Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Sadie by Courtney Summers

237 reviews

cawilliams29's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

One of the best YA books I've read in a really long time. The importance of this story can not be overstated, but more than that, the writing, character work and plot was brilliant.
Courtney Summers creates one of the most unforgettable protagonists with Sadie, I will never forget her story of abuse, survival, love and revenge.
The book goes between Sadies point of view and that of the podcast, 'The girls'. I can not recommend the audiobook enough for this reason! The production of the podcast and the full cast of characters is just phenomenal, I could have easily been listening to a true crime podcast, all of these characters were so real to me.
Summers converged these two plot points excellently, the way Sadies point of view would tie into the podcast episodes and the reveals, characters and story of Sadie unravelled brilliantly between the two.
We follow Sadie, who was abused as a child and following the death of her beloved younger sister goes on a dangerous journey of revenge and redemption, hunting for her sisters killer.
The podcast is looking for Sadie now she is missing and retracing her steps trying to find her and figure out what happened to her and her sister.
A harrowing tale of the abuse of children and the lengths one girl would go to stop it.
The writing, character work, plot and overall themes of this book were excellent. There is never any graphic detail of the dark themes but they are alluded to skillfully and in my opinion, gracefully. This is a story no one wanted to hear but everyone needs to.
The ending is a mixed bag, I never saw it coming but can't say I was too suprised either. Like the rest of the story the choices there made the story feel even more real.
It is difficult to read about Sadie and the other girls in this story, challenging to face the all too real reality that dangerous people often hide behind kind masks and society can't see through them until its too late.
This is a necessary and impactful read for all. Please pick up the audiobook.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child abuse, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Murder

reedandright's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Rape, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Child death, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Grief, Toxic friendship, Death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Alcohol

Minor: Ableism and Cursing

bookeduntil's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Violence and Terminal illness

alexandcats14's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Heartbreaking. Gut wrenching. This book is so so so so so important in so many ways. I will never forget Sadie. No more dead girls. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, and Violence

erickaonpaper's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

i love courtney summers. i think she's an incredibly talented ya author, and the themes/topics covered in sadie are troubling but necessary to discuss. that being said, i wouldn't recommend this immediately to surface conversations around missing girls, sexually abused girls, single mothers who abuse drugs, etc. sadie propels you to move forward out of curiosity, but i didn't think for once there was a moment that felt it was an effect of the book's storytelling. i can't say confidently if that's due to the dual storytelling. i'd say this is a 3.25 mostly because the sadness and reality of the ending is striking. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Addiction, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, and Murder

flux_6174's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.75

A driven, determined, practical, mysterious and loving sister set to avenge her sister and seek revenge for herself. What else do you need?

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Death, Sexual assault, Drug use, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Murder, Drug abuse, and Rape

rkb94's review against another edition

challenging mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book had me sobbing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, Suicide, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Child abuse, and Drug abuse

paris_nicole's review against another edition

dark 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? No

3.75

I listened to the audiobook, which had a high production quality. The story is partly told from the perspective of a podcast and it was as if you were listening to an actual podcast (intro music, interviews with witnesses). The story has dark themes and leaves you with a lot of questions, as a lot of true crime podcasts do. I don't think I would have liked the story much without the audio. None of the characters were very likeable, including the two narrators (Sadie and the podcaster). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Murder, and Pedophilia

mepereyra6's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Addiction, Murder, Sexual assault, and Violence

evia_booklover's review

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Wow, I was not expecting to like this book as much as I have! Sadie is definitely a character that you can connect with on so many levels and I loved her. I was rooting for her right to the end of the book but that ending... that ending broke my heart.

Love the way that the book was written as well. The way it is broken up into sections where you have the podcast transcript part and then the normal chapter format when we come to Sadie's part was brilliant. I wish that the ending wasn't so open-ended where it was up to the reader to decide what happened to Sadie, but her story was amazing and I loved her as a character.

Looking forward to reading more by Courtney Summers in future!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Murder