9. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

Pardon the pun, but book #9 of 2017 is in the books. And, like me in any running situation I've ever been in, it started fast and sort of meandered before losing it a little bit at the end.

I'll get to the details in a second. But, first, a diversion.

Remember how awesome the movie Mannequin was? Oh, you're under the age of 32? Well, skip ahead a few paragraphs then. Because I'm going to talk about this cinematic triumph for a second. Mannequin was one of those quintessential 80's movies. Weird plot, handsome, doofy dude character, gorgeous woman who looked 15 years more mature than the character she was playing. But, young, impressionable me loved this movie for one very simple reason: THEY SHOWED WHAT HAPPENED IN THE MALL WHEN THE MALL WAS CLOSED. 

I don't know about you, but that's still really cool to me. I know these kids today don't like malls, but I grew up in the 80s and 90s and that's what we did. We went to the mall on Saturdays and walked around. We did it almost every weekend even though are mall was the worst ever. I still love going to a late movie and being in the mall when it's closed. 

Where am I going with this? 

Oh yeah. The book. The premise is that a guy laid off from his San Francisco tech job gets hired as the overnight clerk in a mysterious 24-hour bookstore. I had these early fantasies of quitting my job and doing the same. What's better than being alone in a 1980's mall with access to Clare's and the Bon Marche? Being alone in a bookstore. In endless quiet. Especially a dusty old bookstore like this.

He's among the shelves all alone and quickly realizes it's anything but a typical bookstore. As he meets one strange customer after another, he follows his curiosity and tries to unravel a puzzle others have been trying to solve for centuries. Their search leads them from the halls of Google to a subterranean library in New York City and back to the bay for what I felt like was a whimper at the end of a frenzy. The book resolved the story, but not after losing much of the momentum that had me hooked in the beginning.

If I had to continue this awful parallel I'm trying to force here, I would say that it's not unlike the ending to the aforementioned 80's flick. You kind of see where things are going all the way through so the ending just isn't as good. It's not bad, it's just not great. And, when you're trying to knock out a book every week, you want a little more from each one.

Do I suggest you read it? Sure. The writing is good, the plot is interesting. I feel it would be better with either one more plot twist or 45 fewer pages.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to check On Demand for a movie about Samantha from Sex in the City as a store mannequin who comes to life and marries a human. 

Then, it's on to book 10 (!) of 2017.