Unexpected

The Backstory of Finding Elizabeth Smart and Growing Up in the Culture of an American Religion

De: Chris Thomas

Narrado por: Chris Thomas, Elizabeth Smart

The backstory of finding Elizabeth Smart and how growing up in the Mormon culture pushed the author to develop the exact kind of intuition that was needed to help manage Elizabeth’s kidnapping and rescue while the world watched.

Chris Thomas is not yet 30 years old when he finds himself managing the immense pressure, eccentric personalities, and extenuating circumstances of an international story, where one small misstep could adversely impact the search for a missing teenager and the reputation of her family. Now, 20 years later, Thomas takes listeners behind the scenes, providing new details, perspectives, and commentary on finding Elizabeth Smart.

In the process of reflecting on Elizabeth’s search and rescue, Thomas discovers how growing up in the culture of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly known as Mormon) helped push him to develop the exact kind of intuition needed to manage Elizabeth’s kidnapping and rescue, and to do so while the world watched.

Unexpected juxtaposes crucial events from the Smart case with Thomas’ experience growing up in the Latter-day Saint culture, including coming to understand the secret of a broken war hero before it was too late.

©2023 Chris Thomas (P)2023 Post Hill Press

In the room where it happened

Chris’s experience is really remarkable. I wasn’t sure I was going to like the story with the back and forth with his childhood but, after about chapter four I was completely hooked and it became a real page turner. His perspective is very personal and raw and I forgot how everyone had basically given up on finding her (police included). The childhood piece is a little idealistic at first but, he dives in deeper as the book progresses and brings it full circle in the end. Nicely done.

Elizabeth’s experience during the nine months can’t be compared, it was completely different but this book captures the trauma of a family and community and how they came together and did everything in their power to bring her home.

Fantastic listen.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was extremely well written, had very interesting stories about the authors life which I enjoyed almost more than the parts about his role with the abduction of Elizabeth smart.

Awesome book from a different point of view.

I loved this book!! Chris made his church beliefs an important part of the story. I found the parts about Baker so incredibly tender, it enriched the story in a beautiful way! Great job, Chris!

Much better than expected

At first I was annoyed that the story of Thomas’s neighbor, Baker, kept interrupting the story of finding Elizabeth. But Thomas does such a beautiful job of trying these experiences together that by the end, I was rooting for Thomas and Baker to finally understand each other. So well done and worth the listen.

Couldn’t stop listening

Chris simultaneously focuses in on the complexity of the Elizabeth Smart story, while also sharing his perspective and observations that uniquely prepared him to tell that story.