Review: Sadie by Courtney Summers

Author: Courtney Summers
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Audio-book: MacMillan Audio
Date of publication: September 2018

Sadie hasn't had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she's been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water. 

But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie's entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister's killer to justice and hits the road following a few meagre clues to find him.

When West McCray—a radio personality working on a segment about small, forgotten towns in America—overhears Sadie's story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl. He starts his own podcast as he tracks Sadie's journey, trying to figure out what happened, hoping to find her before it's too late.

I have seen so much hype about Sadie that I finally caved and got the audio-book.  All of the reviews I have seen have said the audio-book was the best way to experience this book.  I am a fan of audio-books in general and after listening to this one, I have to agree.  It was very well done with a whole cast of narrators.  The story of Sadie  and her sister Mattie is told partly through Sadie's own eyes and partly through Podcast format.  I actually liked this format as it kept the story moving along at a steady pace.  

I did like the book overall.  Sadie's story was really sad.  I genuinely cared about what happened to her on her journey.   There is one thing about the book that will make me take off a star.  The ending was very unsatisfying.  I am not a fan of endings like the one in this book.  It's kind of uncool to have the reader go through so much with the characters  and then give them an ending like that one.  

Be warned the book contains some elements that could be triggering in some readers.  I wouldn't really categorize this as a YA book though.  At least maybe keep it to over 16. Still I highly recommend giving this one a try, especially on audio.