Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore

A Novel

By: Matthew Sullivan

Narrated by: Madeleine Maby

When a bookshop patron commits suicide, his favorite store clerk must unravel the puzzle he left behind in this fiendishly clever 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, her eccentric colleagues, and the BookFrogs - the lost and lonely regulars who spend every day marauding the store's overwhelmed shelves.

But when Joey McGinty, a young, beguiling BookFrog, kills himself in the bookstore's back 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.

Bedazzling, addictive, and wildly clever, Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore is a heart-pounding mystery that perfectly captures the intellect and eccentricity of the bookstore milieu and will keep you guessing until the very end.

©2017 Matthew Sullivan. All rights reserved. (P)2017 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Keeps you guessing

This book had many twists and mysterious subplots which kept me interested, entertained and thinking. I'm glad it wasn't simple and easy to figure out because so many stories are. I really enjoyed the book and my only complaint was the narration. The narrator trying to do men's voices was a bit painful. Most of the time she spoke so slowly as the male characters that they come off sounding mentally challenged. I just wish they would hire a man and woman together to do narration.

Horrific Narrator

The worst narrator I have ever heard. I will never buy another book she narrates.

Great story

Lots of emotions on the parts of all the characters in this book. Mystery, betrayal, abuse and love all are in this book.

No shopping at the Bright Ideas Bookstore for me!

The story was compelling at first. But the more I listened the more horrified I became. These characters lives were without hope or love. I do not like murder mystery but needed to read a book set in a bookstore. If you are a fan of this genre I would recommend.

Wonderful use of words, plot a bit clunky

basically a good book with entertaining choices of words but the plot is a little clunky the reader can figure out who done it well before the protagonist

Clever Storyline, ho-hum narration

Matthew Sullivan, the author, does a skillful job of leading the reader down a path that has the reader only asking why the heinous crime was committed not who committed it when suddenly things go a different direction, and the pace of the story picks up the momentum leading to a not so expected resolution. There are a few parts of the story I thought dragged a bit, but the book kept my attention until the end. Some of narrator Madeleine Mabby’s male voices are too emotionless and bland to the extent of being a distraction from the story. Overall I enjoyed the storyline and would recommend the book. A print version may be a better option if you are particular about narration quality.

Fantastic Story - Wonderful Narrator

Where does Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I don't really rank books, I judge them individually and this book falls into the "Would read again" category.

What did you like best about this story?

The characters were "real", believable and they grew as the story progressed. Some grew for the better, others for the worse, but they all grew, one way or the other.

Have you listened to any of Madeleine Maby’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not, but I absolutely LOVED her and am looking to her other narrations to see if she has done anything else that I would like to read.

Watch Out for the Quiet One

This mystery story takes place in Colorado, mostly on Colfax Avenue in Denver. Lots of odd characters practically live at the Bright Ideas book store. A bit gruesome in spots but overall an entertaining novel.

This author's talent is in detail

The plot is strong enough but the authors eye for physical details carries this novel. He's only going to get better with time. I'm in.

Abandon the audiobook

I loved the book, but the narration drove me crazy. Every voice besides the main character’s was tortuously slow and odd-sounding. It took everything I had not to turn it off and just download it to my kindle so I could read it with my eyes.