“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.” (Goodreads)
Review:
When I started reading this book, I fell right into it. Summers weaved such a captivating tale! The reader simultaneously follows a radio show about the disappearance of Sadie Hunter following the murder of her younger sister, Mattie Southern, and Sadie’s perspective while she is on the run. Summers’ writing is great. My eyes were gliding across the pages of this book. The atmospheres she created felt so real. At points, I could feel the heat and humidity of some of these places. I could picture some of the places in my head so clearly.
Following Sadie through these different towns was so interesting. I really enjoyed her as a narrator. She was a girl on a mission to avenge her sister. But, we were constantly reminded that she was just a teenage girl. And, she kept reminding the reader: “I’m dangerous. I have a knife.” Her stutter was also a pretty significant part of this story. I have never read from the perspective of a character that had a stutter before. So, a first-person perspective was really great for that. I loved reading how Sadie reacted to other people’s reaction to her stutter and how she felt about it herself.
I really loved the format of this book. I did feel at the beginning that the constant change of the format every chapter was going to slow down me down since I am a pretty slow reader, but it didn’t. It actually helped me read the book faster. West McCray, the host of the radio show was a great character. Watching him come to conclusions and unravel the mystery of Sadie was really great. Macmillan’s podcast for this book, The Girls, is really great too. I liked listening to it while I read the radio transcripts. It added a whole nother layer to the story. So far, three episodes have been released. Episodes 1 and 2 of The Girls corresponds to Episode 1 in the books and Episode 3 of The Girls is a part of Episode two in the book.
Overall, I really loved reading Sadie. The radio show element was really fun. The writing was beautiful and atmospheric. Sadie was an incredible character to read. This was the first time I have read a YA Mystery/Thriller and I will definitely be reading more!
Want to follow along with the podcast? Find it here.
Want to buy Sadie? It’s out September 9th! Check out Macmillan’s page for purchase links and an excerpt.
TW: pedophilia, sexual abuse, substance abuse
***An ARC of Sadie was provided to me for an honest review by Wednesday Books.
–Urussa, Stay Caffeinated
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