Ɗẳɳ 2.☊'s Reviews > Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore

When a patron commits suicide at Lydia’s bookstore with a photo of her in his pocket it forces her to dredge up a past she’d rather leave buried. A past involving a terrifying night spent hiding under the kitchen sink from the Hammerman. But what does the tragic suicide of a “BookFrog” have to do with Lydia? “To the inexperienced, many BookFrogs appeared as derelict or homeless, but to the seasoned eye it was clear that they’d shed themselves of the world, rejecting its costumes and rules in favor of paper and words.” Okay, so how did this eccentric come to possess a photo from her childhood?

She’ll have to throw on her deerstalker cap and follow the clues he left—in the form or tiny windows cut into the pages of his books—to find out . . .

Ooh, sounds intriguing, right? A cozy little mystery, perfect for a day at the beach. Well, maybe if a heat-stroke has addled your brain.

Sorry, but I’m not a fan of contrived plots or ridiculous coincidences or rationalizing suicide. So for me, this book was a trifecta of suck. Now, add in the fact that I solved the mystery almost immediately, and all I was left with was a plot so mind-numbingly stupid that it forced me to break from my review sabbatical in order to pass along these words of warning to my right-minded friends.

Servant of the people, that’s me.

And no, I didn’t think the writing or character development was strong enough for me to overlook my issues with the plot. Nor were the kooky coworkers funny or clever enough to keep me smiling through my grimace.

The murderer was so obvious, right from the start, that the real mystery was why he was never a suspect in the investigation? However, it made no less sense than any of the rest of the contrived nonsense - such as the thoughtless suicide, or book defacing as opposed to a simple note or God forbid a difficult conversation, or a father leaving his traumatized, preteen daughter alone in an isolated cabin every night, or Lydia’s irrational attempt to cut him out of her life and her blatant refusal to even talk with him on the phone, or discuss her past with her long time, live-in boyfriend, or Joey’s chance encounter with her father, or that Raj the stalker’s reappearance in her life didn’t raise any red flags, or that a mother would choose (view spoiler)[a murderous bastard of a husband from an arranged marriage over her unborn child. (hide spoiler)]

The only thing left to question is how this has managed to achieve such a high average rating. I don’t get it. Is this some sort of test? Are all of you secretly plotting against me to try to trick me into praising this claptrap?

Monkey see, monkey do, that’s me.

Ah, well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I haven’t seen a plot this contrived since Redemption Road. So please forgive me if I abandon my copy in the tidal zone here, and allow the waves to wash it out to those brainless jellyfish that are sure to devour it.

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*I buddy read this rubbish with a few of those pantsless weirdos and took comfort in knowing that at least some of them shared in my suffering. Misery loves company. 😈