SADIE
(Standalone)
Courtney Summers
BLURB
A New York Times bestseller!
An Edgar Award Winner!
A Booklist Top 10 YA Book for Adult Readers
One of the Best YA Novels of 2018 by Publishers Weekly
One of B&N Teen Blog’s Best YA Books of 2018
Bustle’s Best Young Adult Books of 2018
Good Morning America‘s Best Books of 2018
In NPR’s Guide to 2018’s Greatest Reads
In Paste’s 30 Best Young Adult Novels of 2018
Nominated for YALSA’s 2019 Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers
4 Starred Reviews from Kirkus, School Library Journal, Booklist, Publishers Weekly!
“Sadie: a novel for readers of any age, and a character as indelible as a scar. Flat-out dazzling.” —A. J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window
“Sadie is an electrifying, high-stakes road trip. Clear your schedule. You’re not going anywhere until you’ve reached the end.” —Stephanie Perkins, New York Times bestselling author of There’s Someone Inside Your House and Anna and the French Kiss
“A haunting, gut-wrenching, and relentlessly compelling read.” —Veronica Roth, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Carve the Mark and the Divergent series
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.
★★★★★
Wow! Lovers of true-crime podcasts are going to appreciate how well done the storytelling was in this book.
Sadie is uniquely told from 2 points of view; one is in the form of a podcast and the other is the girl, Sadie, who the podcast is about. Each chapter alternates between these 2 povs giving the reader a different perspective.
In the chapters that are told from Sadie, the reader gets a first-person account as she tracks down the man who murdered her younger sister, Mattie. This man/monster is no stranger to the girls. Sadie’s mission is to stop him from hurting any more kids.
The second pov is told from a true-crime podcast aptly named The Girls. West is the host of the podcast where he interviews townspeople and those who encountered Sadie along her journey. West is trying to solve the mystery behind what has happened to Sadie who has gone missing.
You know how there are some movies that just need to be seen on the big screen to capture the full impact. In the book world Sadie would be the equivalent to that experience. This book really needs to be listened to. The narration really gives you the feeling of being with Sadie on her trek and also the pov from the podcast feels like a mixture of listening to S-Town and Missing Richard Simmons podcast.
Just like true-crime podcasts, we learn about the tragic things that fuel a person to go beyond the measures they think are possible. Listeners of true crime podcasts become detectives trying to figure out the next piece of the puzzle and in some cases, there are missing pieces that leave the listener drawing their own conclusions. Sadie’s story will not be wrapped up with a neat bow that leads to a resolution and justice but instead, it’ll leave the reader haunted by what ”the girls” endured at the hands of someone who was supposed to care for them. It’ll give the reader a deeper understanding of Sadie’s love for her younger sister, Mattie, and how that can be a driving force to survive horrible conditions.
Sadie’s story will be something you think about long after the book has ended. It’s a must listen to for fans of true crime podcasts.
