Sadie by Courtney Summers | Book Review

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

4 Starred Reviews from Kirkus, School Library Journal, Booklist, Publishers Weekly!

"Sadie: a novel for readers of any age, and a character as indelible as a scar. Flat-out dazzling." —A. J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window

"Sadie is an electrifying, high-stakes road trip. Clear your schedule. You're not going anywhere until you've reached the end." —Stephanie Perkins, New York Times bestselling author of There's Someone Inside Your House and Anna and the French Kiss "A haunting, gut-wrenching, and relentlessly compelling read." —Veronica Roth, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Carve the Mark and the Divergent series

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.

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.

Sadie by Courtney Summers is her best book so far. I mean, I love all of her books and how complicated and messy the main characters are. She really takes these big leaps in her books – like with This Is Not A Test. So, I seriously could not wait to see how Summers’ writing abilities would be stretched with Sadie. This book, FYI, totally delivered on my expectations and then some.

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Sadie follows the story of a young woman named, you guessed it, Sadie. She has grown up in a trailer park and lived in a trailer with her sister Mattie, who was 13. Their mother who happens to be addicted to drugs ran out on them. Saide then raises Mattie on her own. She’s okay with this, though, because Mattie is her everything. Only, one day, Mattie disappears. According to witnesses, she got into a truck and just left. Her body is found close to disappearance, burning in a fire. At this point, Sadie disappears. This is the catalyst for a podcast called The Girls hosted by this man, West McCray. And here’s where the creativity and narrative come into play. The book alternates between being told by Sadie and podcast episodes.

I don’t know if we were supposed to like Sadie as a main character or not. Personally, I tend to gravitate towards characters who are rough around the edges, so I liked her. She’s got a stutter and this plays quite the role in the book. Her upbringing wasn’t the best (the mother in me is horrified at the fact that she had Mountain Dew in her bottle as a baby).

Yet, she has this love that is so fierce for her little sister. That is something to me that is so endearing about Sadie as a character. Also, she grows up poor – which yes, please more books aimed at youths with poor people as main characters. I think teens who are poor deserve to see themselves reflected in books. ALSO, I love love love that Sadie is tough as nails and when it gets down to it, she’s going to defend herself.

I mention in my instagram post about this book how layered it is. THAT IS A FACT. So, there’s parts where Sadie’s past and the trauma she has experienced comes right at you. At first, I didn’t quite get what was going on — but then, it was like WOW so that happened. Then we see how all these little things are connected and while my stomach was revolted (who isn’t revolted by childhood trauma), I was hugely impressed at how this story was woven.

In regards to the podcast aspect of Sadie, I don’t listen to podcasts as much as I should — maybe once I get through all the books in my Hoopla, Libby, Overdrive, and Audible queue, I will get to them. However, this made me really want to give more true crime podcasts a chance. Like, my husband listens to one about Creepy John I think it was? I don’t know, we had to listen to it while driving around house hunting? Anyways.

From what I understand, there’s a podcast out that is based on this book. I think that is such a cool tie in thing to do. If I didn’t have a million and one audiobooks, I’d be inclined to listen. Regardless, the podcast part of the book is very well done and kept me drawn in. Ultimately, this book is quite the read and you NEED to get your hands on it right this minute.

Other reviews of Sadie by Courtney Summers:

• The Young Folks – “definitely does not hold back“
• Quite The Novel Idea – “hands down, one of my top reads“
• YA Love – “compulsively readable“

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

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