Courtney Summers
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Get ready for it….
This. Is. The. Best. Audiobook. I’ve. Ever. Listened. To.
But before we get into the production – this is also a 5 star rated book for me. I’ve been eating up audiobooks while going for walks and training at the gym recently, but I found myself wanting to have more time for this book. As such, I started going out for walks more often (I’d call that a win!). It’s definitely the kind of book that you want serious alone time with.
Told in alternating perspectives, Sadie follows the novel’s namesake, seeking revenge for the death of her sister. West McCray, a budding journalist gets a hold of her story and tries to track her down, discovering how badly Sadie has suffered this whole time.
Back to the format – the novel switches between Sadie’s current perspective, and episodes of a Serial-esque podcast, which tells her story from a third perspective. This book was MADE for audio!! It’s insane going from a studio-recorded retelling to being right there with Sadie. The contrast is so, so, so effective and I really can’t recommend listening to the audiobook enough!!
“It was a terrible thing, sure, but we live in a world that has no shortage of terrible things. You can’t stop for all of them.”
It’s so hard to talk about this book without giving away too much of the plot! Sadie is a YA thriller – the novel essentially leans on the reader discovering more about Sadie and her sister’s past. Every chapter reveals a fragment of her motivation for finding her sister’s killer, and with each layer the reader discovers, the tension increases tenfold.
I’ve found the character of Sadie herself so incredibly complex. You can really feel her youth and naivety alongside being overwhelmed with the need to get vengeance that she literally does whatever it takes to find the murderer. While I disagree with some of the routes that she took, I also found I really couldn’t blame her – because if I were in her shoes… well, who knows? It’s a bit cliche to say, but when you have next to nothing, and the one thing that holds you together is taken away, what would you do? It’s easy for us to say we’d persevere and come out a better person, but in reality, a lot of people are pushed into these tragic situations and find themselves completely powerless.
“I wish his darkness lived outside of him, because you have to know it’s there to see it. Like all real monsters, he hides in plain sight.”
This is a fucking powerful novel. I didn’t really want to get too much into the story itself, but just know that I was so engrossed that I ended up finding myself a whole suburb away from home without realising how far I’d gone! Sadie is incredibly sad, and discusses a lot of trigger topics like abuse, so if that isn’t your cup of tea, I would definitely stray away. I was almost unbearably stressed while listening to it, but if you can handle it, it’s very much worth it.
(And sorry for a somewhat rambly post – this book is so intense, I can’t put my feelings into words!!!)
Love always,
xo Pattycakes
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