“Summers has pulled no punches when it comes to diving into the darker side of teen lives.” –BustleA gripping novel about the depth of a sister’s love; poised to be the next book you won’t be able to stop talking about.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 … 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.
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A haunting, gut-wrenching, and relentlessly compelling read. Sadie grabs you and won’t let you go until you’ve borne witness.
An electrifying thriller, taut as a bowstring. A coming-of-age tale, both gritty and sensitive. A poignant drama of love and loss. This — all this — is Sadie: a novel for readers of any age, and a character as indelible as a scar. Flat-out dazzling.
This is a dark read, but it’s written so incredibly well. I devoured this in pretty much one sitting…
I won this book as an ARC from Wednesday Books/St. Martins Press.
This book was probably one of the best books I have read in a long time. This book is 5 stars PLUS! Amazing book!!!!!!
It’s been some time since I have rated a book five stars, but Sadie by Courtney Summers deserves every single one of them.
I won’t dwell on details, the synopsis gives a good enough description and I want to keep this spoiler free.
Half of this book is written in Sadie’s point of view as she follows the trail to finding her younger sister’s murderer. The other half is written as a pod cast from a man name West, who has been enlisted to track Sadie. The writing style was one I wasn’t sure I would connect with…reading a podcast…who knew I’d love it? Not me. I did, though.
Sadie’s chapters are heartfelt and traumatizing and keeps you reading at a quick pace. I was so eager to find out the next bit but was also very thankful for the break into West’s chapters. You see, Sadie’s story touches on things you don’t ever want to touch on and at times they are simply heartbreaking. That being said, I adore Summers for the way she handled these hard realities. There is a solid lack of graphic detail and graphic violence. Yet you are still able to feel the pain and the terror of these characters. It was expert writing, in my opinion.
I’d say that if you were going to pick one Young Adult book to read this year, Sadie should be that book. In a word it’s powerful.
Sadie is an electrifying, high-stakes road trip―a gripping thriller with a true―crime podcast edge. Clear your schedule. You’re not going anywhere until you’ve reached the end.
This was such a depressing read…
This book was about Sadie’s quest for revenge, her sister has been murdered and she is hunting the killer down at whatever cost….
This books portraits the worst of humanity, it’s a must read if you enjoy this genre.
“Sadie” gave me quite a lot to think about. A young woman is on the hunt for a man, a man who at one point played the roll of a father in her and her now deceased sisters lives. However, he wasn’t necessarily the good father…he mistreated the girls…he did things to them that no one deserves. This is sadly something that happens in our world today, and the whole story gave me a lot to think about. The chapters jumped back and forth between a radio show of the disappearance of Sadie, and chapters from Sadie as she is on her journey to find this man. In the end she does find him, and she saves another little girl from continuing to be hurt…she kills this man so no other girl has to go through what she and her sister did. However, even though it isn’t specifically mentioned in the book, I do believe that Sadie died in her fight against this evil man. Just a heads up, there are curse words in the book. I want to give this book five stars, because it opened up my eyes even further to what sadly happens every day to people around the world. I pray that people everywhere aren’t afraid to speak up if something like this is happening to them…because it’s not right……it’s not right at all…..
Courtney Summers at her best–dark, heartbreaking, riveting, horrifying, and open-ended in the most realistic kind of way.
She’s always so, so good at characters. Everyone in this book is imperfect and not always likable. But as Sadie tells her story, and as you get bits and pieces from West McCray as he follows along behind her, you really get to know and feel for pretty much everyone (other than a couple of very obvious villains). They all come across as real, complicated people, with real stories and real reasons for acting the way they do. And I just hurt for everyone. So much.
I thought the format was really interesting too, and worked really well–going back and forth between Sadie’s point of view and the transcript of West McCray’s podcast a year later. I listened to the first episode of the The Girls podcast, based on this book, but I probably won’t listen to any more of it, just because somehow it feels less real that way; like, the parts that are supposed to sound like actual 911 calls just sound like people reading lines in a studio, and that breaks it for me. But in the book I kind of feel like the podcast transcript format works perfectly.
It’s a hard read. A really hard read. I couldn’t put it down, but at the same time it got more and more difficult to pick back up. But it’s one that I know will stick with me for a long time.
*3.5 Stars*
I am so sad that I struggled with this one. I have recently fallen in love with podcasts, especially true crime ones. Because of that, once I read the synopsis of this book, I knew I had to pick it up!
This book is very uniquely written. Half of it is written from Sadie’s point of view and the other half is transcript from the podcast. This was such an amazing idea but I struggled with the timing, and the transitions between the two.
I did enjoy the overall storyline but there were a few things that really bothered me. I wish it was explained a little bit more, how Sadie knew who killed her sister. It was very briefly mentioned but I honestly didn’t remember it until after reading other reviews and going back to check in the book. There were some things that I felt were thrown in just for shock factor but didn’t align with the plot very well.
I do hope that this is not the last book in this world. I think the premise is amazing and could be AMAZING. I know I have a uncommon opinion with this book and may decide to pick it up and give it another try later because it’s the kind of book I would normally love.
Note: There is also an real podcast for this book now! I may have to give it a listen and see how it goes.
Trigger Warnings: Child Sexual Abuse, Neglect, Violence
Grateful to have received a complimentary ARC copy to honestly review.
Sadie knows the truth, but where is Sadie?
I really like the flow of this book. It reads like a documentary, but every other chapter is in Sadie’s point of view. Of course it is a little dark, but it doesnt push too much on what could be a trigger. I would definitely read more of West McRay’s radio show.
DEAD. Sadie by Courtney Summers was a very fast-paced book that had me completely absorbed up until the very end.
What it’s about: Sadie and Mattie’s mom is an addict. So Sadie who is 6 years older than Mattie, raises her the best she can while her mother is under the influence of drugs or alcohol, most of the time both. However, when Mattie gets murdered, Sadie goes on a hunt for the person that did it and ends up driving all over Colorado following small clues. Radio personality West McCray gets involved when his radio station decides to start a serialized podcast titled The Girls where West goes on a hunt to find Sadie… before something happens to her too.
The book jumps between the podcast and Sadie’s point of view from right before she leaves the trailer park. I loved this style and haven’t read a book like it before. I also love that the podcast is actually a real thing that you can listen to. As of when I wrote this, there are 4 of 8 available to listen to.
Summer’s writing kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time and I loved that. I had full body tingles while I was reading which doesn’t happen often. The pacing was fantastic, and I loved Sadie’s POV. The only thing I didn’t love was the ending. Up until the end it was a 5 star read, but unfortunately it just wasn’t an ending I could give a 5 to.
Final thought: Most people are going to love this book, and even though it’s YA you don’t really feel like it while you are reading it. I blew through it, and highly recommend to anyone who is a fan of a good mystery even if you don’t usually read young adult. I just hope if Summers writes another book that it has a better ending that I can be ok with.
This is not for the faint-hearted.
Before you read this book, please note that it deals with sexual abuse and pedophilia. If you are not comfortable with these themes (which is totally understandable), I’m afraid this book is not for you.
(If you’re still having doubts, this book does not describe anything explicitly and there are no graphic scenes.)
Let me be honest with you. I was a little afraid to read this book. I saw the raving reviews that it got from the book blogging community but the trigger warnings made me hesitate. Sometimes, there are truths we find hard to face. But even if we walk away, those truths will still remain.
This is the first time I am going to say this: I am honored that I got to read this book before it was released, that I have the opportunity to spread the word about it.
If there is a book I want people to read, it is this.
Full review: https://kookbookery.wordpress.com/2018/08/06/sadie-review/
Holy Moly!
I was sucked into this book. I couldn’t put it down.
. I won this book as a goodreads giveaway. I was so excited to start this book. This is the first book by Courtney Summers I have read and I was amazed. I now wanna check out her other books.
This book broke my heart. I have a sister and I can only imagine what Sadie felt the day they found Mattie. Sadie raised that girl like her own and just like a mothers love she took matter into her own hands.No one was gonna help her. They way they were raised and how she stood out differently thank other people. She went on the journey that put life back into her. She wanted revenge and she was gonna get it. She not only hoped she could kill a man but she knew she would to. She would do anything for her sister.
My heart broke for the girls they were never gonna get to be. Her sister is never gonna get to grow up and realize what her sister did for her. Never get to experience life, love and her own family. And when that was taken from Mattie. It took Sadie that same day. She already grew up faster than she had to and when the one thing keeping her together gets taken from her. She does the only thing she can do…… go after the murderer herself.
This book was and is fantastically written and I cannot wait to read more from Courtney Summers!
The relentless pace of this story is intensified by the narrative device of a serial podcast. The author interweaves the host’s progress as he pieces events together, with Sadie’s own telling. Together, these two points of view deliver the reader through the wind storm of a devastating tale. Highly recommend.
I love unlikable female characters and endings with some uncertainties left.
Sadie is one of the most important YA books I’ve read in my entire life.
It touches on the hardships of being poor in the rural US, how predators prey on desperate people, and the grief and pain victims go through. Everyone needs to read Sadie because we can’t take another dead girl.
Don’t hide the truth about what Sadie is about because you’re too scared to read a difficult book. As a society, we shouldn’t take another dead girl. Not now, not ever.
I say that so strongly because I was almost a dead girl.
The story starts with a dead girl. 13-year-old Mattie has been murdered and her 19-year-old sister, Sadie is missing. This is the premise of a creative mystery that is as much a look into the characters souls as it is a mystery. While Sadie’s disappearance remains a puzzle to her family, we learn early on that she is on a quest. The story cleverly unfolds in the form of a podcast and from Sadie’s point of view. This format gives us two conflicting yet fascinating perspectives. This was one of my favorite books of the year. I HIGHLY recommend listening to the audio version. The podcast has a great cast, while Sadie’s voice is poignant.
First things first, I have to preface this review with the fact that I listened to Sadie as an audiobook. Let me tell you, though, I was not disappointed. For those of you who haven’t read (or listened to) Sadie, I highly recommend that you enjoy this novel as an audiobook. The production is absolutely amazing and completely immerses you in the story.
Okay, now for the review. Courtney Summers has always been an author who tackles dark subjects and with Sadie, it’s no different. I would love to say that things like that never happen, that young girls never get killed, but they do, which is why it is that much more important to talk about it. Summers writes with emotion so strong that I often had to put the book down. Sadie’s complex character takes twists and turns that I couldn’t have imagined. All the while, I could just tell that all Sadie wanted was to be a normal teenage girl with her sister back.
As the book comes to an end, I know some readers will be left unsatisfied, but I definitely wasn’t. To me, it was the perfect ending for a book like this. If you’ve listened to audiobooks you know that they take around eight hours to finish. I put the speed on 1.5 and finished it in four. It was that good.
Favorite quote: “‘…because I can’t take another dead girl.’”
In this thrilling suspense novel, we follow two different people. Sadie Hunter’s sister Mattie was brutally murdered, and she knows who did it. After leaving her home, she follows a trail of clues to try and find the man who took away her sister. Half of the story is Sadie’s point of view as she hunts for the mysterious and frightening man that destroyed everything she loved.
In the other part of the story, we follow West McCray, a podcast host who was commissioned to look into Sadie’s disappearance. With scant leads, McCray moves from place to place, following the trail of Sadie to try and discover what has become of her. As he unravels the truth behind her, he discovers that she had known the man that she was searching for. As he gets closer to the truth, he begins to wonder if Sadie’s story has a happy ending.
This story was full of painful truths. Sadie’s story was gut-wrenching as we learn more and more about her life before Mattie’s death and her journey to avenge her sister’s murder. West McCray’s story gives an outsider’s view on the family drama and secrets that he uncovers. Balancing Sadie’s narrative with the podcast-style script is a unique choice, yet it works well in this context. From Sadie’s emotional tale to McCray’s investigative reporting, we get a full experience as we relate to both characters. This is an excellent way to structure this book.
If you enjoy thrillers and suspense, this story is for you. There are very traumatic elements, like sexual abuse and pedophilia, so older teens would be my suggestion for the minimum age. But the story is so raw and powerful. If you want a moving plot and very real characters, this is the book for you.