Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon out of his life as a San Francisco web-design drone -- and serendipity, sheer curiosity, and the ability to climb a ladder like a monkey has landed him a new job working the night shift at Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. After just a few days on the job, Clay finds that this store is even more curious than the name suggests.

There are only a few customers, but they come in repeatedly and never seem to actually buy anything, instead "checking out" impossibly obscure volumes from strange corners of the store. The store must be a front for something larger, Clay concludes, and soon he's embarked on a complex analysis of the customers' behavior and roped his friends into helping to figure out just what's going on.

With irresistible brio, Robin Sloan has crafted a literary adventure story for the twenty-first century. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore is exactly what it sounds like: an establishment you have to enter and will never want to leave, a modern-day cabinet of wonders ready to give a jolt of energy to every curious reader.