My first thought about Sadie was “DAMN!” That’s it. That is, quite literally, the only word I could find that effectively describe what I felt when I finished the book.
This book quickly shot to the top of my favorite reads list!
Sadie, by Courtney Summers, is an intense novel about love and vengeance.
“And it begins, as so many stories do, with a dead girl.”
Sadie lived a hard life. At the age of six, when she held her baby sister Mattie in her arms, Sadie felt her purpose in life: to love and protect Mattie. Sadie survived her hard-partying, emotionally manipulative mom and the succession of men that she brought home. She also endured verbal and sexual abuse at the hands of some of those men. But, as long as Mattie was happy and safe, Sadie felt a sense of accomplishment, pride in a purpose higher than herself. When their mom left town without a word Sadie assumed responsibility for raising Mattie
Then, a passerby found thirteen-year-old Mattie’s lifeless body in a field. The police have failed to find her killer and now, Sadie has gone missing.
Sadie is determined to avenge her sister. Armed with few clues, she follows a series of isolated roads through anonymous towns looking for the man who killed Mattie.
West McCray is a podcaster working on a series about the decline of small-towns in America. He was filming a segment for his show when he heard about Mattie’s death. A year later he receives a call that the girl’s sister Sadie has also disappeared. The only clues are a missing photo and the girl’s abandoned car. West, initially hesitant, begins an urgent search for Sadie in the hopes of finding her before it’s too late.
Sadie is told in alternating viewpoints. Sadie’s experience is raw as she journeys through a series of small towns, and is off set with a professional, detached reporting style in the transcripts of West McCray’s episodic podcast, The Girls.
Courtney Summers’s writing propelled me through the pages. Even as my heart splintered, and my stomach sickened at what has happened to this girl, I kept turning the pages to see what other revelations awaited me. Be forewarned, this book deals with some deep, dark issues (for those who prefer trigger warnings, the topics are sexual assault, rape, pedophilia, abuse, and assault). However, I was completely submersed in this book, and my mind is just blown!! Highly recommended.
*I received an ARC of Sadie from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*