A review by oldandnewbooksmell
Sadie by Courtney Summers

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Trigger Warnings: child abuse, pedophilia, sexual assault, drug use, child death, addiction, parental neglect

Sadie is told both in the first person of Sadie, and in the transcript of West McCray’s podcast, “The Girls”, as Sadie goes on the hunt for her younger sister’s killer.

This isn’t a happy-go-lucky book. At all. This novel covers stories that unfortunately happen more often than anyone would ever like to admit that they do. It’s very dark and raw. It doesn’t come right out and say what happened in Sadie’s past at first, but it gets more and more into it the further along the story goes.

Sadie had me rooting so loudly for her as well as applauding her for her strength. At the same time, I wished to be able to pull her out of the story, wrap her in a warm blanket with a hot drink, and give her the safety she desperately, desperately needed. She truly shattered my heart.

West McCray’s part with the podcast would sometimes make me angry. Because, here comes a podcast host who is digging around finding things that the police missed out on. that happens more often than not when it comes to missing young adults / teenagers who come from poverty or underprivileged areas. 

This is my first book by Courtney Summers and after reading this, I can tell she doesn’t shy away from the harsh realities of the world. Though this is YA, Summers knows what her readers can handle and what teenagers are capable of.

This novel is not just a story - it’s a voice, the voice of all the little girls who ended up in the hands of adults they should have been able to trust.

I can’t take another dead girl, either.

 
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