Title: Sadie
Author: Courtney Summers
Genre: YA Thriller
Page Length: 320 pages
Publication Date: September 4, 2018
Date Started: August 21, 2018
Date Finished: August 23, 2018
Date Started: August 21, 2018
Date Finished: August 23, 2018
Rating: 4/5 stars
*I was sent an arc of this book for free in exchange for an honest review*
Prefacing this review, I would like to put a trigger warning for this book for mentions of child abuse, self harm, drug use/addiction, and more. Please read responsibly.
Wow. Just...wow. This book man. I'm not going to say I loved it, because I don't think this is a type of book someone can love like they do a contemporary--I say this just because of all of the terrible things inside--but I did feel it. I felt this book deep in my chest and I know I'm going to be thinking about it for a very long time.
Like I said, this isn't a book I can love. The things that the main character and other characters go through in this book...they're not pretty or pleasant. This book truly delves into the horrors of mankind and leaves you breathless...and not in a good way.
My heart breaks for Sadie, it really does. She's just lost her sister, only a few years after their mother walked out on them. She's all alone, save for a grandmother-type figure, and feeling the immense guilt of her sister's murder. She knows, or at least she thinks she knows, who killed her sister and she leaves her town on a wild ride to hunt down this person.
It was an intense journey, to say the least. We're pulled along Sadie's journey through her eyes. We're seeing her grief and her struggles to stay sane. Every step of this hunt, we're right there with Sadie. My god, I just...this book really knows how to strike a person to their core.
We don't just follow Sadie's direct story, but we also follow a podcast that is hosted by a man who is searching for Sadie at the pleading of the grandmother-type figure. That was more of a true-crime podcast and I think that it definitely added to this story for me. I don't want to say how it had an impact on my reading experience because I don't want to spoil the book, but it definitely was an interesting and much-needed addition to the novel.
I just...as I write this my thoughts are muddled yet racing at 100 miles an hour. I don't know what to think and I'm confused. I feel like I know Sadie. I feel like I don't know Sadie. I have so many questions. I want more answers but I also don't because the ending was so powerful.
I think to wrap-up this review, I'm going to just say that this book will mess with your mind. It was a slow start for me getting sucked in but by the time I was done, I was surprised that 300 pages had just vanished. It's a fast story yet a slow one. I don't know how to describe it. I read about 75 pages of and binge-read the rest in one sitting. It was fantastic.
I don't normally read thrillers and I'm more of a fantasy person myself, but this book shocked me. It's the first thriller that I've read that I actually felt was a thriller. It messes with your head and exposes the darker sides of humanity and shows you that not everything is as it seems. Gosh, it was brilliant. I didn't love it, because I can't love a book where the characters suffer so much, but it was a bloody brilliant thriller. And it had to be, because I've hated every thriller before this.
Hats off to Courtney Summers. I will definitely reach for more of her works next time I'm in a thriller mood.
Thanks for reading!
xoxo
Lauren
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