"Sadieā by Courtney Summers
Cover Credit: Amazon (donāt know copyright laws so hopefully I donāt get sued. Amazon, if youāre reading this, Iām a poor college student.)
Sadie by Courtney Summers available on Amazon
Book Summary (also credited to Amazon):
āA missing girl on a journey of revenge. A Serialālike 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 McCrayāa radio personality working on a segment about small, forgotten towns in Americaāoverhears 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.ā
Trigger Warning: Contains Child MolestationĀ
First things first, I would highly recommend the audio version of this book.Ā
I would not usually do that because normally Iām completely adverse to the idea of audio-books. However, Macmillan Publishers did a phenomenal job with their version. I would highly recommend giving it a listen if you can. I borrowed the audio book from my libraryās OverDrive website for eBooks and audio-books and listened to it during at eight hour drive.
If audio-books are not your thing, I would still give this book a chance.
I donāt want to give any spoilers, but I just might. If you keep reading, this is your only warning.
The story is written through two perspectives: the podcast of West McCray following the events that lead to Sadie disappearing and Sadieās own perspective of the events being investigated.
I wasnāt sure about this format when I read the book for the first time last year, but I had to admit it had me intrigued. Author Courtney Summers executed the style well enough that I actually enjoyed it more than I initially thought it would. As mentioned above, the audio-book for this novel is exceptional. With a full voice cast, the story is told through the podcast and Sadieās narration.Ā
Before any of the events within the book took place, West McCray was merely a producer for a podcast Always Out ThereĀ and Sadie Hunter was just a girl with a dead sister. Courtney Summers took these characters and developed them into a story with depth and twists you canāt see from a mile away (cheesy, I know, but read or listenĀ to the book and youāll know).
The story begins in the fictional town of Cold Creek, Colorado. Sadie Hunter is a nineteen year old girl who was only trying to raise her thirteen year old sister Mattie Southern after their mother left. A sister bond is nothing like the bond between a mother and daughter which, unfortunately, Sadie only knows all too well.
Technically, thatās not where the story begins but background is important for this story. It really begins with the first episode of West Mccrayās podcast titled The Girls which is centered around the story of Mattie and Sadie. The title given to the podcast didnāt make sense to me at first, but is later explained in a podcast episode toward the end of the book. After you find out why, you realize no other title couldāve done as much justice for this faux podcast.
One of the many things I love about this book is that it feels so real. I donāt mean that in a positive light because this is a rather dark book, but books are even better when they feel real. I donāt really know how else to explain it, but I hope you understand what Iām getting at here.
Sadie lived a difficult life from the moment she was born. Her mother was an addict who didnāt love and nurture her the way she needed. Her maternal love came from her neighbor, May Beth Foster, but that kind of love only goes so far. Until Mattie came, itās safe to say Sadie had almost nothing. Sadie loved her little sister Mattie more than anything else in the world.Ā
Although it was Sadie who spent most of her time raising Mattie, she made sure Mattie knew how much their mother loved her so Mattie wouldnāt have to grow up the way Sadie did. Unfortunately, Claire Southern really did love Mattie. The book mentions multiple times that Mattie was the spitting image of her mother. Sadie is described to look exactly how Claireās mother did whom she lost while pregnant with Sadie.
After Mattie was born, Sadie had a purpose. The world had finally given her a reason for her existence in what was once a own lonely world. Unfortunately, the world is a very cruel place.
Mattie was murdered at thirteen years old. All the love and hope Sadie had for her sister was gone in an instant. Sadie felt purposeless until she found another one. Find Mattieās murderer.Ā
As mentioned above, Courtney Summers tells the story of Sadie avenging her sisterās death through two perspectives.
Readers are given more information through Sadieās own perspective as she is telling the events as they happen. They are also given a more unique story through the podcastās investigation of the events because they tell the story through many peopleās perspectives as they learn about what happened to Sadie during her search.
This would have been a story I wouldāve read if it had been told only by Sadie, but Courtney Summers gave her audience a new way to interpret the story.
The podcastās version of events is an investigative approach of Sadie and Mattieās story as they piece together Mattieās murder and Sadieās disappearance. The story is told this way without Sadieās emotions, but it includes the emotional toll their story took on everyone involved in the search for answers.
The story told by Sadie gives readers a very in-depth look inside of Sadieās head. They learn why she makes the choices she does, but they also learn about what happened in her life and how it affected her. Sadie had a poor childhood with an unloving mother and traumatizing experiences, but she overcame that to become a tough, loving bad-ass heroine on a journey to find justice for the person she loved most in the world.
The story would not be the same without these intertwining perspectives as readers would never get the full story.
Unfortunately, events like these happen in real life. People never get both sides of the story no matter how badly they want them, but this story shows some details are better if maybe theyāre not known.
All this aside, none of this stopped Courtney Summers from leaving the book without a questionable ending.
As West McCray wraps up the podcast with having found Mattieās murderer but not finding Sadie herself, readers are left not actually knowing what happened to Sadie. Of course, through her perspective, we are given a very good idea of the fate Sadie meets but we are not given explicit what happens. The podcast leaves Sadieās fate as a big question mark.
I believe Courtney Summersā leaving what happened to Sadie as open-ended as she did gives readers a little peace. My heart is heavy for what I know probably happened, but I can have just as much hope.
Sadie deserved a lot better and so did Mattie, but with what she was given, Sadie made herself better for Mattie.
If you havenāt figured it out, I would obviously recommend reading this book. It is based on dark events that donāt really get better, but it is a very good read if you like suspense.
Side Note: okay, first book review is done. I wanted to get it out of the way. I read this book last year, but only just recently listened to the audio-book. The audio-book is fantastic and part of the reason I chose to review this book. Obviously, my reviews need help as do my summarizing skills. I will work on them as we go along, but as mentioned before Iām making this blog for my own sake. I want to help people find books to read as much as possible, but this is really all for myself.
