Bring Up The Bodies: For the smart reader with a taste for revenge and cruel intentions.

Goodreads

Bring Up the Bodies is a story that reads like a ghost feels. The presence of what is not there, feels, in fact, very much there. The tensions of dying friends and family members, and of enemies plotting in the other corners of country, house and room all sit above each line. Hillary Mantel knew what she was doing when she chose such ghostly subjects; it feels as if the dead read over your shoulder as you follow Cromwell, Master Secretary to King Henry, through a fine-tuned tale of power, struggle and desperate revenge. Go into it knowing well that Anne Boleyn will literally lose her head among other things. Look for what she keeps intact and for what she lobs off the survivors before the axe drops on her neck.

This historical fiction is a hard read. You can't speed through it lest the dozens of characters blend into one faceless man whose coat tails continually whip out of sight (there is a lot of whipping out of sight). Thankfully, before the story begins, Mantel includes a cast of characters and text explaining their loyalties. Nevertheless (remember this word and it's cousin: however), the cast of characters will not be enough to grasp the twists and hidden meanings. Read and re-read. I was lucky enough to read a copy that has my former professor's notes in it. I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much without her circlings and notes in the margins.

Read along with a friend. It will be a good substitute for gossip; just as delicious and without the eventual consequence of an awkward brunch after your loose friend, Mary, finds out you blabbed about that mysterious rash she acquired from a man who really "felt a connection with her." 

Seriously though, if you pay attention and piece this story together, it'll grab you by the collar as if it were a ghost shocked back to life.

4 out of 5 stars