Sadie

by Courtney Summers

A missing girl on a journey of revenge and a Serial - like podcast following the clues she's left behind.

Sadie hasn't had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she's been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water.

But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie's entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister's killer to justice and hits the road following a few meager clues to find him.

When West McCray - a radio personality working on a segment about small, forgotten towns in America - overhears Sadie's story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl. He starts his own podcast as he tracks Sadie's journey, trying to figure out what happened, hoping to find her before it's too late.

Courtney Summers has written the breakout book of her career. Sadie is propulsive and harrowing and will keep you riveted until the last page.

• ISBN10: 1250105714
• ISBN13: 9781250105714
• Publish Date: 1 October 2018 (first published 4 September 2018)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 5 April 2024
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: St Martin's Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[lessthelonely]

So... After what was an incredibly underwhelming "thriller" by Colleen Hoover, here's a book that is, in fact, a thriller. Sadie has been touted as the best book by Courtney Summers by many fellow authors I follow around here on Twitter, and I can totally see why.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is one of the first books to go for this "podcast" premise. Being completely honest, I don't care if it's the first or the last novel who does this and I surely won't entertaining thinking that it has any bearing on "objectively" reviewing this novel. This is a review, of course this is biased to my tastes, so everything is in the realm of subjective. A lot of people enjoyed the last book I reviewed, Verity, which could be considered the closest thing to it being an objectively good book... look where that made me end up.

This was an enjoyable read, though I would say this is missing something that could've make it go beyond enjoyable to be phenomenal. All the ingredients were here, outside of something I really can't name. Maybe a plot twist, maybe a not-so-open ending, maybe just one more layer to the mystery (because this book isn't one to misdirect you: you have a steady pace and it's very enjoyable - I would've enjoyed taking a little swerve).

All and all, though, I did enjoy the book. The main character had a very clear motivation though it's always hard to pull off a character who's supposed to be able to do an imoral thing when the angle you're taking is that doing said imoral thing is almost incapacitating, which is something a lot of books do and it's OK. It can get a little bit dull to see the same internal arguments happen, and they also end up not being that enticing the third time... but I don't hold it against the author for this.

This is a good book. Read it. I would consider it a great baby's first thriller mystery. It's not so deep into the genre that you need to recognize certain tropes and it's structured in a "just one more chapter" way that is sure to keep you going.

[cornerfolds]

Read more of my reviews at Cornerfolds.com!

If you know me then you know I love podcasts. In fact, sometimes it's hard to break away from my favorite podcasts long enough to listen to whatever audiobook I have checked out of the library! So when I heard that Sadie was partially in the form of a true crime podcast investigating a missing person, I knew I had to pick it up!

Sadie does indeed follow a podcast host, West McCray, but that was a smaller part of the book than I'd hoped. The majority of this book follows Sadie on her journey to find the man who she thinks is responsible for her sister's death. I did find Sadie to be a great character and admired her dedication to bringing her sister's murderer to justice. Her story was heartbreaking and hard to read at times, and I was constantly rooting for her to get what she wanted, although her methods were questionable.

Unfortunately, this part of the book really wasn't for me simply because I don't enjoy contemporary fiction. So much of the story was about Sadie going from place to place, meeting different people, and getting to her goal that very little time was about the mystery. It took awhile to get going and there was definitely a lot of repetition in her travels. I definitely hoped for more of the true crime feel and the podcast and investigative journalism portions of the book were the standout.

Sadie should definitely come with trigger warnings for pretty much everything you can imagine - this is a book some readers will need to approach with caution. Overall, I did enjoy Sadie and most of my issues with it were simply because I'm not much of a contemporary reader and expected more mystery. Still, it's worth picking up if you enjoy podcasts and can handle the gritty nature of this story.

[moraa]

I’m going to kill a man. I’m going to steal the light from his eyes. I want to watch it go out.

I'm not sure what to say. I loved it in the beginning but when I got to the middle I faltered. I thought maybe I didn't like it as much. Then everything started coming together and something changed in me. I suppose you could say I was moved.

I loved the podcast segments more than Sadie's own narrations (I listened to the audiobook) and I think that was in part due to the fact that her sections were longer and ultimately more packed with exposition.

Either way, I'm still gasping at the fact that this was narrated by a full cast.

An absolute gem.

CONTENT WARNINGS: allusions to child abuse, sexual assault, paedophilia

[Angie]

Dang...

[katie]

Oh
My
God
I
What

[luddite]

This broke my heart. What a book.

I wasn't convinced about this book until I was halfway through it, when shit starts going down and then it never stops. What a soul crushing story and soul crushing character.

Really glad I went with the audiobook because the production for the podcation chapters was flawless.

[Bianca]

2019 Popsugar Reading Challenge
19. ‪Your favorite prompt from a past Popsugar ‬Reading Challenge

How do you forgive the people who are supposed to protect you? Sometimes I don’t know what I miss more; everything I’ve lost or everything I never had.

— A raw, dark, and painful story of revenge. Classic Courtney Summers 👏

[liz089]

I "read" this one as an Audiobook, I really loved this format for this particuliar novel because of the podcast and all the different persons interacting. I would recommend listening to this one instead of reading.

This was a very hard and heavy read. You know it can't end well, and the further we get, the more you see it escalating... and there is nothing you can do about it.
Very well done, I would like to read more of this writer.

[maggiefan]

So... My reading experience with this book was not great. Too bad. I was so hyped for it, but oh well...