Sadie by Courtney Summers | Review

Sadie by Courtney Summers

Published: September 4, 2018

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Pages: 308

Received: ecopy via NetGalley for honest review, but ended up listening to audiobook via Overdrive (due to recommendations from friends/bloggers)

Find Online: Goodreads

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.

I've read my fair share of Courtney Summers books, but this is probably my absolute favourite. Not only is the narrative so well written, but the emotions that this story provokes are epic. I listened to the audiobook version of this and think with the full cast of narrators that it brought even more to the story. If you haven't listened to it, you totally should try it.

It's basically a podcast where there is a search for a missing girl, Sadie, so the full cast is amazing in this format. So many characters and the fact that they are all given individual voices in the audiobook format was what I think sets it apart from other books.

The story itself is dark and gritty. You can't help wanting more details on the lives of Sadie and her sister, Mattie. I think going into the story slightly blind actually helped add to the mystery of the story. I picked it up because it's COURTNEY SUMMERS! 

I think another thing that adds to the mystery is the fact that the story flips back and forth between the podcast interviews of searching for Sadie and a first person narrative from Sadie herself which see her searching for a man named "Darren", who holds answers that she so desperately needs.

The story touches on so many things from the strong love of a sister and being raised poor to abuse and the aftereffects. It's amazing how strong Sadie is in the face of adversity - she has a very strong stutter that causes people to look the other way and limited access to money, but she is determined to find out what truly happened to her sister. Sadie would do anything for her sister - she even pretty much raised her the last few years so that they wouldn't get separated.

This is a great revenge plot story as well. And the ending will leave you with all the feels. Don't take just my word for it...

from my Goodreads notes

Honestly, read everything Courtney Summers! But definitely read this one if you need somewhere to start. I am looking forward to her next book that she is currently writing.

Have you read Sadie? In what format? What did you think of it? Tell me everything!