Reading And Walking: Sadie

Welcome to Reading and Walking, where I go for a stroll and listen to an audiobook. I’m going to review the book and show you what I saw on my walk. Simple, right? For this adventure, I chose to listen to Sadie by Courtney Summers. I chose it because it’s been nominated for a bunch of awards, and I’ve seen good reviews of the audiobook. Also, it’s set in Colorado, so why not wander around Colorado while listening to it? (I actually didn’t know where the book was set until I started listening. This was a happy coincidence, but shhh. Pretend I planned it this way.)

Sadie by Courtney Summers

Genre: Young adult thriller

Pages: 308 (7hr 57min audiobook)

Publication date: September 2018
Content warning: Murder, drug addiction, sexual assault, disappearance, violence, child neglect, abandonment
Available at: Amazon | Book Depository

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.

I love fall. This is the first walk I’ve taken in months where I didn’t feel like I was boiling to death. I didn’t check the temperature before I left, but it was the first week of October: sunny, windy, and not ten billion degrees. I’m always thrilled when it’s not ten billion degrees.

When you think of fall landscapes, you usually picture forests turning red, orange, and gold. That doesn’t happen where I live. We don’t have enough trees to make a forest. The plants we do have tend to become vaguely yellowish for about a week. Then we get our first snow, which knocks the leaves off the trees and turns everything to brown slush. I did this walk a few days before the first snow, so here’s what I saw while listening to Sadie.

I can see why the Sadie audiobook gets so much hype. This book is a production. There are multiple voice actors, music, and sound effects. Part of the book is written as a podcast, and it really feels like you’re listening to a podcast. It’s an immersive experience. This is the best audiobook I’ve ever listened to.

The novel is divided into two perspectives. The first is Sadie, a nineteen-year-old girl who is determined to track down the man who murdered her younger sister. At the beginning of the book, the reader learns that Sadie disappeared while investigating the murder. The second perspective is a podcaster who is attempting to locate Sadie. I found both perspectives compelling, but I liked Sadie’s better because it has more action.

The plot unfolds in a fairly realistic way. Each person the podcaster interviews has a different opinion about Sadie and where she went. Sometimes the podcaster’s leads dry up. Sometimes he can’t puzzle out where Sadie went next. It feels real. When someone disappears, we rarely have all the answers.

“And Sadie, if you’re out there, please let me know. Because I can’t take another dead girl.” – Sadie

I read, watch, and listen to a lot of crime stuff. One thing that bothers me about crime fiction (and nonfiction) is the focus on the murderer. The murder victims become props in the killer’s story. Should we really be giving that much attention to horrible people? Sadie takes the focus off the murderer and puts it on the victims. This is Sadie and Mattie’s story. Mattie’s killer barely makes an appearance on the page. That’s what I admire most about this book. It has all the drama of a crime thriller, but it skips the gory details and keeps the readers’ attention on the victims.

If you visit this blog often, then you might know that I’m not the biggest fan of thrillers. But, I finally found one I loved! Sadie is tense and innovative. The audiobook is riveting. I didn’t want to turn it off. If you haven’t listened to Sadie yet, what are you waiting for? Request it from your library and go walking.

Since the audiobook is nearly 8 hours long, I couldn’t walk for the whole thing. Most of my listening happened during a slow week at work. I only walked for the last 90 minutes of the book. I ended up walking 4 miles (6.4 km).

It’s November now, which makes walking difficult. Remember back in January, when I was slogging through snow? Well, prepare for more snow photos. They’re probably coming in the next Reading and Walking.

Brenn and Cam were two of my best friends when I was a kid. They defaced this sidewalk sometime in the 1990s. The purple arrows make me think the pavement is going to be torn up soon, so I snapped a photo of their long-ago vandalism.

This creepy beast was chillin' on the sidewalk.

Buy Sadie on Amazon

Buy Sadie on Book Depository

What is your favorite audiobook?