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

[readingwithwrin]

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Book for a free e-arc in exchange for my honest review

TRIGGER WARNING:
Child abuse, drug addiction, attempted sexual assault.



Sadie was my first Courtney Summers book, and I get all the hype surrounding her. I could not put this book down and read it all in one day.


Sadie follows two people. Sadie who is a young woman who was forced to grow up and take care of her sister at a young age. The second point of view is from West McCray who is a radio personality looking into the disappearance of Sadie and her sister's murderer.

Through West McCray's eyes, we get to see what those around Sadie were thinking and doing while she was missing. We hear stories of Sadie and her mom and the life they had before all of this happened. While no one knows why exactly Sadie left they do know that she would do anything for Mattie even if that meant going on a wild goose chase to find the person that took her.



With Sadie we saw her life play out and why she was so protective of her little sister Mattie. Sadie is one of those girls who not only had to raise herself, but her little sister as well due to a mom who had an addiction to multiple things. Because of this Sadie and her mom didn’t get along very well and this causes the little sister to be divided between them and at times favor one more than the other. We also get to see Sadie looking for the person who took her sister, and the places that it takes her.



Overall this mystery book had me on my toes throughout the whole book, I couldn’t get enough of it! From wondering what happened to Sadie and her little sister Mattie. To what the report was going to find out, and if we were ever going to find out if anyone saw anything to help in the investigation. It was just so so good, and I really enjoyed all the little side stories as well where we got to find out more information about the people in Sadie and Mattie's life.


I adored Sadie as a character. She was smart and stubborn and willing to do almost anything to get the answers she needed to find out what happened to Mattie. Yes, this meant not always following the rules, but sometimes that just what you have to do in order to find answers to a mystery.


With West McCray I found myself getting annoyed with him at times. He hints at things from his past but nothing is never officially said so your just kind of left speculating. Which was really frustrating to me because it's not something I like to speculate about, because of the consequences it can cause for others and what it means for the person it happened to. Does that make sense? I feel like I'm just rambling at this point.



If you've read any of Summer's other books please let me know what you think I should read next!

[nightingalereads]

A carefully crafted and hard-hitting story. Light TW for pedophilia and assault. Not rating this one, because I didn't feel as connected to the characters as I wanted to, and that docks more points for me than I think objectively the book deserves. (Hopefully that makes sense).

[Sam@WLABB]

I always like to throw back to my days as a high school teacher, and do the "three adjectives you would use to describe" thing. For this book: Sad, dark, and grim. Despite the fact that this is WAY outside of my comfort zone, I could not stop flipping the pages. I needed to find out what happened to The Girls, and Summers did a magnificent job telling their story.

• Pro: Summers masterfully crafted the character of Sadie. I didn't really like her, but I felt so much for her. Here was a young woman, who lost her childhood due to abuse and an absent parent, but she was still able to find love in her heart, and pretty much gave it all to her sister. She was layers upon layers of complicated, and it was amazing the way Summers slowly peeled them away.

• Pro: The format of this story was brilliant. It alternated between Sadie's first person narration and transcripts of The Girls podcast. It wasn't only the fact that the format was interesting, it was also used so well. We saw things first through Sadie's eyes, and then got a whole new perspective via the podcast, which sometimes added more clarity or more confusion about the events leading up to Sadie's disappearance.

• Pro: This book incorporated several topics, including addiction, sexual abuse, and poverty. Summers did not tiptoe around the topics, nor did not shy away from the ugly parts of it all. She painted a heartbreaking portrait, and I appreciated her approach, because it felt real and left me with a lot to think about.

• Con: Although I felt it fit the whole tone and feel of the book, I would have liked a little more from the ending.

• Pro: One character I did really enjoy was West McCray. I loved his voice and the humanity he showed as he searched for Sadie. There were a lot of shady people in this story, and having him around kept a little light in the story for me.

• Pro: The writing really stood out for me, as far as this book goes. In addition to well crafted characters and a fabulous format, Summers deftly created mood and tension. She had my emotions right where she wanted them at every point in this book.

• Pro: It was incredible how invested I was in this story. I wanted justice, I wanted revenge, I wanted Sadie to be found, and my emotions rose and fell with each victory and defeat along the way.

Overall: Sadie was not an easy read, but it was powerful, heart wrenching, and painful in the best way.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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