Sadie

Sadie

By Courtney Summers
Published: Wednesday Books, 2018
Pages: 311
Genre: Young Adult, Thriller
Amazon, Goodreads

I can't take another dead girl.

Sadie is a riveting read jam packed with action and memorable characters with a unique podcast spin.

West McCray is a radio personality who receives a plea of help from a fifty-something year old woman in a dead end town in Colorado; her surrogate granddaughter, Sadie Hunter, has gone missing shortly after the grisly death of Sadie's younger sister. Intertwined with both prospectives from Sadie and excerpts from McCray's podcast, Sadie the novel takes readers on a wild ride from start to finish. As West dives into the mystery of Sadie’s past and current whereabouts, will he be able to find her?

I love Sadie's character. Her stuttering problem makes her human; she's just not some soon-to-be murderer hunting for the monster who hurt her sister... Sadie was trying to be the best surrogate mother she could be to her sister after their mother bailed on them, and her world was entirely shattered after her sister's death. I connect with Sadie's character on a personal level because I had a speech impediment growing up. Kids are cruel at that age, and I remember wishing I could just be like everyone else. I still hate the sound of my voice and cringe when I hear a recording of it.

What I especially like about this novel was the podcast element. Through the podcast transcription, readers are able to see how others viewed the situation and the other characters' perspectives. This also works the other way around such as when West interviews Caddy; Caddy obviously leaves out the part when he tried to exchange information for sex.

Others won't be happy about Sadie the book's ending. I'll never post any major spoilers but, suffice to say, it's open ended. I feel like it's appropriate for the atmosphere for the book. Such as this quote from a minor character about halfway through the novel:

Like the three of them were doomed. I guess I always knew there wasn't going to be a happy ending for 'em.

I've been wanting to read Courtney Summers for a while now and I'm glad I finally decided to pick up Sadie. I'll be looking forward to reading more of her work.

RATING (out of five puppies)