Sadie by Courtney Summers is a book that will stick with me for some time. It’s a YA thriller/mystery, but it has loads of subjects and triggers that range from YA to adult: drug abuse, murder, sexual abuse, pedophilia, rape, rural issues and poverty, etc. It is not just your run of the mill easy peasy YA book. It’s pretty heavy.
But one of the things that helps make it lighter is the format in which the story is told. The chapters alternate between Sadie in the past and a podcast in the present. Yep – a PODCAST. In a book! I loved the idea and thought that Summers did an excellent job blending them both without going too meta and confusing us all.
My biggest complaint with the story is having to read Sadie’s stutter the entire book. While on one hand it makes me feel more sympathetic towards her because she is juggling all of these emotions and things happening to her AS WELL as having a sever speech impediment. But on the other hand I was constantly annoyed at how it forced me to slow down my reading to read all h-her att- attempts at tr-trying to sp-sp-speak and stuff (imagine chapter upon chapter with this). I just could have managed perfectly fine without that ingredient in the story for it to work the way that it did.
I loved the ever-growing mystery with Sadie’s journey (and then in turn OUR journey as we read along with the podcast). I am a huge lover of true crime mystery podcasts and cold cases and I think that Summers just did such a good job keeping us entertained and intrigued as if we were listening to a real life podcast.
I am going to give this one 4 out of 5 stars. I think I would have rated it higher had it not been for a) Sadie’s constant stuttering and how that bothered me reading it for 300+ pages and b) the ending fell a little flat and was rushed after all that buildup and suspense. It kinda just happened and the next thing you know, the book is over! BUT those two elements did not take away from how great this book is and that it is extremely deserving of the 4 stars I am rating it. I encourage friends to read this if they like the kinds of things I have mentioned in this review.
Thanks to Netgalley, St Martins Press, and Wednesday Books for the advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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