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off2explore's review against another edition
5.0
This bookish mystery had me captivated and guessing til the end.
mathman329's review against another edition
3.0
I purposefully chose not to review this book right away as I have been trying to do with most of the books I read because I needed to let the story rest for a bit. As I read the story, I found myself going back and forth on the overall rating. Now that I've had more time to think about it, I feel that my original rating of 3 "light bulbs" out of 5 best represents my feelings about the story.
This mystery novel wasn't terribly long, which made it a fairly quick read. As a first novel, I thought Sullivan did an excellent job crafting an intriguing hook, and I was easily drawn in to the world of the Bright Ideas Bookstore. Unfortunately, I was left wanting more of that feeling throughout the rest of the novel. To be fair, I didn't have much to go on when I picked this novel up (for more like this, see my review of History of Wolves) and so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. The opening sequence left the possibility open for this to be more supernatural in nature, but it certainly wasn't. The gruesome backstory of the protagonist made this seem like yet another murder-mystery thriller, and yet it wasn't that either. In fact, this may be one of the reasons I wasn't willing to rate "Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore" any higher than a 3. Matthew Sullivan, the author, attempts to pack a lot of genre scenes into a single book, and instead of feeling cohesive to me, it felt more like a sequence of different set pieces that didn't always mesh together well.
As a result, the novel felt a bit uneven to me. The reveal at the end was one that I didn't quite see coming, but it made sense and for that, I felt like the novel was authentic, with no cheap payoff at the end. Instead, as I mentioned previously, I found myself wondering where this story would best fit in and just how much I truly enjoyed it. While it wasn't one of my favorite books of all time, I've also read worse. I would probably give Sullivan's next work a shot as well, and hope for some of the issues mentioned above to be ironed out a bit more.
This mystery novel wasn't terribly long, which made it a fairly quick read. As a first novel, I thought Sullivan did an excellent job crafting an intriguing hook, and I was easily drawn in to the world of the Bright Ideas Bookstore. Unfortunately, I was left wanting more of that feeling throughout the rest of the novel. To be fair, I didn't have much to go on when I picked this novel up (for more like this, see my review of History of Wolves) and so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. The opening sequence left the possibility open for this to be more supernatural in nature, but it certainly wasn't. The gruesome backstory of the protagonist made this seem like yet another murder-mystery thriller, and yet it wasn't that either. In fact, this may be one of the reasons I wasn't willing to rate "Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore" any higher than a 3. Matthew Sullivan, the author, attempts to pack a lot of genre scenes into a single book, and instead of feeling cohesive to me, it felt more like a sequence of different set pieces that didn't always mesh together well.
As a result, the novel felt a bit uneven to me. The reveal at the end was one that I didn't quite see coming, but it made sense and for that, I felt like the novel was authentic, with no cheap payoff at the end. Instead, as I mentioned previously, I found myself wondering where this story would best fit in and just how much I truly enjoyed it. While it wasn't one of my favorite books of all time, I've also read worse. I would probably give Sullivan's next work a shot as well, and hope for some of the issues mentioned above to be ironed out a bit more.
bella613's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pregnancy, Suicide, Child death, Violence, and Death
xcaity's review
4.0
3.5 for the story, 4 for the writing
Very easy to read, good pace, good mystery for the most part. It wasn’t AS good of a mystery as the cover made it sound, though, nor as strange...it was so intriguing, but everything that happened was too normal. I needed to care about Lydia more than I did.
Very easy to read, good pace, good mystery for the most part. It wasn’t AS good of a mystery as the cover made it sound, though, nor as strange...it was so intriguing, but everything that happened was too normal. I needed to care about Lydia more than I did.
mezzoir's review
4.0
What a gem of a novel !
I was cautious at first, especially when I read that the author's previous works were short stories.but I am glad he made the leap into full length novels.
I was hooked from the start and devoured this over a weekend. Only the need to sleep stopped me from reading this in a single sitting.
Cleverly written with enough plot twists, characters that you learn to care for, and centered around a book shop - what more could you ask for?
I was cautious at first, especially when I read that the author's previous works were short stories.but I am glad he made the leap into full length novels.
I was hooked from the start and devoured this over a weekend. Only the need to sleep stopped me from reading this in a single sitting.
Cleverly written with enough plot twists, characters that you learn to care for, and centered around a book shop - what more could you ask for?
ladybuggal's review against another edition
4.0
The narrator for this audiobook isn’t the greatest. She does fine for narrative and women’s voices but when she does men’s voices and pitches her voice low, she slows down. The result is that most men in the book sound mentally challenged to some degree. It can be a bit annoying.
bhnmt61's review
3.0
Lydia works in a bookstore. After one of her favorite customers kills himself upstairs, she finds a picture of herself, about ten years old, in his pocket. (I don’t think that’s a spoiler since it happens on about the third page.) Figuring out how he got the picture and why it was important to him take up the rest of the book.
On the plus side, I loved Lydia and her friends—endearing, a little lost, a little crazy. The first half of the book, while Sullivan is setting things up and introducing the characters, is really, really good. I was more absorbed in reading it than I have been with any book I’ve read in a long time— I had a hard time putting it down even when I was getting thirsty or needed to pee :-).
On the minus side, there are several huge coincidences that just pushed credulity for me. The characters end up being intertwined in ways that aren’t particularly believable. Also there is a career decision made by Lydia’s dad that I cannot imagine him making under any circumstances in a million years- for starters it would have gotten him in trouble with Child Protective Services, or whatever they call it in Colorado. but without that decision one of the major coincidences wouldn’t have happened and the book wouldn’t have tied together so neatly at the end. Irritating. (Sorry to be cryptic but avoiding spoilers.)
But it really was an enjoyable read. Three+ stars but not enough to get it up to four.
On the plus side, I loved Lydia and her friends—endearing, a little lost, a little crazy. The first half of the book, while Sullivan is setting things up and introducing the characters, is really, really good. I was more absorbed in reading it than I have been with any book I’ve read in a long time— I had a hard time putting it down even when I was getting thirsty or needed to pee :-).
On the minus side, there are several huge coincidences that just pushed credulity for me. The characters end up being intertwined in ways that aren’t particularly believable. Also there is a career decision made by Lydia’s dad that I cannot imagine him making under any circumstances in a million years- for starters it would have gotten him in trouble with Child Protective Services, or whatever they call it in Colorado. but without that decision one of the major coincidences wouldn’t have happened and the book wouldn’t have tied together so neatly at the end. Irritating. (Sorry to be cryptic but avoiding spoilers.)
But it really was an enjoyable read. Three+ stars but not enough to get it up to four.