Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - Sadie

I HATE this book. It's a book that slowly drags you down a tunnel that is constantly getting smaller and smaller. By the time you get half way through, the tunnel you are in completely darkness, and you can feel your bones breaking. By the time you reach the end being squeezed out the tunnel you will be nothing more than a mangled tube of meat, the only positive being the fact that you're able to see the sky again. However what was once the shining bright midday sun, now only a eastern band of gold holding the promise of a new day, but only if you are willing to wait. This is my new favorite book

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sarah_shelf's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad

4.0

I’m not quite sure how to begin with this book. It’s powerful and heavy and so vastly different from what I thought it was going to be. And I know this is going to sit with me for a long time.

This book is described like a mystery, but it’s really not about that at all. At least not in the way I think of traditional mysteries. The narrative is told from the perspective of Sadie searching for her little sister Mattie’s killer and from Wes McCray a podcast journalist who has picked up Sadie’s story after she has gone missing. The general whodunit and why that I was expecting isn’t really a part of it. Sadie knows what happened (even if it takes a while for her to explain that to us) and Wes’ investigation is largely parallel and two steps behind Sadie’s journey. Rather, the focus is on the sisters’ relationship: how much Sadie loves Mattie as well as the things she is willing to do for that love because no one else will.

I was not prepared for the monster Keith/Darren/Jack was. (Seriously check the content warnings. I was caught off guard and even more unsettled because of it). So much of Sadie’s journey involves the effects and reactions to his abuse, which is never fully described on the page. Instead we get disturbing flashback scenes of creepy behavior, the emotional turmoil of the evidence he and Silas kept, as well as testimonies from a host of characters who thought they were great guys. All of that makes this so much more real because “girls go missing all the time” but rarely are we forced into the true aftermath of these stories.

There was no other way to end this book. Apparently the ending is contentious, and I get that because usually such an open-ending feels unfinished and unsatisfying, but it would have hurt the story to do things differently.

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agentlywildrebellion's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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grays_opinion's review

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I would recommend Sadie to anyone interested in a gritty, dark revenge novel and can handle the subject matter (more on that later.) I loved how the story was told, with the narration switching back and forth between Sadie and West, a podcaster covering Sadie's disappearance months after she went missing. It definitely helped build suspense and give the reader more information as to what exactly was going on. West in particular has an interesting arc, going from resistant and unwilling to cover Sadie's disappearance to becoming invested not only in her story, but also in the lives of others involved in her life. Sadie herself doesn't actually undergo any character development, but it's definitely not a bad thing; it helps show her determination in her mission and how deeply she is grieving her sister. I didn't necessarily find myself loving West or Sadie either. I definitely didn't hate them (although I didn't like West's initial dismissal of Sadie's story) but I never really found myself loving them. They're both characters on a mission; I found myself more invested in their stories than the characters themselves. As for why I said "it's complicated" when referring to the diversity of the cast, the characters are largely not racially diverse, if that's something you're looking for. Both Sadie and West are LGBTQ+, but that's not a big part of the book (or even a small part of it.) What I'm trying to say is that if you are looking for a book that includes a lot of diversity and has a lot of focus on it, Sadie is not that book.

The reason I gave Sadie 4 stars and not 5 is because of the subject matter of child sexual abuse and pedophilia. It was difficult to process and generally something that I don't like to read about. However, I thought that the topics were handled well and in a sensitive manner. If you choose to read this book, definitely heed any and all content warnings you find.

Overall, Sadie is a really gripping book. I was invested in Sadie and her mission. She and West make for somewhat compelling characters, although the story focuses more on the plot than the characters. It's a very interesting story, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes true crime. This book does kind of have a true crime feel to it, except it's fictional haha. This is a very interesting, but very dark book; a good read overall.

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