“But love is complicated, it’s messy. It can inspire selflessness, selfishness, our greatest accomplishments and our hardest mistakes. It brings us together and it can just as easily drive us apart” (Summers 2018, p. 303).
This was yet another selection I read for a book club at work, and I’m extremely glad I did. From the onset, it seemed to have a really interesting premise. I (like many women my age) am a huge fan of true crime, and listen to several true crime podcasts in my spare time. Because this book is written partially as a podcast, it seemed like the perfect book for me. What I didn’t expect was for this book to absolutely slap me in the face with heavy, heart-wrenching themes. While this certainly wasn’t a feel-good read by any means, I have to say I really enjoyed it, and I’m excited to read more books by Courtney Summers in the future.
Sadie, as one might expect, follows the story of Sadie Hunter, a teenage girl whose younger sister Mattie has just been murdered. Sadie knows exactly who is responsible for the murder, and she wants revenge. Told both from Sadie’s point of view and through a podcast called The Girls, the novel slowly unravels the mystery of what happened to Sadie during her search for her sister’s killer. It turns out Sadie herself has gone missing, and her surrogate grandmother is desperate for answers about what happened to her. As reluctant radio personality West McCray begins to look into the case, he realizes that this entire mystery is much bigger and more serious than he could have ever imagined.
It’s hard to figure out where to begin with this one. As I mentioned before, I’m a big follower of true crime, and it’s heartbreaking just how realistic this story is. So many young girls and teens in the real world are dealing with horrific, life-altering abuse, and this book really brings that issue to the forefront. Throughout the story, we learn more and more about the man who Sadie and her sister knew as “Keith.” This man, for lack of a better term, is a full-blown scumbag. Not only did he sexually abuse Sadie many times, but he also abused several other girls while going by different names. Even more horrifyingly, we learn that he keeps trophies from the girls he’s abused in the form of tags from their shirt collars.
When I learned this information, reading this book began to feel a lot like watching the movie Taken. As I learned more about the antagonists, I found myself wanting more and more violent deaths for them. Not only does Sadie learn more about the man who killed her sister, but she also discovers that he has a very powerful friend who shares his proclivity for abusing young girls. It was extremely satisfying seeing him get taken down and arrested, as there are many real-life offenders that don’t receive the same justice. It was also cool to see the mystery slowly unravel as West McCray follows Sadie’s tracks, adding more insight to the events we just witnessed through her eyes.
At one point, I was really worried she had murdered Javi (their connection was really sweet and wholesome for such a heavy book), but I was relieved to see that she instead led him to the truth and enlisted his help in taking down a predator. Similarly, it was heartwarming to see her attempts to make those around her understand what she was going through rather than hurting them, though she was at times tempted. I found it extra heart-breaking when she tried to save yet another young girl from the abuse she suffered, offering to take her away and rescue her from the pain.
I found Sadie to be incredibly compelling as a character, and though she spends most of the book crazed with sadness and anger, she still has a very obvious moral compass. Her reality is a sad one: growing up in abject poverty with an absent mother and a rotating cast of abusive father figures. Sadie has clearly had to grow up entirely too fast, and has an undying and unconditional love for her little sister, who she wants to protect at all costs. Her love for her sister is the driving force of the entire novel, and I’m glad she’s able to get her revenge in the end.
Something I both loved and hated was the ending, which was left purposefully ambiguous by the author. While I think it was an excellent ending to a suspenseful and powerful story, part of me really wishes I could have the closure of knowing what happened to her. The most likely story is that she was killed in the confrontation with “Keith,” but part of me also hopes that she got away and continued living her life under an alias. I really appreciate that Courtney Summers does not hold her reader’s hand with this ending, leaving it up to our interpretation, but it doesn’t make me any less curious as to what her interpretation of the ending is.
Overall, I found this to be a powerful, suspenseful, heart-breaking, and engaging read. It deals with a multitude of serious issues facing teenage girls, especially those living under the poverty line like Sadie and her sister. In just one story you have addiction, absent parents, child abuse, murder, and a teenager who is forced to grow up entirely too fast. Underneath it all, however, is an undying love. The love Sadie’s surrogate grandmother has for her, the love (though buried beneath years of addiction) her mother has for her and her sister, and above all the love that Sadie has for Maddie.
It is her love for Maddie that drives Sadie to hunt down not just one monster, but two monsters as the story progresses. Her story is one of incredible bravery, and I can only hope that novels like this shine a light on the ugly reality of child abuse and addiction. I’m excited to read more of Courtney’s work, as I think she has a true talent for telling a raw and impactful story.
Reference:
Summers C. (2018). Sadie (First). Wednesday Books.
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