This is one of those books where I think format comes into play re: how it reads. So much of the narrative is transcript-based, that it's hard to engage I think as much as I wanted to with the characters? It's a powerful, moving story, and I will definitely check out the audiobook once available, but I think the narrative could have benefitted from other epistolary elements beyond the podcast transcripts.

Wow.



Sadie hit me a lot harder than I expected, which makes sense because there was nothing expected about this read.



Sadie is another multi-perspective novel (it seems 90% of books are now) and it alternates between the perspective of Sadie and the perspective of West, a journalist (?) who is doing a story for a podcast. Sadie is on an odyssey to process her grief over the tragic loss (murder) of her 13 year old sister Mattie.



What follows is a gritty, harrowing look at what happens when children are raised in deprivation. There's more to it than that, of course, and I won't give spoilers for this one, but at its heart, this novel encourages readers to ask themselves how things would have been different if Sadie and Mattie would've grown up with some love and support. It really brings up a lot of questions, some that we find ourselves struggling with every day: does blame really matter? Can people be redeemed? What responsibility do we have to act when we see a stranger in need? 



At first, I had a lot of trouble reading this book. I don't always love it when I don't know what to expect and there was something about Sadie that defied all my expectations for what it "should" be. I expected it to be a thriller/mystery type book based on the description. A book about a young girl hitting the road to bring justice to her sister's killer sounds like it should be the next big thriller. It's not that, though. Sure, there are clues, witnesses, false identities, etc. There are all the elements of a mystery, but Sadie (much like Sadie) resists those expectations. Is it a drama, then? A family drama? That doesn't quite feel right either. While we learn about Sadie's neglect at the hands of her drug addicted mother, the rivalry she has with her mother for the love of her sister, and even a surrogate grandma who resents the mom, calling it a drama feels too easy. Nothing in this book fits an easy formula.



I definitely recommend this book. It's as deeply satisfying as it is unsettling, and while it's occasionally hard to read, it's so worth it.



4/5



Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC I was given in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The death of Sadie’s sister was devastating to her. She could not stand the thought that the killer was still living, still breathing, so she set out to find the killer. Sadie was in a very dark place but I loved her, loved the character. Beautifully written!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press and Wednesday Books for the advance reader copy Sadie by Courtney Summers in exchange for an honest review.  Summers’ Some Girls Are and Cracked Up To Be were always being passed around and constantly checked out by students.  Sadie is a compelling, tense novel detailing Sadie’s self-hatred for failing to keep her sister safe.  After her sister, Mattie, is murdered, the reader follows this tense mystery from Sadie’s point-of-view and through a podcast, The Girls, narrated by famed journalist, West McCray, as he searches for Sadie.  I could not put this book down; Sadie’s life is hell; her mother is drug addicted and derelict.  Sadie has a severe stutter and suffers from abuse; I rooted for her as she used her wits to follow clues.  Mattie was the center of Sadie’s life and when her mother takes off; Sadie takes over the care of her little sister. With the police no help, and an absent mother, will Sadie find her sister’s murderer?  Will McCray find Sadie? Courtney Summers has written an explosive, riveting novel.

I really wasn't sure how to review this book without giving everything away or simply repeating what other reviewers have said. Instead I'll say this, at the end of the digital copy I kept swiping, needing more pages to read. Even now, when I'm surrounded by thousands of books as I write this review all I want to read is more Sadie. 

From the time I read it to now I've tried to pick up at least 4 other books and none will do, because all I want is more from Courtney Summers. I've been a fan of her work for a long time now. Her early novels filled with teenage problem and unlikable characters are right up my alley, but as time between the writing of Cracked Up To Be/Some Girls Are and now Summers has grown exponentially as a writer and craftsman. This storytelling is something I'll be thinking about for a long time to come and her handling of such a profoundly dark topic was respectful, sensitive, and weighty. 

Truly a phenomenal read that I could not, cannot put down event after the last page. 

*Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this copy for review.

"Sadie" tells the riveting story of a young woman who "disappears" after the murder of her thirteen year old sister. The story is told in chapters that alternate between the script of a podcast that ostensibly is trying to solve the mystery of Sadie's disappearance and the story as told by the resourceful, but deeply troubled, Sadie. 

The author, Courtney Summers, has a fine eye for detail and character development. I listen to a lot of true-crime podcasts, and her rendering of the podcast script is compelling and true to form. I could "hear" the podcast in my mind. 

The plot is nothing out of the ordinary. There are some deeply disturbing elements, so readers beware, but I found the story to be well paced and the interspersed podcast script makes the novel stand out from the crowd of similar plots. 

All in all, "Sadie" is a good read for its characters, its unique structure and its pacing.

4.5 / 5.0

I fully think that this book is so astounding. It's still taking me a while to process my thoughts because of just how well the author handled the subject matter.

This story is partially written in podcast format, with the perspective switching between Sadie's current experiences and the podcaster investigating what happened after the fact. It played so well to the style of the story and really let the tension build up to be just a great overall suspenseful book.
But this story isn't just a thriller about a missing girl, the author manages to write the story so that you're not only insanely stressed for Sadie but understand everything that she feels and the whole book just tugs at your heart strings. You understand her past both objectively and subjectively, and seeing the love that she feels for her sister makes you feel part of her whole mission to get revenge on the killer. The characters are so interesting to read about and have very distinct personalities, and I found there to be next to no gaps in what the characters said/felt and what they did. Sadie had to grow up too early and take care of her sister, and it does such a good job at examining the impact of that on a person's character. 

This book does handle a lot of darker themes and does so in a way that I think was the best for the intended audience. It examines the reality of sexual assault and what comes with it without writing explicit scenes that make you feel incredibly uncomfortable reading. Not to say that we shouldn't feel uncomfortable with the subject matter but it makes our horror be due to the harsh reality of sexual assault and not the shock value of explicit writing. And maybe this is me speaking just for myself but I feel like a lot of people reactions to Sadie's story would be that of the podcaster - just the horror of the reality of missing girls and becoming aware of that fact.  

It is gripping, heart wrenching, and at times terrifying and I think it's definitely 100% worth the read.

ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

Trigger Warnings: Pedophilia, Sexual & Drug abuse

"Girls go missing all the time."

Just… Wow 

It took me a while to really process how I felt about this book, it really had to stew. And after two days I still find myself thinking about it! It was that good! It was one of the best books I’ve read this year, top 5 for sure. 
-
Sadie is a whirlwind of a book, it makes you feel it all! Sadie is told from two separate POV’s, one is Sadie herself and the other is West McCray a podcast host of the series The Girls, which investigates the story of Sadie and Mattie. This back and forth was surprisingly well done! It leaves you with that What Happens Next! Brilliant. 

Whether you’ve read other Courtney Summers’ books or not, this one will pull you right in and tug on every heart string (as she does in all her books). She isn’t afraid to tackle heavy subjects – which can be a hit or miss – But it’s always well done. Every character becomes unique and relatable with their fears, love, grief, trauma, and hopes. Summers’ knows how to execute this so we feel every bit of it, every fear and hope and we trudge along with them as they navigate life. 
From the very beginning we are thrown into Sadie’s life and her coping with her past. Through the book we see her becoming more and more frantic, reckless. And it grips our hearts, we feel her loss as she does, desperate to avenge her younger sister, the very person she was devoted to. 

"She’s dead is the reason I’m going to kill a man." 

I really liked Sadie’s character and I was rooting for her the whole time, but also hopping whenever she got in her car, she would just turn around and go home. I wanted her safe and to feel loved, something she deserved. I wanted her to be taken care of especially as she continued her journey. I cringed and gasped and felt like shouting at her to stop being impulsive and reckless and go home! I wanted to let her know it was not her fault. Sadie is a good person despite her dark thoughts, all she wants to do is find the man who took her sister away from her. Very understandable. – All the while I was hoping Sadie would rest and take care of herself, I was also rooting for West. West McCray. I was telling him to hurry up in his search for Sadie, to keep digging! I wanted needed him to put all the pieces together! It was agonizing. 
--
My only problem with this book was THE ENDING. Like what was that!?? I was very angry at it! I still am! Not really. But that is the major thing I go back to whenever I think of this book again. The sensible part in me understands the ending, I really do, I think. I’m pretty sure. Yes, yes I do... Anyway, DESPITE that these were my feelings on it: “AJLKAHGILLN!Z;LSJDFIH!“ Yup. Again, despite it being logical and understandable and meaningful and I understand why the author did this and all that stuff.. It still bugged me. I NEED ANSWERS!! I can’t stand when movies do this! And then for this great heart wrenching book to end as it did! “!!!” (Ughhhh). I just needed closure after everything this book put me through and it broke my heart to have it end like that. 

Overall, Sadie will make you cry, bounce in your seat in anticipation and tear your heart out. It was AMAZING. I want to be petty and say four-stars but this really is a five-star book. If this isn’t on your TBR it NEEDS to be!

I received this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. I couldn’t put this book down. I was drawn in quickly and wanted to know how it would wrap up. Told in alternating timelines and perspectives, this book made me keep turning the pages, desperate to know more. I loved the format- part was told as a transcript of a podcast with a reporter trying to uncover what happened to the titular character, Sadie. Some may be disappointed by the ending, but I think it’s a reflection of real life- I won’t say more because I don’t want to spoil it.

Thank you to St Martins Press for the arc of this book.
I didn’t enjoy this book at all, I found it hard to read, maybe the podcast form just isn’t for me.

This book was phenomenally chilling and presented wonderfully so. Structure-wise, Sadie alternated as a podcast by a guy following Sadie's disappearance and trying to trace her steps and Sadie's POV herself, always a step or two ahead. The formatting added so much to the enjoyability of the read, though occasionally it could also be a bit confusing.

So much wow. It was a pretty good choice to read this in the early early stages of the morning (aka two am), regardless of sleep deprivation, as the time and my creaky door didn't fail to amplify the creepiness factor of everything in these pages.

There were a lot of characters in each stretch of Sadie's quest for vengeance, and while I can't say that I really liked too many of them, or any of them, this book is a thriller for a reason! Exceptions for character development are kind of existent I suppose.

In a fairly short book, Courtney Summers did an incredible job, painting and completing the grey picture that was Sadie's journey.

Much appreciation for St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for providing this high quality ARC!

Sadie is the literary equivalent of a punch to the gut. It’s scary and dark and heart-wrenching, but it never feels voyeuristic or cartoonish. It’s the story of the titular Sadie and her white-knuckle search for vengeance, but it’s also a story about how abusers hide themselves in plain sight. It’s a story about how far devotion will carry you onward, and a story about how detached spectators digest stories like Sadie’s from a distance.

As far as why I loved this novel (if love is the right word - maybe saying that it destroyed me would be more accurate), I could just say all of it. I’ll try to go into more detail and make this a proper review, though.

➽ Sadie herself. She is a suberbly-drawn character, and her raw, biting narrative voice is one of the best I’ve read. Sadie felt utterly real. She’s furious and anxious and fiercely protective of herself and her sister. At the beginning of the novel, when we find out Sadie’s younger sister, Mattie, was murdered and that the investigation into her death went nowhere, Sadie’s white-hot rage and her gamble to search for the killer on her own makes complete sense. She’s angry, brash, foul-mouthed, and scrappy. And also: grieving. Vulnerable. Completely believable.

[Also, if you look for LGBTQ+ rep in books like I do, you’ll likely appreciate that she’s not straight. (Her sexuality isn’t labeled or anything, but that felt completely fitting with Sadie’s character and with the plot.)]

➽ The other narrator, West McCray. I wasn’t sure going into this novel how much I’d like the podcast side of this story, but I ended up feeling like a complete dingus in hindsight. It was written so perfectly, and I felt that the contrast of his smooth, initially detached narration with Sadie’s livid quest for vigilante justice made the book unputdownable. 

➽ The prose. The writing here is clear and illustrative and punchy. It manages to convey how fucking horrible the things that happened to Sadie and Mattie were without, like I said earlier, making it feel cartoonish. Everything feels grounded, and the knowledge that shit like this goes on and has been for millenia makes my blood boil. I think it’s supposed to. 

➽ The ending. I won’t go into detail because I’m trying my darndest to not include spoilers in this review, but it. was. perfect. Considering the hundreds of pages of plot and development that came before it, the final words of the book were both completely on-theme and haunting.

I could keep going on about the whys and hows of everything I loved in Sadie, but instead, I’ll just deeply encourage buying or borrowing this book when it’s published. It’s a harrowing, grab-you-by-the-heart read that will stick with me for a long time to come.

this book was too goddamn good and I stayed up too late to finish it

The structure is so smart, and it's such a good hook to have this partly-written in the format of a true crime Serial-style podcast. and: I don't even especially like true crime stories (though yeah duh I listened to Serial). 

The voice here is haunting, I will never forget Sadie.

Sadie's had a tough life:  she stutters and has to deal with people either feeling sorry for her or thinking she's stupid, her mother is an addict who brings home an endless string of men who never stay long, and she's basically raising her younger sister Mattie.

Her mom finally leaves for good and it's up to Sadie to find a job and look after Mattie, who has just turned thirteen.  Heartbroken by her mom's abandonment, Mattie falls into a deep depression that only lifts when she receives a postcard from her mom all the way from L.A.  She's determined to find a way to be reunited with her mom and argues with Sadie about it.

Mattie goes missing not long after their argument and Sadie believes her sister has found a ride out of town headed toward L.A.  Mattie's body is soon found not far from home in an apple orchard.  There are no leads or suspects.

Devastated, Sadie sets out to find one of her mom's ex-boyfriends.  Her car is later found abandoned on the side of a road and no trace of her is found.

A radio personality named West McCray hears the tragic story of the sisters and begins a podcast, tracking Sadie's road trip to figure out who or what she was searching for.  We learn the full story through the podcast transcripts and Sadie's narrative.

This is a chilling story of love and abuse.  Sadie is a powerful and flawed character determined to uncover the truth about the man she knows killed her sister and bring down others like him in the process.  She's both vulnerable and fierce at the same time; still child-like though she had to grow up far too soon.  Courage and conviction are usually wasted on youth but Sadie, wise beyond her years, uses both wisely on her journey to find a killer.

Sadie's tale pulled me in immediately and wouldn't let me go.  The format of alternating narrative and podcast coming together to give the full story is compulsively readable, leading to a pulse pounding ending that stunned me.

This is an all too common story; girls go missing all the time.  Sadie and Mattie could be any and every girl, on or off the page.  That fact brings a sobering reality to this YA fiction/mystery and including America's latest obsession with true crime podcasts really drives the point home.

Sadie is a powerful and heartbreaking novel that will captivate you from beginning to end.  Many thanks to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

In West McCray and his podcast, The Girls, Summers captures the tone of story-based podcasts like Serial and S-Town with some light critique of the true-crime genre. Sadie's heartbreaking mission to avenge her sister remains gripping throughout. I would recommend this title with a few trigger warnings to mature teens.

I absolutely loved this book! In fact, I finished the book 2 days ago and it is still haunting me. One of my favorite types of books to read are those that go back and forth in time and weave a wonderful story together. Sadie did that so smartly. It was like reading a season of the podcast Serial (which I love). Thank you Netgalley for my copy.

The first book Iv'e read by Courtney Summers did not disappoint. I really enjoyed the premise and the format of this book, switching from Sadie's chapters to the investigative podcast. I think it has a broad commercial appeal, despite the fact that the heart of the story is rather dark and Summers does well in providing an honest, unflinching outlook on some of the darker aspects of life. Sadie is a strong, tough girl despite her stutter and she was a character I was truly rooting for.

Told from alternating perspectives of the strong-willed title character herself and a podcast-esque script read by host, West McCray, the suspenseful and engaging storytelling of this latest novel is nothing less than what one would expect from Courtney Summers. 

We learn about sisters, about trauma, about love, and about desperation. Devastated from the loss of her younger sister, Sadie takes matters into her own hands to avenge her sister - no matter the cost. As the story progresses from chapters alternating in both perspective and timeline, readers are privy to the stakes our heroine is facing. We meet characters who make mistakes, who hide the darkest parts of themselves and others, and those who offer what they can to shed light and illuminate a story that has podcast host, West McCay both reluctant to explore and enthralled.

Sadie by Courtney Summers was an amazing story of a sister's courage and determination to protect the reputation of those she loved. Sadie was also told through the narration of a podcast, which as a lover of podcasts I found to be very intriguing. 
Full of hard hitting and hard to read topics, I often found myself having to take breaks between chapters. 
I overall enjoyed this one. Summers will always be a favorite author of mine and I'm thankful I had the opportunity to read this one before publication.

overall, I enjoyed it... but I felt like there was something missing in the end - not necessarily that it needed to be cleanly wrapped up. I really liked the podcast chapters a lot - I bet it would be a great audiobook!

Thanks to Courtney Summers, the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.