Sadie by Courtney Summers Published by St. Martin's Publishing Group ISBN: 9781250105721
on September 4, 2018
Genres: Contemporary, Social Issues, Thrillers & Suspense, Young Adult
Pages: 304
Read it as: Paperback
Source: Purchased
My rating:
Check it out in Goodreads
Synopsis
A missing girl on a journey of revenge. A Serial—like podcast following the clues she's left behind. And an ending you won't be able to stop talking about.
“Today, WNRK is launching the first episode of our new serialized podcast, The Girls, created and hosted by West McCray.”
When popular radio personality West McCray receives a desperate phone call from a stranger imploring him to find nineteen-year-old runaway Sadie Hunter, he’s not convinced there’s a story there; girls go missing all the time. But when it’s revealed that Sadie fled home after the brutal murder of her little sister, Mattie, West travels to the small town of Cold Creek, Colorado, to uncover what happened.
Sadie has no idea that her journey to avenge her sister will soon become the subject of a blockbuster podcast. Armed with a switchblade, Sadie follows meager clues hoping they’ll lead to the man who took Mattie’s life, because she’s determined to make him pay with his own. But as West traces her path to the darkest, most dangerous corners of big cities and small towns, a deeply unsettling mystery begins to unfold—one that’s bigger than them both. Can he find Sadie before it’s too late?
Alternating between Sadie’s unflinching voice as she hunts the killer and the podcast transcripts tracking the clues she’s left behind, Sadie is a breathless thriller about the lengths we go to protect the ones we love and the high price we pay when we can’t. It will haunt you long after you reach the final page.
Trigger warnings: Rape, abuse, murder, child abuse
Sadie is fast-paced, and each word is purposeful, therefore -powerful.
I had the time of life reading this book.
Going in, I knew, I just knew, it would be amazing. I’ve read books by Courtney Summers before, like All the Rage, and Some Girls Are. This author just has a way of writing that is so honest, even if it’s fiction. Probably because of that.
Sadie didn’t disappoint. In fact, it exeeded all my expectations about what this story could be. Let me tell you my favorite thing about it.
The pacing
It starts where it should. And maybe this isn’t so mind-blowing, but after I hit a bad streak of one slow book after another, gosh, this was a breath of fresh air.
It’s not the sort of breakneck speed that leaves you confused, scrambling to keep up. But it does keep you on your toes. It keeps you turning pages. And that, is the important thing.
The subject matter
There is violence, talk of violence, abuse, social injustice, and more things that will make you angry -and turn your stomach. And it’s timely, necessary, true.
Books like this make you unconfortable too. And once in a while, we all need to be unconfortable.
Sadie’s character
Usually with characters you have rules. You need to develop them, make sure they seem real and tridimensional, like real people who aren’t defined by the plot of the story.
Sadie breaks those rules. Her character is very much a part of this world that exists inside the book. And we don’t really get a ton of details about her personality, only what’s necessary. But We. Can’t. Look. Away from her.
Even though her character and her actions pushes a little bit the realm of what a young adult is willing to do if they were in her position, the way it’s told… I can believe it. It’s precisely because she seems a bit mysterious, and like someone who -even though ordinary- still has this larger than life quality, that I suspend my disbelief and root for her.
The ending
I don’t want to say too much about this, obviously. But I’ll say this: You’ll love it.
Writer’s notes
What really calls out to me is that the author is telling a very specific story, and even though we know violence against women and children is important for them because the book exists, they’re very careful to stay clear of generalizations.
This is the perfect example of a book that doesn’t give us the answer, but rather makes us ask interesting questions.
The book doesn’t make any blanket statements or attempts to teach anything. It just gives us what it promised, a page-turner about a girl searching for her little sister’s murderer. The story works better because of everything left unsaid.
I’m floored about how the power of this story lies in all those spaces the author didn’t fill in. It’s something to keep in mind when we’re working on our projects.
I bought this book quite a while ago because SO many people loved it. I have yet to read it, so I’m glad to read this review to give me another nudge in the book’s direction.
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