I first heard about Sadie via multiple booktube accounts, and the premise was so fascinating. Half of the book is narrated by Sadie, a girl intent on finding out what happened to her little sister who was murdered, the other half is a podcast covering the disappearance of Sadie. I listen to A TON of podcasts, so seeing this medium being used in novels was so intriguing. I (like many) started off with the gateway drug of podcasts, Serial, and it's was fascinating to see how it was used as a template for the podcast in the novel. I listened to this as an audiobook for the full podcast immersion experience, and I was really compelled by the story; I ended up staying awake until 1 am because I was eager to finish it.

True crime stories are most frequently centered around a dead girl, and Sadie is no exception. It's a really dark novel, leaning into the horrific details in life that we prefer to pretned won't exist. However, there is this glimmer of justice and revenge as we chase along with Sadie as she attempts to punish the evil in her world. Also, Sadie has a stutter, and I believe this is the first prominent character I've read with one. Her narrator's performance was stunning, and I love how sardonic Sadie could be, especially when she analyzed people's reactions to her.

I really liked the book, but I found that Sadie's portions were the much more compelling parts of the novel. West McCray, the podcast host, is a really underdeveloped character. He doesn't have any conviction in the story and is basically pushed along by his boss to investigate Sadie. It made the podcast episodes really lackluster. He's not quite Sarah Koenig who's fully invested in finding out Adnan's story in Serial, nor is he Laura Beil of Dr. Death, telling the story engagingly without personal involvement. He falls somewhere in the middle which is just... blah. I have no idea why he wanted to tell Sadie's story (and neither did he). Also McCray's narrator's performance was underwhelming. I've seen a lot of reviews compliment the production of the audiobook, but I listen to so many podcasts that this felt just... underdone. And I think most of that rides on the performances, but I wish the audiobook had incorporated some podcast or radio producers into the production of the audiobook to really make it feel more realistic. The podcast episodes do pick up the more the story goes on, but I was much too eager to return to Sadie's perspective. I also don't love full cast audiobooks. I mean, they're fine, but I typically prefer one narrator, although I completely understand why this was full cast. I just wish Sadie's chapters had been only her narrator. I found it a little disconcerting, but that's just a personal preference really.

I couldn't put this book down, which is what really reminded me of my favorite crime based podcasts, who you need to know what they're next going to report to you. The ending was ambiguous. Not unsatisfactory, but more realistic in the sense that you're not going to get every answer you might have wanted.

I desperately wanted one last Sadie chapter, but alas it was fitting that we don't get to know what happened

The mystery isn't overinvolved or complex, but things from both perspectives come together so nicely it lead to a lot of audible gasps and "oh shit!" moments from me.