3.5 stars

CW: pedophilia, sexual abuse, substance abuse, violence, death/murder

[ARC provided by the publisher. This does not affect my opinion or the content of my review.]

”I can’t take another dead girl.”

[Quote from the ARC.]

I think nearly everyone on Twitter has read this novel and raved about how amazing it is. I was really excited to read it, but unfortunately, I didn’t love it.

Don’t get me wrong; Sadie is a dark, intriguing thriller, and I enjoyed it. But I think I let the hype get to my head, because it just…wasn’t anything special.

I didn’t have a chance to listen to the audiobook, but the method of story-telling was interesting and unlike anything I’ve read before. The story is told half in first person, by Sadie, and half by West, a journalist in his twenties who’s following clues, trying to piece together Sadie’s story for a new podcast. It was strangely fascinating to switch between Sadie’s journey and West piecing everything together after the fact; it was written in a way that blended both together so well. The podcast chapters hinted at details upcoming in the following Sadie chapter. It was brilliant, to be honest.

I’m not in a position to talk about the gritty details of Sadie’s situation, but it was another interesting layer in this twisted story. Sadie’s mom is an addict, which ruins their relationship and leaves Sadie to care for her younger sister Mattie. Mattie loves their mom and the feeling is mutual, further complicating things. They grew up poor, in a trailer park, with Sadie dedicating herself so fully to Mattie’s care that she loses herself upon Mattie’s horrible death. The dynamics were so interesting to explore as the story progressed. I also liked that May Beth, an older woman that I believe owned the trailer park, stepped in as a mother/grandmother figure as much as she could. She was a sweet but protective character, even though she was a side character.

Sadie is a novel of moral ambiguity — it literally follows a girl on a journey to kill a man, in order to avenge her younger sister. But at its core, it’s very relevant and could even be classified as good. It’s a story of sisters, of family, and most of all, of a girl seeking to take back what a man took from her. Sadie herself is slowly declining mentally and morally as the story goes on, and her stutter becomes more prominent, but I believe everything is ultimately for a good reason, if not a bit lopsided.

I think my biggest issue with this book, interesting as it was, is that I was never truly invested. In my experience, thrillers are supposed to hook you, make you desperate to read more, know more. In this case, I was interested, but I continued because of curiosity rather than an intense need, if that makes sense. I put the book down throughout the day to do other things and I wasn’t itching to pick it back up again.

One thing Sadie has in its favor is that it’s definitely the most starkly written thriller I think I’ve ever read. I might not have enjoyed it as much as everyone made me believe, or as much as I hoped to, but it wasn’t a bad book. At the moment, though, I’m not sure that I’m interested in Summers’ other novels.