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    Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore: A Novel
    Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore: A Novel
    Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore: A Novel
    Audiobook9 hours

    Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore: A Novel

    Written by Matthew Sullivan

    Narrated by Madeleine Maby

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    When a bookshop patron dies by suicide, his favorite store clerk must unravel the puzzle he left behind in this "shocking, charming, thrilling" (Associated Press) and award-winning debut novel.

    Lydia Smith lives her life hiding in plain sight. A clerk at the Bright Ideas bookstore, she leads a meticulously ordered existence among her beloved books, eccentric colleagues, and the BookFrogs—the lost and lonely regulars who spend every day browsing the overwhelmed stacks.

    But when a young BookFrog, Joey Molina, hangs himself in one of the upper rooms of the store, Lydia’s life comes unglued. Inside one of Joey’s pockets is a photograph of Lydia as a little girl. And when she flips through some of 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. The more she puzzles over them, the more they seem to contain a hidden message for her about his final days. What did Joey know? And what does it have to do with Lydia?

    With "oddball characters and [a] layered plot" (Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review), Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore is “a smart, twisty crime novel set in a world that booklovers will adore” (Jess Walter, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins).
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateJun 13, 2017
    ISBN9781508236047
    Author

    Matthew Sullivan

    Matthew Sullivan is the author of the novel Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore, which was an IndieNext pick, a Barnes & Noble Discover Pick, a GoodReads Choice Award finalist, and winner of the Colorado Book Award. His writing has appeared inThe New York Times, The Daily Beast, The Spokesman-Review, Sou'wester and elsewhere, and his stories have been awarded the Florida Review Editor's Prize and the Robert Olen Butler Fiction Prize. He grew up in a family of eight raucous kids in Aurora, Colorado, and received his BA from the University of San Francisco and his MFA from the University of Idaho. After working as a bookseller at Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver and at Brookline Booksmith in Boston, he spent twenty years as a tenured instructor teaching writing, literature, and film at a rural HSI community college in the high desert of central Washington State. He is married to a librarian and now lives in Anacortes, on Fidalgo Island in the Northwest corner of Washington. His new stand-alone mystery novel, Midnight in the Orchard by the Lake, is forthcoming from HarperCollins/Hanover Square Press.  

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    Reviews for Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore

    4/5

    1,061 ratings104 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Interesting Mystery that involves downtown Denver and the Tattered Cover Book Store
      Only in the book it is the Bright Ideas book store
      I had no idea how the story was going to evolve but did in a very logical way, and the mystery was better than a lot of stories.
      This was a really good book.
    • 5/5
      OMgoodness......not sure what I was expecting but was totally thrown for a loop with the latter half of this book .... lol
    • 5/5
      This book was so well written and thought out that I am impressed. I was expecting a light-hearted, cheerful book about a 20-something bibliophile evolving to deal with the challenges of growing up with a quirky cast of fellow book lovers— I was wrong. It definitely had quirky characters but the story is deeply tragic and disturbing, but so very engaging. Moreover, books themselves played a role in a way I hadn’t experienced before. I highly recommend this
    • 5/5
      This book had me hooked! A great choice for those who enjoy plot twists and complex relationships between characters. Narrator did an excellent job as well. Two enthusiastic thumbs up!
    • 4/5
      Really good ! It took some nice twists and turns and kept me curious about what was going to happen . I definitely recommend this book !
    • 3/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed the first three quarters of this book, but was disappointed with how it all played out in the end. The mystery of the cut out windows in the book pages didn't deliver.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book. It was good. So Raj's Dad was apparently the Hammerman, and Raj's Mom was Joey's mother with Bart O'Toole as his father. Tomas was just a guard at the prison Joey was incarcerated in.

      I think that explains the book! It was really interesting and kinda depressing reading about how Lydia found all this out. But I enjoyed seeing her find it out!
    • 4/5
      Good writing and engaging although easy to figure out. Sad.
    • 5/5
      What a great story!! Told and read well a recommended read
    • 5/5
      The plot was well thought out and made sense. The characters were interesting. The writing was excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and I would recommend it.
    • 4/5
      It had me guessing who the hammer man was up to the very end. A sad story but with a good ending. I am so glad I found this book.
    • 5/5
      Picked this up on a whim and really enjoyed it.
    • 3/5
      Okay plot. At times it I seemed transitions from one scene to another were non-existent. Maybe some text was missing in the audio.
    • 4/5
      Very interesting book a mystery on several different levels but all neatly tied together
    • 4/5
      Not predictable. The overlapping mysteries that filled the story kept unfolding right to the end.
    • 4/5
      I couldn't put the book down...but a little disappointed in the ending ..not because it was bad but wanted to know more...
    • 4/5
      A lot darker than I thought originally, but I really enjoyed this book and I couldn’t stop first listening to
      The audiobook, then reading. The narrator does a great until she does various character voices, then she speaks so slowly that the characters sound odd and irritating.
      Don’t listen, read instead.
    • 4/5
      An engaging story, although many of the twists are easy to see coming.
    • 3/5
      A little clunky at times but a good story. I did guess part of the ending just past half way through the book!
    • 4/5
      Charming and unpredictable but heartbreaking. The narration was very good.
    • 5/5
      This is a lovely, sad, funny, very well-written book. Get it!
    • 5/5
      I would classify this book as quirky and lovable. The heart of the story Lydia, a book store clerk. It moves to the lonely souls who spend their days reading in the store and Lydia's fondness for them. In the first chapter one of them takes his life (Joey) and Lydia finds him. From here, the story evolves and grows as we learn about her past and the trauma she suffered as a child, through her "investigation" of Joey's belongings which he left to her. The key characters come together in the end and it makes for a terrific story of life: human failings, love, resilience and the power of the human spirit to heal and overcome obstacles.
    • 5/5
      The book is so captivating. So many great characters and so many twists and turns I never guessed the ending. A great and engaging read.
    • 4/5
      As a book reviewer, I am almost always drawn to stories involving bookstores or libraries. When I came across Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore I was of course drawn to it. Adding the murder-mystery just made it even more enticing. Also helps that the cover is very eye catching. What I thought was going to be a cozy mystery turned into a true murder-mystery style story with red herrings, loss, and life not turning out how you want it to.The character of Lydia Smith is a troubled young woman who has hidden herself away from society. She has been working at the bookstore for years and has friendships with her co-workers and that is pretty much it. She also has befriended those patrons she warmly refers to as the BookFrogs. This story revolves around her trying to understand why one of her “bookfrogs” ended his life. Through her investigation into his life, her past, something she has desperately tried to keep a secret, has come back to haunt her. As her present and her past come to a head she must face some awful truths and in the end, solve the mystery of “Why did Joey end his life?” It is a heart-wrenching tale that will engage you from the start.I loved the writing from this author! Just wonderful! I was able to fully visualize everything that was intended and it gave all the emotional tugs. I was expecting a light story but this was a story that became continually darker as they it went on. This is not the type of book that ends all wrapped in a bright shiny bow. In fact, the ending left me slightly sad but it was the perfect ending for these characters. I highly recommend this book because there are many fabulous pieces that will awe you as well as characters that are real and well developed. It was a fast read that I did not want to put down!This review is based on a complimentary book I received from NetGalley. It is an honest and voluntary review. The complimentary receipt of it in no way affected my review or rating.
    • 3/5
      A good thriller and quick read with a unique premise. I stayed up far too late last night finishing and am paying for it this morning. Ignore the typos as my head continually hits the keyboard every few minutes... eaoidfj... see there? I was drawn to Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by the cover. Because who among us avid readers isn't seduced by a print of beautiful, colorful book spines? Thrillers are not generally my thing, but I decided to give this one a try because of it's unique - and bookish - plot. Lydia, a 30-something bookseller, has a past that she keeps well hidden to herself and others, until the day she finds a frequent patron of the bookstore ("Joey") hanging on the second floor. Forced to confront her demons, Lydia begins a quest to find out more about Joey and his past, all the while learning more than she ever wanted to know about hers. There is a great twist at the end, but certain plot devices felt a bit too convenient and while not predictable per se, definitely foreseeable. This is overall an enjoyable quick read that, while unique, still falls into the same "it's never what you think" formula of most thrillers. That said, if you enjoy a good mystery and books about books, you'll enjoy this one. Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an ARC through NetGalley.
    • 5/5
      Totally unexpected twists. The suspense keep me wanting more! I read the ebook and listened along with the audio, which was fantastic.
    • 5/5
      I love ❤️ loved ? this. Great story that wasn't as predictable as most.
    • 5/5
      This book is beautiful, gut wrenching, terrifying, and emotionally draining. It has been a long time since I read a book that I had no idea how it was going to end. Sullivan is definitely on my radar!
    • 3/5
      The story was ok but the narrator was TERRIBLE! I listened to it on 1.5 just to get it over with. The narrator had these EXCRUCIATING pauses…in..between..words. Aarrgghh!!!!
    • 1/5
      This was terrible and incredibly boring. Glad it was in audiobook form, so I could walk out of the room and not listen to it. Not a likeable character in the book, except for maybe the boyfriend, Dirk or Dale (?), who wasn't in it for long, and was the lucky one and got away.
      The protagonist just needs to grow up and see a therapist.
      Had to rate it with a one, but that is giving this book too much credit.

      1 person found this helpful