Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore

2.5

What a brilliantly unexpected read! Full of twists and turns. Very well written.

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader as part of a quick takes post to catch up–emphasizing pithiness, not thoroughness.
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A bookstore clerk finds a frequent customer dead in the shelves after he committed suicide. He has some sort of connection to her as a child, she discovers, and has left his few possessions to her. She's compelled to learn why he killed himself, why he died with a photo of her as a child in his possession, and along the way has to come to terms with horrific events from about the time the photo was taken.

There are a lot of layers to this novel—fantastic concept, heartbreaking conclusion. I never really connected with the protagonist, but I couldn't stop listening, either.

Mabey did a fine job with the narration, I should add. Looking over some of her other titles suggests that I'll be running into her again.

SPOILER ALERT

This was an entertaining page-turner, but ultimately there was nothing redeeming about the book's ending. The characters got closure on tragic life-altering events, but as a reader, I didn't get any satisfaction. Meh.