Sadie

A Novel

By: Courtney Summers

Narrated by: Rebecca Soler, Fred Berman, Dan Bittner, Gabra Zackman, full cast

Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's Summary

Winner of the 2019 Odyssey Award
Winner of the 2019 Audie Award for Young Adult Audiobook

An innovative audiobook production featuring more than 30 voices, Sadie explores the depth of a sister's love - poised to be the next story listeners won't be able to pause.

A missing girl on a journey of revenge and a Serial-like podcast following the clues she's left behind.

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' Sadie is propulsive and harrowing and will keep listeners riveted until the last track.

©2018 Courtney Summers (P)2018 Macmillan Audio

Critic Reviews

"A haunting, gut-wrenching, and relentlessly compelling read. Sadie grabs you and won't let you go until you've borne witness." (Veronica Roth, number-one New York Times best-selling author of Carve the Mark and the Divergent series)

"An electrifying thriller, taut as a bowstring. A coming-of-age tale, both gritty and sensitive. A poignant drama of love and loss. This - all this - is Sadie: a novel for readers of any age, and a character as indelible as a scar. Flat-out dazzling." (A.J. Finn, number-one New York Times best-selling author of The Woman in the Window)

"Courtney Summers's powerful story of love, neglect, abuse, and revenge is narrated with irresistible urgency by Rebecca Soler and Dan Bittner, along with an ensemble of supporting narrators...this is a production that will not be forgotten." (AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award Winner)

Exceptional Storytelling & A New Favorite

This was probably one of the best audiobooks I've ever listened to. Though I don't listen to much so the bar is set high for me now. The voice for Sadie did an excellent job with her stutter and capturing the emotion of suppressed teenage rage. This whole audiobook was phenomenal! I finished it in less time than I expected because I was both disturbed and compelled. The entire cast was believable and the story... the STORY was the best written story I've read in a long time. It has a nice blend of both thriller and mystery. Adult Thriller writers ought to take notes.

Brilliant, Courtney Summers, author to follow

Couldn't get Sadie out of my mind. I wept and stayed up all night to finish this book. If you get one audio book this year, it's this.

This is a book that has to be listened to.

The story is very good (although heartbreaking), but the performance blew me away. Brilliant audiobook

✫✫ 5 Stars ✫✫

WOW!! I found this completely enthralling! This book kept me up all night last night. I had to know how it ended. This is a dark thriller wrapped up in a mystery.
I really liked the authors writing style and the back and forth between past and present. It was an emotional story about loss, survival and "justice". I'm normally a romance reader so this one was out of my norm but in the best way. This book will stick with me for a very long time. I also need to say when it ended I was sitting with my mouth open thinking NOOOOOO that can't be the end!

The narration was awesome! So many narrators and sound effects which I don't normally enjoy but I feel like the writing style required all of it and they really knocked this one out of the park!

Best Audio Book I’ve Ever Listened To

I’m already a huge fan of Courtney Summers’ work, so I knew going into Sadie that I was going to love it, but this is perhaps the best audio book I’ve ever listened to. The narrators did a fantastic job at immersing me in the story, so much so that by the end of the book, I forgot it was just that—a book. This book wrecked me, and I highly recommend giving it a listen.

Best audio book I've ever listened to

This was incredible in every way! Highly recommended. Performance was out of this world and the story was so well thought out.

I was not expecting to like this as much as I did.

This is the type of book you avoid because you don’t want to feel feelings. This is the type of book that you get so involved with you almost feel like your investigating along side the characters. This is the type of story you cry your eyes out because you can physically feel every word being written. This is my type of book. I fell in love with it and I’m sad and angry and relieved and left with so many unanswered questions. I recommend this to everyone!

Seriously amazing performance!!

So I really don't know who was who but this audio was like going to the theater! I've never listened to anything like this before and I've listened to several hundred audiobooks. It was amazingly creative! I loved how you could hear the background during the podcast interviews... hearing the cafe noises or hearing people inhale and exhale while smoking.

As far as the storyline, this was a great one. It was interesting and a bit vague but ultra interesting! I do wish I had some definite answers to the story but not knowing everything makes it seem real.

Wow

Amazing…
This is not my genre at all and I was blown away by this story.
I couldn’t turn it off I was up way, way too late and the first thing I did when I got up was put it back on.
This has been recommended to me by a few people and for whatever reason, I kept putting it off I am so glad I gave it a chance.

It had me on the edge of my seat, it had me thinking, guessing and even in tears.
The mystery aspect and how it unfolds really just sucked me in.
That ending…. Hot diggity it really left me with so many more questions and if that was the author’s goal she achieved it.

I am a romance girl at heart so this full cast had me thrown for a little bit but once I got into it I couldn’t imagine it not being told in this way. It was fantastic.

Excellent audiobook

This was an amazing audiobook! I can’t imagine a better format for consuming this book because of the podcast structure. So haunting and so good.

Kept me enthralled

A thoroughly enjoyable listen due to the voices and a great story. I loved the different angles of the story and the unexpected twists.

Great audiobook, story itself a bit lacking.

I found the audiobook incredibly done, the cast was fantastic, yet the story somehow fell flat for me.

Speechless

Absolutely amazing, i just finished it and cant stop crying. I can feel my heart breaking. Its been a while since a book made me feel even remote like this.

the plots ...I'm telling yall

this book was so good. all the plots were so...not that unpredictable but still shocks you somehow. also there are small "plots" I guess that if you're not careful you might miss. this book was darker than I thought, and after a while you understood why sadie was the way she was (I didn't like her at first). as the story progressed I never got around to liking her voice actor tho cause she was a bit dramatic, especially when she shouldnt have been (like describing how bright the stars were in the sky, it sounded more like a fight scene which was ????). I love how this was like a podcast, and the fact that everyone had different voice actors. it was a really fun experience

The production of this audiobook is mind blowing!

I love love love this audiobook. The narrators, ambient noises everything. They really put into great detail of all the sounds around the event in the book. You can hear the door opened, the mouse clicking when the character sending email, and much more. Overall, i am super impressed and highly recommends this audiobook.

Captivating

This Audible book was amazing. It pulled me in and this could have been a true story. I loved the characters and how you know where you stood with each one of them. And I love a book that leaves you on a cliff hanger. what has happened to Sadie??

Not great

Struggled with this one the story was wishy washy leaving the listener to guess what happened not my type of book

I’m still unsure if I liked this or not

For me, it was just an ok story. I don’t think it’s something I will be recommending to my friends, but I’m sure there are plenty who will disagree.

I listened to this over a weekend and considering the plot I was hoping to get more from the ending, but was left disappointed and unsatisfied. I know not all stories can be wrapped up in neat bows, but I just felt that there could’ve been a stronger ending to give the listener something to close out on.

The performances where really good though, and the way the story was told was something different for me, so I felt the whole “Podcast” vibe it was giving and this element was what kept my attention.

hOokEd

Although there was much of the book which I predicted/anticipated, the character development and the story telling is was kept enthralled. AlSo the PRODUCTION WAS AMAZING and so enhanced the reading experience!!

HEART BREAKING, HAUNTING AND UTTERLY BRILLIANT

BQ✒️ - "Sadie, if you're out there, please let me know. Because I can't take another dead girl"

WOW WOW WOW WOW! I finally found an audiobook that blew my socks off 😍 thanks @evavstheworld for the recommendation - it was an incredible listen!

Sadie is a story I never expected to fall so in love with. It's dark, twisted and pretty emotional - you are on tender hooks throughout. Trigger warning - this narrative does cover pedophilia, substance abuse and physical abuse. And in some of these darker moments, I truly felt an uncomfortable physical reaction - I fully believe this was intentional on the writers part to shake its readers to the core

It's split into two viewpoints - Sadie as you follow her journey, and West McCray's podcast episodes 🎧 The podcast worked so well as an audiobook as there was a whole cast that performed the vast array of the characters we meet - it even had its own music theme! It really didn't feel like a fictional audiobook, and that added to the realness of the narrative. Sadie has a stutter, and the narrator for her character really captured that well. I am not sure if these elements of the book would come out as affectively in written form, but it was a perfect listening setup.

I wasn't sure of Sadie at the start but by the end, she had snuck into my heart and never stopped tugging 🖤 She represents passionate sisterly devotion and throughout her haunting story, we see her deal with guilt and grief in all its rawness. The end left me shattered emotionally (not revealing any spoilers) and I can't stop replying those last few lines. It will be a long time before I do

I can't recommend this book enough, especially in audio form. If you want a gut wrenching read that will have you hooked, I absolutely recommend this incredible narrative