Book Review: Sadie (Non-Spoiler)

The writing was brilliant! It was just the right amount of telling us few, but letting us know enough.

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.

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.

Photo by Shar (@sunsnacksseries)

Plot

I read this book at a very random time. I was just looking for audiobooks on Scribd and stumbled upon it, started listening and find myself halfway already. First, I would like to point out how compelling the audiobook was. There was a full-cast and sound effects! Footsteps, doors opening and closing, engines humming, murmur of conversations, and phone static playing in the background as the narrators tell the story. The dialogues were full of emotions. They laugh, chuckle, show a hint of anger. The stutter of Sadie was brought to life. Close your eyes as you listen and a movie will play right in your head.

“Paul taught me a person committed to silence can suggest importance, strength. So long as they’re a man, I mean. It’s not an option when you’re a girl, not unless you want people to think you’re a bitch.”
― Courtney Summers, Sadie

I was lost at first. I had so many questions as the book progressed. Who murdered Sadie’s sister? Where was Sadie going? What will she do? How could her family lie to her, and how could she as well? Murder mystery novel was supposed to make you formulate questions and form conjectures inside your head, and this book did just that. I was rooting for Sadie’s story and the mission she embarked to. Along the way, Sadie found people who helped her find—not only the man she intended to—but herself as well.

“But love is complicated, it’s messy. It can inspire selflessness, selfishness, our greatest accomplishments and our hardest mistakes. It brings us together and it can just as easily drive us apart.”
― Courtney Summers, Sadie

Writing

The writing was brilliant. It was just the right amount of telling us few, but letting us know enough. Every chapter would make you read the next, until you are sprint reading. It was such a fast read. The vocabulary words thrown in there were subtle and flowed perfectly. There is also queer rep written in this book.

“Every little thing about you can be a weapon, if you’re clever enough.”
― Courtney Summers, Sadie

Overall

I would have given this a perfect star but I had minor problems with it. The ending was open and I usually like those types of books, but for this one, I wanted a conclusion. The author left it for us to imagine. I gave it 4 stars! This book was such a gripping, sad, important story. I would recommend it, and I would definitely read her other works!

About The Author

Courtney Summers is the bestselling author of several novels, whose career in writing began in 2008, when she was 22. Her work has been released to critical acclaim and multiple starred reviews, received numerous awards and honors including the Edgar Award, the John Spray Mystery Award, the Cybils Award, the Odyssey Award, the Audie Award, and has enjoyed the recognition of many library, state, ‘Best Of’ and Readers’ Choice lists. Courtney has reviewed for The New York Times, is the founder of #ToTheGirls, a 2015 worldwide trending hashtag, and in 2016, she was named one of Flare Magazine’s 60 under 30. She lives and writes in Canada.

www.courtneysummers.ca
Twitter: @courtney_s
Instagram: @summerscourtney

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