Full Title: Sadie
Author: Courtney Summers
Published: Upcoming Release Date – September 4, 2018 by Wednesday Books
Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Suspense
Edition Details: 320 pages, hardcover
Source: {Advance Readers’ Edition}
Rating: {4.5/5 stars}
This is a spoiler-free review. No details will be shared from the storyline itself that aren’t available or inferred from the book jacket and online descriptions.
First Glance
I actually ran across this book in my Facebook feed, as an ad that asked interested readers to sign up for a copy. Mind you, I assumed it’d be a drawing for a handful of lucky people. Instead, I got an email telling me to be ready for my copy to arrive in the mail!
That said, I will point out that I didn’t request a copy just because I wanted a free book. I was intrigued by the first lines I read about Sadie:
I’m going to kill a man.
I’m going to steal the light from his eyes.
I want to watch it go out.
You aren’t supposed to answer violence with more violence but sometimes I think violence is the only answer.
Positive Bits
As someone who normally reads romance and fantasy novels, I wasn’t sure a thriller (YA or not) would be up my alley. I was wrong! The pace and storyline are set in such a way that I think almost anyone could enjoy it. After all, my main complaint against thrillers and true crime stories is usually related to an overabundance of graphic detail; Summers managed to avoid that without minimizing the core crimes at play in this plot.
I’m a sucker for interesting new ways to tell a story. In Sadie this plays out in a pattern of interwoven podcast scripts and chapters in Sadie’s perspective (written in first person). It kept me tied up in the story without having to give me too many nitty gritty details all at once. It actually reminded me of episodes from true crime shows, where the narrator gets you interested and then they reenact different sections of their story as the episode plays out.
I’ll be honest. This book is the kind of story that I personally end up hate-reading. Like, I absolutely despised what was happening, but I had to know how things turned out. I love a story that’s strong enough to drag you in against your will and make you stay.
Less Enjoyable Bits
There were times I was a little frustrated with the limitations of a Sadie POV scene, because it would end abruptly and not pick up at the same point the next time we rejoined her. Most of the switches were spaced in acceptable moments of flux, like getting back on the road or getting a new piece of information. But one or two just seemed to leave the reader hanging for no good reason.
I’m trying not to give any spoilers, so I’ll just say this. Even a well-written story about a bad man doing bad things to people involves a bad man doing bad things to people. It turns your stomach, as it should. Nothing was graphic, but as a reader less accustomed to thrillers and their bookish kin, parts of the story made me uncomfortable in a way I’m not used to experiencing.
My last note? I like my stories to end with every single string of plot tied into a tidy knot. But that’s a personal preference.
Tidbits Worth Repeating*
* Without spoiling the plot, but giving you a taste of the mood…
Girls go missing all the time.
Restless teenage girls, reckless teenage girls. Teenage girls and their inevitable drama.
West McCray [Studio]:
I spent the weekend with my daughter and she could tell something was wrong. I didn’t want to let her out of my sight, but at the same time, I almost couldn’t bear to look at her.
But love is complicated, it’s messy. It can inspire selflessness, selfishness, our greatest accomplishments and our hardest mistakes. It brings us together and it can just as easily drive us apart.
It can drive us.
Is it worth the coin?
Yes – if you’re into thrillers and crime shows. I wouldn’t read this book again, at least not the same way I read and reread my favorite romance stories. But I’m definitely recommending this book to my wife, whose growing collection of true crime novels could use a new addition.
Larissa Lee 