Title: Sadie
Author: Courtney Summers
Publication: September 4, 2018
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Genre: Teens, Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 320
SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)
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 meagre 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.
REVIEW:
**A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**
Sadie is a psychological mind game that will keep you scratching your head to the very end.
The book is not your average novel, especially how it is written. We jump between a few of the supporting characters, but also see the story play out from Sadie’s point of view. I was not an immediate fan of the layout, because that some chapters were written like a normal chapter would be, and others looked almost like a play, with who was talking written above it. After a few chapters, though, I figured out that was the times when you were suppose to be “listening” to West McCray on air. West McCray was radio host gone detective, who hears about this missing girl and when he digs a little deeper, finds her story to be incredibly interesting. Therefore, he takes his listeners on the ride with it by sharing what he has learned in a series of episodes. Those chapters read differently, but once I got use to it I could almost hear his voice in my head as I was reading the chapters written in that way.
As a reader, I like to relate to my characters, however I could not relate to Sadie. I’ve never been in her shoes. That doesn’t mean I didn’t connect with the book, because I mourned for her. I cheered her on. I was upset when she was upset. Sadie was like reading a really sad story in the news and wishing you could be there to help them out. You wanted to help Sadie, but you knew you couldn’t and that left a suspense in your gut knowing the book was not going to have your typical happy ever after.
Courtney Summers did a fantastic job of keeping me on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next. Her characters were developed enough from the beginning, but you slowly got to peel back the layers throughout the book to learn more and figure out why the characters did what they did or behaved in a certain way. Summers writes suspense in a way I haven’t quite read before, giving you that feeling like you do know how this is going to end from the beginning, but then throwing you bread crumbs as she leads up to it. I loved the feeling of anxiety and suspense it slowly dragged me through.
If you are a fan of mystery, thrillers then Sadie is a book for you. Don’t expect it to be just like every other mystery novel; it is not. A great work of art from the lovely Courtney Summers. I’ll definitely be checking out her next novel.
STAR RATING: 4/5
Sadie by Courtney Summers is available for purchase on September 4th on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, and check your local book store. Make sure to add it to your To Reads list on Goodreads and leave feedback for the author when you are finished. Check out more novels from author Courtney Summers on her website here!
