. You go on a twist and turn adventure where every turn leads you into another part of the mystery, and you will become so engrossed in the story that you will be staying up late to finish it! This is our blog. A former college English instructor, Molly developed LitLovers after teaching an online literature course several years ago. When a bookshop patron commits suicide, his favorite store clerk must unravel the puzzle he left behind. Lydia Smith lives her life hiding in plain sight. Lydia had been brought up by her father, Tomas, a librarian. Even when the words become clear, their meaning does not. In his pocket is a picture of Lydia blowing out candles at her tenth birthday with two friends, Raj and Carol. This blog is strictly for non-commercial purposes. ( Log Out /  Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Although, I will admit when the bomb dropped I did not see it coming. Nonetheless, the novel is good fun, a game of code-breaking, as we try to read and understand Joey’s cryptic messages. How could Joey have gotten it? ( Log Out /  Then, it’s back to the present. (Unpaid endorsement), Books | Reflections For the Good of the Church, Explorations in Biblical Theology from J. Richard Middleton. Tomas and Lydia flee Denver for a small town, Rio Vista, changing their last name. That night, “The Hammerman” brutally murders all three O’Tooles. If you like mysteries … with obscure puzzles … and stories set in bookstores … and damaged protagonists … and a cast of kooky characters, then you will positively love MIDNIGHT AT THE BRIGHT IDEAS BOOKSTORE. What did Joey know? We're the largest independent bookstore in Texas. I’ve just checked the catalogue at my local library and it’s there on the shelf waiting for me to make an excuse to go into town. This book will leave you grasped within the story until it releases you slowly at the end. What does it all mean? One - Bookstores are a safe haven for weirdos. . Your email address will not be published. Perfect for paperbacks. Carol’s parents, the O’Tooles, offer to host. The Hammerman was never caught, and Lydia has never been able to make peace with that terrible night. Barbara Tuchman, Commentary on Working-Class Culture, Education, and Politics, Comments on the New Testament and Early Christianity (and related matters). Howdy! ( Log Out /  … What is the message … and how is Lydia involved? We backtrack to an earlier, darker period in Lydia’s life—as a 10-year-old-growing up in Denver with her widowed father. ), and Carol O’Toole, who tags along with her plumber father while he repairs a leaky pipe for the Patels. Lydia Smith is a clerk at the Bright Ideas bookstore, whose patrons are among Denver's lost, lonely and homeless. Debut novelist Matthew Sullivan nicely juggles the various narrative threads, keeping the pace taut and suspenseful. Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore, Matthew Sullivan. If at times Lydia seems somewhat dense to the significance of things … well, so be it: she’s not the most engaging of heroines. I will say that I read this book in a week, and even stayed up late on Friday to finish it.

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