Review: SADIE by Courtney Summers

SADIE

by Courtney Summers

Publication Date: September 4, 2018

Published by Wednesday Books

Pages: 311

Source: Library

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Synopsis

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. 

My Thoughts

This book haunts me. 

The method of storytelling is perfection - giving readers Sadie's mindset and motivations while the podcast pieces together the events that led to her disappearance. It was interesting getting the perspective of the interactions from the people Sadie encountered and how they compared to her account of their interaction. But the most perfect element of this book is the title. Sadie. It's not "the girl who . . ." It's Sadie. In saying her name, she's not just one of the many girls who disappears, vanishes, runs away.

A memorable moment that stuck with me (and there are many) was this observation by May Beth Foster (Sadie's surrogate grandmother):

"She got rid of her books, movies, clothes . . . just everything.

It makes me sick to that about her throwing her life in the garbage like that because that's what it amounts to. Every little bit that made her, everything, was all in the trash and when I found it, I just started to cry because she'd  . . . it wasn't worth anything to her anymore." 

You can see this from the perspective May Beth and the tragedy of it all. And it leaves you wondering what Sadie with thinking as she threw it all away. Did she know she wasn't coming back and didn't want to leave anything for someone else to have to clean up? Or was she trying to erase herself? Erase the girl she was for Mattie? 

There's so much to speculate about this book and that is what makes it thrilling and captivating and tragic. It is not an easy book to read, but it is fantastic.

Macmillan has offered a podcast to accompany the novel titled THE GIRLS: FIND SADIE (listen to podcast). The podcast was made available prior to the publication of SADIE but I decided that I'd wait to listen to it after finishing the book. It definitely enhances the story.

SADIE is a must read!!! I loved it.

Disclaimer:  I obtained this book from my local library and am providing my honest review.  I was not compensated in any way for providing this review. Thoughts and opinions are my own.