Title/Author: Sadie by Courtney Summers

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

In a nutshell:

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.

Verdict: Must-Read if you enjoy YA!

My thoughts:

We have 19-year-old Sadie on a mission to hunt and kill the person whom she believed to have murdered her 13-year-old sister. We have a podcast hosted by West who is obsessed with finding Sadie. This story alternates between these two characters.

To fully be immersed in this story, many have recommended to listen to it, but since I’m not much of an ‘audio’ person, and have failed many times finishing a book on it, I decided to read it via e-book (borrowed from Libby), while ‘imagining’ it played out as audio. Did it work? I’m not sure but I sure thought it was a powerful YA novel.

Firstly, I thought the podcast style was very refreshing and made the hunt for Sadie even more engaging. Secondly, the plot was well-paced and lastly, Sadie. I felt so much for Sadie. So sad, so raw and real. To be so unloved by her mother, and to have to experience loss at such a challenging age isn’t easy, and it showed in the writing.

Sadie never knew love until her sister Mattie came along. Mattie gave her a sense of purpose. She put her whole heart and soul into Mattie, even quit school to take care of her. Mattie was her world. In fact, the only world she knew.

Sadie didn’t have friends. She was poor. She was uneducated. She had a mom who was a drug addict. She lived in a trailer. She stuttered. She desperately wanted to be heard and understood, but there was nobody she could trust. She wanted to live a normal life but her circumstances didn’t allow her such luxury.

So when Mattie was found dead, her life fell apart. Grief, anger, frustration consumed her and she fought back the only way she knew how. Vengeance. She set out for the killer with the only person she could rely on – herself.

When Sadie finally revealed the reason she was looking for the murderer and pedophile, nobody believed her because there was no way the man, a respectful individual, who had done so much good, could commit such crimes. Judging Sadie from her background, just like they did with the killer, they thought she just wanted attention. In this world, you can go far with wealth and status. People without it stay insignificant. Isn’t that infuriating?

What was even more depressing was that the horrors that Sadie saw and experienced was as real as it could get – friends or family members could be murderers, kidnappers, rapists, pedophiles; abused teenagers, girls especially, silenced due to shame, or decided not to report for fear of being ridiculed; missing girls who are never found, or found dead.

The ending? Powerful, real, and utterly heartbreaking.

TW: pedophilia, drug use, murder, sexual assault, and underage drinking.

Have you read this book? What did you think? If you haven’t, do you intend to? Please share me your thoughts!

Till then, may the force of good books be with you! Happy Reading!