Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Sadie - Stirbt sie, wird niemand die Wahrheit erfahren by Courtney Summers

65 reviews

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

Moderate: Car accident

hypofemmadchen's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I HATE this book. It's a book that slowly drags you down a tunnel that is constantly getting smaller and smaller. By the time you get half way through, the tunnel you are in completely darkness, and you can feel your bones  breaking. By the time you reach the end being squeezed out the tunnel you will be nothing more than a mangled tube of meat, the only positive being the fact that you're able to see the sky again. However what was once the shining bright midday sun, now only a eastern band of gold holding the promise of a new day, but only if you are willing to wait. This is my new favorite book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Addiction, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Violence, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Death, and Abandonment

Moderate: Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Violence, Child abuse, Drug use, and Grief

Minor: Gore, Pregnancy, Car accident, Blood, Eating disorder, Alcohol, and Medical content

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 death, Murder, Death, Pedophilia, Blood, and Child abuse

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent and Drug abuse

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: Grief, Death, and Child death

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

blue_is_at_sea's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Very good book! 
I highly recommend that you listen to the audiobook version of this story. It has great sound design and has multiple voice actors to add to the story. 

It’s absolutely heartbreaking reading about Sadie and her life and what she goes through. It’s amazing and highly recommended. 
It has very dark themes so keep that in mind. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Classism, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Alcohol, and Addiction

Minor: Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Drug use, Child abuse, Classism, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, and Stalking

michelle_my_belle'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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Violence, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use

Minor: Bullying

gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

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

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The Details:
Narrated by full cast
Unabridged

Well, what a fantastic production this was. I'm so glad I went ahead and waited until I had an Audible account to get to this one. The full cast really made this story special.

The way this story unfolded was genius. I felt like I could really connect with Sadie and the people that tried to help her on her journey.

It left me with a weird feeling of melancholy and heart ache. What Sadie set as her mission was valiant and selfless and I was with her for the whole of it.

I thought we'd have a more closed conclusion, but with a story like this, I mean it mirrors real life so well... there never really is a conclusion to the mysteries of life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, Abandonment, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Drug use, Domestic abuse, and Drug abuse

bashsbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-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? No

4.0

I don't know what I expected from Sadie but it was a much different book than I imagined. Crime thrillers are not really my typical genre, but this one came highly reccommended by a friend. I enjoyed Sadie herself as a character - by far, she was the best part of the book and her narration was great. I was iffy on the dual narrative structure (as half the chapters are transcripts from a podcast about Sadie and her sister, Mattie) - but I think it ultimately made the ending stronger. Wish it ended differently. I don't know. I will be thinking about it for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Grief, Addiction, Violence, Death, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Child death, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Blood, Alcoholism, Murder, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual assault, Rape, and Physical abuse

Minor: Vomit, Pregnancy, and Cancer

xkeyla17's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Alcoholism, Addiction, Blood, Child abuse, Alcohol, and Child death

nat_kiverse's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Child death, Cursing, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Addiction, Alcohol, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Car accident, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Stalking, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting