Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew J. Sullivan ★★★★

[John]

Lydia Smith finds solace from a childhood trauma in her job at an independent bookstore caring for the books and conversing with the BookFrogs, frquent visitors who spend hours nestled in chairs between the shelves. Her tranquilty is disrupted one night near closing when one of the BookFrogs, Joey Molina, is found dead after hanging himself. Emerging from one of his pockets is a photograph depicting Lydia and two of her friends at her 10th birthday shortly before she became famous surviving the Hammerman murders of a friend and her parents. She escaped by hiding in the cabinet under the kitchen sink until rescued by her father.

When Lydia discovers that Joey left his meager belongings to her, she discovers a number of books with words cuts from its pages and inventory labels which are actually for other books in the bookstores. When she combines the books, she discovers hat Joey has left her a series of messages. As she decyphers the messages, she discovers connections to her 20 year past life-defining trauma and estranged father.

The book grabs you from the beginning and the plot propels the reader easily through the book without bogging down. It was satisfying to observe Lydia, damaged by her childhood trauma, heal herself. The author uses red herrings to redirect the reader from suspecting an ending that escaped me! Although this book is not classifed a beach book, this would be an easy read while lying on the beach, staying in a cabin in the mountains, or while traveling. Of course, I'm a sucker for any book setting in a bookstore.

[Jgrace]

Now you have me interested. Thanks for this review.