Creepy, well told story with a smattering of paranormal. Lovely narration by Richard Armitage.

TITLE:  The Other People

AUTHOR:  C.J. Tudor

NARRATORS:  Richard Armitage & Ellie Kendrick

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DESCRIPTION:

"Q: Why are you called the Other People?
A: We are people just like you. People to whom terrible things have happened. We’ve found solace not in forgiveness or forgetting. But in helping each other find justice.

Driving home one night, Gabe is stuck behind a rusty old car. He sees a little girl’s face appear in its rear window. She mouths one word: Daddy. It’s his five-year-old daughter, Izzy. He never sees her again.

Three years later, Gabe spends his days and nights traveling up and down the highway, searching for the car that took his daughter, refusing to give up hope, even though most people believe she’s dead.

When the car that he saw escape with his little girl is found abandoned with a body inside, Gabe must confront not just the day Izzy disappeared but the painful events from his past now dredged to the surface.

Q: What sort of justice?
A: That depends on the individual. But our ethos is a punishment that fits the crime.

Fran and her daughter, Alice, also put in a lot of miles on the road. Not searching. Running. Trying to keep one step ahead of the people who want to hurt them—because Fran knows the truth. She knows what really happened to Gabe’s daughter.

She knows who is responsible. And she knows what they will do if they ever catch up to her and Alice.

Q: Can I request to have someone killed?
A: If your Request is acceptable, and unless there are exceptional circumstances, we fulfill all Requests. "

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REVIEW:

A nice, well written and well read (by Richard Armitage and Ellie Kendrick) mystery/thriller about revenge. There were a few supernatural elements which didn't work well, don't fit and seem rather pointless. But still an enjoyable listen (i.e. I didn't fall asleep for this one and looked forward to the rest of the story).

POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOLLOW (Spoilers for Little Women, not The Mirror and the Light. I know that sounds weird. Just go with it.)

There's an episode of Friends where Rachel finds a copy of The Shinning in Joey's freezer. The discussion that follows leads to Joey reading Rachel's favorite book Little Women. Eventually there's an incident that ends with Rachel spoils the book for Joey by telling him Beth dies. A shocked Joey exclaims "Is that true?!? If I keep reading will Beth die?!?" His friends assure him this isn't actually true. Later we find a distressed Joey. "Beth is really sick. Jo is there but I don't think it's going to matter." 

The Mirror and the Light was my Little Women. For the last 150 pages, I was Joey. "If I keep reading, will Cromwell die?!?" Just because I knew it was coming, doesn't mean I was ready for it. Now I'm not entirely sure what I should do with my life.

---I had so many more thoughts on this book. However, BL decided to eat my review three times and I don't have the patience to deal with it right now.-----

Dates read 4/14/2020-6/18/2020

Book 40/75

We played hooky today. The only time I spent with a device today was right away this morning when I lied to the girls' teachers and told them that of course we were going to be working today. It's been cold and raining for the last four-ish days. Today was sunny and 70. We're all out of the office today. Sorry. Not sorry. When you go to the lake on a Tuesday, you get the beach to yourself. It was glorious.

Now that everyone has scrubbed of the sand and I have applied half a bottle of aloe gel to the places I apparently forgot to apply sunscreen, I'm going to curl up with some tea and contine on with Lord Cromwell. However, it feels like Bring Up the Bodies would be a more fitting book today. 

"I filled his treasury, made his coinage sound; I packed off his old wife and got him a new one of his choosing; while I did this I soothed his temper and told him jokes. If like a princess in a fairy tale I could have spun a babe from straw, I would have worked a year of nights. But he has his prince now. He has paid a price for him, but good fortune never comes free. It is time he knew that; it is time he grew up."

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I think Mantel paints the most complex and human portrait of Henry VIII of any author, EVER. 

"Henry's eyes are on his portrait of himself, massive, on t he wall of the chamber. His own eyes consult the image of his master 'What should I want with the Emperor, were he emperor of all the world? Your Majesty is the only prince. The mirror and the light of other kings.'

Henry repeats the phrase, as if cherishing it: the mirror and the light. He says, 'You know, Crumb, I may from time to time reprove you. I may belittle you. I may even speak roughly.'

He bows.

'It is for show,' Henry says. 'So they think we are divided. But take it in good part. Whatever you hear, at home or abroad, I repose my faith in you.' 

Anyone else feel like Cromwell should know better than to believe Henry. 

"What is a woman's life? Do not think, because she is not a man, she does not fight. The bedchamber is her tilting ground, where she shows her colours, and her theatre of war is the sealed room where she gives birth.

She knows she may not come alive out of that bloody chamber. Before her lying-in, if she is prudent, she settles her affairs. If she dies, she will be lamented and forgotten. If the child dies, she will be blamed. If she lives, she must hide her wounds. Her injuries are secret, and her sisters talk about them behind the hand. It is Eve's sin, the long continuing punishment it incurred, that tears at her from the inside and shreds her. Whereas we bless and old soldier and give him alms, pitying his blind or limbless state, we do not make heroes of women mangled in the struggle to give birth. If she seems so injured that she can have no more children, we commiserate with her husband."

No pressure on your uterus Jane. I mean, everyone knows Henry's not the problem.