Member Review

First of all, thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for approving my request and sending me an eARC in exchange for a honest review.
You have to know English isn’t my first language, so feel free to correct me if I make some mistakes while writing this review.

Courtney Summers is one of my favorite authors – the way she writes, the atmosphere she creates, her girls that crawl inside you and you know they’re gonna stay with you all your life, no matter what.

Parker Fadley, Regina Afton, Eddie Reeves, Sloane Price, Romy Grey and now Sadie Hunter.
This will be one of the hardest reviews of my entire life.

What I love about Courtney Summers’s books? Everything.
My words won’t ever bring it justice and I can’t wait to get my hands on the physical copy because, even if Sadie destroyed me, I’m sure gonna reread it.


Sadie Hunter is nineteen.

Her life was never easy: an unknown father, a young mother too much keen on alcohol and drugs since she was a teenager, unable to take care of Sadie and herself – unable to look at her because she didn’t look like her, because she looked too much like her mother Irene.
Sadie’s world really came alive when she was six and Mattie was born and Sadie, who wanted someone to love and someone who loved her back, makes taking care of Mattie her mission in life – with a little help from May Beth, the woman who acts like the girls’ surrogate grandmother and rents them the trailer where they live.

Help so much needed when Claire takes off, leaving them alone – and this is gonna be the first and real fracture in Sadie and Mattie’s relationship.

Then Mattie, age thirteen, gets found dead – the victim of a horrible crime.
Sadie knows who did it and she’ll stop at nothing to get her revenge on the one person who took the light from her world, because without Mattie she has nothing else to live for.
Sadie is gonna do anything in her power – and she knows she’s gonna kill that man.

Five months after her departure, May Beth calls West McCray trying to get his help in finding Sadie, since her car full of her personal belongings was found abandoned along the street without a trace of the girl. West says yes - even if he disregarded the story when he first heard it – and retraces Sadie’s steps: he gets some answers but he gets even more questions. Soon he becomes invested – afraid of what he might not find, even more afraid of what he could really find along the way.


Courtney Summers wrote another masterpiece, she wrote another book that tears you apart, she gave voice to another girl who gets under your skin and you know she won’t ever leave.
Sadie broke my heart.

Courtney Summers has this flawless way when it comes to write about the ugliness in the world and in human beings, blurring them like you’re spying through the keyhole – you can’t see the entire scene, but you know too well what is happening. You don’t need for her to write every single detail, you don’t need for her to say it out loud: she shows you through Sadie’s actions and thoughts. As a reader, you only have a hazy image of what Sadie went through, but Courtney Summers expresses it in a way you get to live it, you get a lump in your throat, you get sick to your stomach.
It sounds awful, but it’s awesome – I think it’s awesome the way she gets her readers to empathize with her girls just suggesting what happened, totally captivating them.
Sadie's memories - Sadie's nightmares - of what happened to her as she was wide awake gave me the chills.

I loved its structure, the change between West’s podcast and Sadie’s voice.

Both of them bring something to the book: West talks with people, he asks questions, he sometimes hits a dead end, he lets us know Sadie through different eyes: May Beth, a professor from her school, her employer, the ones Sadie met pursuing the man who killed Mattie.
West, the one who didn’t want to be involved in the beginning, then he feels like he knows Sadie somehow and he cares about what could have happened to her.
Then there’s Sadie – this stubborn, reckless, strong, desperate, brave, exhausted girl full of grief, guilt, hate, rage and desire for revenge. This girl with a disenchanted look in her eyes who’s able to sense a lie when it gets told to her face, but who still kinda dream another life she could’ve had had the circumstances been different. This girl who’s hurting, but is still set to do everything to get some peace.

This is not a story about hate and revenge, even if it looks like one – this is a love story. It’s a story about sisterly love – a love not always idyllic, but big nonetheless. It’s the love Sadie feels towards Mattie – who we get to know through Sadie’s memories – that gets her going, even when it all looks too difficult to bear.
It won’t bring Mattie back because it’s too late to save her, but maybe she can save other girls – and she doesn’t care about herself, not until Mattie gets justice.

I loved this book, it hurt and it kept me on the edge with every step Sadie made and with every clue West discovered – bringing him close to Sadie and the truth.
That truth Sadie never told anyone.

Sadie – the book and the girl – broke me to pieces and Courtney Summers proved herself amazing once again writing another unforgettable novel: you won't be able to put it down.
I cried at those last pages because the ending is somewhat perfect in its own way and if I could give it all the stars in the world, I would without a second thought.

Never stop writing, Courtney.