SADIE

I’m not sure where I start with Sadie. I loved it.

When Sadie Hunter’s little sister, Mattie, dies, she loses the biggest piece of herself. Though it won’t bring her sister back, she wants the justice Mattie —and Sadie— deserves. Sadie knows exactly who killed her sister and while it won’t be easy to find him, that’s exactly what she’ll do. She has to. 

The narrative alternates between Sadie’s perspective and a podcast script that tells the story from multiple angles, and I can’t praise the seamless story frame enough. It’s brilliant. It’s modern. It’s smooth as hell. The trial and error, coming of age, heartbreaking and terrifyingly real story is artfully woven and keeps you engaged from start to finish. Hell, I wasn’t expecting it to end that way and I’m left wanting more more more. Of Sadie. Of the truth. Of fucking justice. 

Sadie’s character is badass. She’s a girl who’s overcome more than any one person ever should, who has been through shit that any one person should ever survive, and yet she’s entirely herself—fierce, driven, loving, unapologetic. And her sense of justice— swoon.

More than that, Sadie brings up real issues that plague the globe. Children and girls are abused and the signs are overlooked, chalked up to “kids being kids” when they’re angry or distrusting or aloof. Girls go missing all the time— something repeated in the pages— and it’s so commonplace that hardly anyone cares to investigate their disappearances. If we don’t look for them, who will? Where are they? What’s happened to them? We’ll never know. And these are just some of the questions Sadie leaves you with when you’re done.