Published 2017 by Windmill Books
326 pages
ISBN978-1-78-609015-7
Genre: crime
Keywords: book store, horrific murders, spouse abuse, book mystery, adoption, single father.
Grade 1/5
Will I read more of this author: no
I wish we had a bookstore like the one described in this book; that is the only good to say about this book.
Lydia is the main person; she was brought up by her father as her mother died in childbirth. Her father was a librarian, so she always had books around her. Her best friend from school was Raj also a reader and later Carol joined them. Their happy childhood was interrupted when Carol and her family was brutally murdered by the Hammerman who caused nightmares to all the children of the town. Lydia had been present when the murder happened, but had hidden and was spared, but she had seen the shadow of the Hammerman. The murderer was never found. Lydia’s father moved them away to an isolated place; changed their last name. Between Lydia and her father, a big distance developed.
Fast forward 20 years in the Book Store of Bright Ideas, where book lovers come, the Book-frogs, unemployed, mostly men. One of the Book-frogs is Joey, a young man that spoke with Lydia, he committed suicide by hanging himself. Lydia found him, in his pocket she found a photo from her 10 years birthday, with her two friends, Raj and Carol. This opens a can of worms that in my eyes is unrealistic, overthought and an attempt to make a mystery.
It is all revealed, but one thing I like about classical crime books is the hints the authors leave for me to try and guess who did it. Here there are no hints, it is a fog of bla-bla until the last few chapters.
I did not connect to the books mentioned in the book, Joey chose them for their size not their content.
A quote (p 208)
But then not having answers had always been the point: the point of her childhood, the product of her hours in the library, the sum of his philosophy when she was a little girl. You leave yourself open to answers, he’d always taught her. You keep turning pages, you finish chapters, you find the next book. You seek and you seek, and no matter how tough things become, you never settle.
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