Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Sadie by Courtney Summers

243 reviews

jjstoff's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

pagesihavenotyetread's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

daisyfont's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Car accident

vincentedward16's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Car accident

letiross's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Blood

fee1111's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, and Murder

violabaldwin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Abandonment

sosocrafty's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Pedophilia, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug abuse and Death of parent

cdelgado88284's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Grief, and Murder

sarah_shelf's review against another edition

dark emotional sad

4.0

I’m not quite sure how to begin with this book. It’s powerful and heavy and so vastly different from what I thought it was going to be. And I know this is going to sit with me for a long time.

This book is described like a mystery, but it’s really not about that at all. At least not in the way I think of traditional mysteries. The narrative is told from the perspective of Sadie searching for her little sister Mattie’s killer and from Wes McCray a podcast journalist who has picked up Sadie’s story after she has gone missing. The general whodunit and why that I was expecting isn’t really a part of it. Sadie knows what happened (even if it takes a while for her to explain that to us) and Wes’ investigation is largely parallel and two steps behind Sadie’s journey. Rather, the focus is on the sisters’ relationship: how much Sadie loves Mattie as well as the things she is willing to do for that love because no one else will. 

I was not prepared for the monster Keith/Darren/Jack was. (Seriously check the content warnings. I was caught off guard and even more unsettled because of it). So much of Sadie’s journey involves the effects and reactions to his abuse, which is never fully described on the page. Instead we get disturbing flashback scenes of creepy behavior, the emotional turmoil of the evidence he and Silas kept, as well as testimonies from a host of characters who thought they were great guys. All of that makes this so much more real because “girls go missing all the time” but rarely are we forced into the true aftermath of these stories.

There was no other way to end this book. Apparently the ending is contentious, and I get that because usually such an open-ending feels unfinished and unsatisfying, but it would have hurt the story to do things differently.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Grief

Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment