A missing girl on a journey of revenge. A Serial―like podcast following the clues she's left behind. And an ending you won't be able to stop talking about.

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 meager 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.

Courtney Summers has written the breakout book of her career. Sadie is propulsive and harrowing and will keep you riveted until the last page.

Wow, so this book is certainly going places. I was totally unprepared for the impact it had on me and was emotionally shook, but I loved it. Sadie is a heartbreaking story about love, grief and pain that just keeps adding new layers and messages to its already complex concept.

Sadie is 19 years old, living with her half-sister Mattie and their step-grandmother in a trailer. She had to drop out of high school to take care for her sister when their addict mother Claire left them. Sadie was always shy and withdrawn, but when Mattie was born, she did everything to protect her and enable her a normal childhood. She resented her mother for being an addict and never taking care of her, but she wanted to save Mattie from disappointment so she fed her all kinds of lies about their mother, creating an unhealthy illusion in her head that only complicated things.

One day, Mattie is found dead, after getting into someone’s van trying to reach her mother. Weeks after that Sadie disappears, leaving all her stuff in a dumpster and buying herself a new car. Grief struck and revenge driven Sadie has only one goal left – to make those who hurt her sister pay.

Sadie’s story is told from two parallel perspectives - one is Sadie’s, and the other is organized as a podcast led by a journalist interviewing those closest to Sadie in order to find out what happened. Radio series is called The Girls, and it features stories from Mattie and Sadie’s childhood told mostly by their step-grandmother. It provides us, readers, detailed overview of Sadie and Mattie’s backstory, their relationship with each other and their mother, and interviews of various people who came across Sadie, adding more pieces to a puzzle of what happened to her.

The plot is envisioned as more of a mystery about Mattie’s disappearance and Mattie’s death. Through Sadie’s perspective, her feelings and course of events are presented as well as her personal insight. Podcast has been notioned more like an investigation and addition to Sadie’s perspective, bringing more details and even closure about their fates. It was impossible not to get 100% invested in this book – it’s written so simple and easy to follow, and yet it is really complex on an emotional level. Sadie is a thrilling mix of mystery, action and character development, that is almost impossible to put down.

This book was so damn emotional, and I can’t remember the last time I was hit by a story this much. It is full of pain and grief - not just Sadie’s, but every girl who ever got hurt or experienced abuse from people they were supposed to trust. I was really angry and sad and disgusted, but also proud because these things are so important and it takes guts to write about such topics. I loved how author addressed the topic, and created an amazing story of two girls – a story that is also pretty universal. I’ve basically swallowed this book and it left me with a hollow feeling of emptiness, followed by tornado of emotions. And I am so. Damn. Impressed.

And Sadie- oh Sadie, she was one of the best characters I’ve read about recently. I love revenge-driven characters, especially if they embody badass girls. Her love for Mattie was something so pure and cute, and reading their story broke my heart because she tried soo much. She literally dedicated her whole life to make it easier for Mattie than she had, and when Mattie died, she was left with nothing – nothing except for the all-consuming urge to take revenge. I loved her stutter and how it was made, it was so cute and badass sometimes xd *spoiler for ending* I loved that ending, because it was the final touch this story needed. It was really heartbreaking, but also left a note of mysterious-ness and a nice touch to Sadie’s character development.


If you ask me Summers’s Sadie is an actual masterpiece, easy to read, but hard to contemplate. It’s pretty fucked up, but also beautiful and if you can deal with some of that stuff you should definitely read this.