Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore (Robin Sloan)

****

         When you dive into this story, the first person you meet is Clay Jannon.  Clay is a young, modern, and unemployed graphic designer living in San Francisco.  His wanderings in search of the right job lead him to Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, an outdated establishment in a rather seedy part of town.  Without really thinking, Clay takes the graveyard shift at the store.  To the front of the shop, there is a small selection of current-day books, which nobody ever seems to buy.  The back of the store, however, is home to a vast collection - a collection Clay is forbidden from looking at.  Most of Clay's customers borrow books from the back of the store.  These people are very eccentric, and Clay is given the task of noting their appearance and state of mind in a large logbook every time they visit.
         Soon Clay, bored of long, lonely nights at the store, begins to investigate the nature of the forbidden books.  When he discovers they're all written in code, he enlists the help of several of his friends - Neel Shah, CEO; Mat Mittenbrand, set designer; and Kat Potente, Googler - to figure out the mystery behind the store.  What they uncover leads them to a secret society trying to answer an age-old question, a question that they become determined to answer.

         People say that you should never judge a book by its cover, but let's face it: most of us do anyway.  This book's cover is simple and attractive, but better yet is the fact that it glows in the dark.  Between the great cover and the inside jacket that promised code breaking, old books, and secret societies, I was sold.  I ended up liking this book a lot.  The characters and plot highlight the very relevant transition from the printed word to the digital word.  Every character is well-developed, the kind of people you would love to meet.  The way that these book sellers, code breakers, secret keepers, and nerds interact makes for a great story.

Rating: 4/5
Completed: May 7, 2013