Review: Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore, by Matthew J. Sullivan

I had bought this book a few months ago in the heat of my challenge to read a lot of books about books, but last night when I was looking for something new to occupy my mind, I realized I couldn’t recall a thing about it.  Why had I thought I’d want to read it?  No clue.  But it was one more book about books I could add to my list, so I began reading. And I was hooked.

Sullivan tells us exactly as much as we need to know about any given character or situation, and he tells us exactly when he needs to.  This is a tight narrative that teases us with clues, but never telegraphs the facts.  I can tell you that the solution to the mystery drove me crazy, and when I realized whodunnit, I slapped my forehead and said, “Oh for heaven’s sake, of COURSE!”  It all made perfect sense, and I never saw it coming.

It’s a book filled with damaged people, though Lydia, who survives a horror I can barely imagine, may be the most damaged of all.  So much so that I found it uncomfortable to be inside her skin for the bulk of the novel. I wanted to shake her and say “Get over it!” all the while knowing that there is no way to get over what she’s been through. Her connection to another damaged soul sets the mystery in motion, and eventually leads to a solution both sordid and heartbreaking.

If the book had a fault it was, I think, that the Epilogue seemed rushed, as if Sullivan had told us what we needed to know and the rest was just sweeping up the crumbs.  I think he could have written it out in a few more chapters to make it more satisfying. But I’m not going to complain too much because I enjoyed the heck out of this book, and hope to read more from Matthew Sullivan in the future.