• Author: Courtney Summers
• Series: Standalone
• Genre: Contemporary/Thriller
• No. of pages: 314
• Year published: 2018
• Dates read: 22.08.19
• Rating: 4 stars
• Challenge: ONTD Challenge August Theme, “Read a thriller in which the main protagonist is female and ends up in danger.”

We have more story than time to tell it—but I suppose that’s true for all of us.

– West McCray

Wow! 4.5 stars. I read this in one day. One day!!!!!

I know I said the next book I would review was going to be Titans of History, well…. it’s a 600+ page book. It’s taking some time.

First of all, I hope there is an audiobook version of this as it would work so well! With the mixture between podcast episodes and Sadie’s first person POV.

Plot: 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 meagre 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.

There are a lot of trigger warnings in this story from murder to abuse both physical and sexual so before you go into this book please do be mindful of the triggers littered throughout the novel.

I really enjoyed the switch between the podcast chapters and Sadie’s pov. I loved how we were given an insight slowly into what actually happened and we subsequently had knowledge over West who was creating the podcast and trying to piece the jigsaw together.

I thought Sadie was such an interesting and unique character. She is the first YA character of her kind that I have ever read, she is flawed, struggling and in a way messed up. She is girl who has been putting other people before her for her entire life and it has truly taken a toll. My heart broke for her numerous times through this book, I just wanted to give her a massive hug. She goes through so much and I can’t help but admire the incredible strength she shows.

The other character I loved was May Beth. What an amazing and loving woman. This story is just full of mini-heartbreaks and I also wanted to give her a hug as well. She is the definition of family does not always mean blood.

The plot wasn’t incredibly action-packed, I feel without the podcast chapters the pacing would have been quite slow, there was alot of just pure conversation and car rides. But it did pack a punch emotionally, which is probably why there wasn’t to much action because the themes discussed were so heavy and very emotionally triggering.

The ending was really good. I was a fan of where the story was left I didn’t think it was going to end the way it did.

One of my nitpicks was that I saw a couple of spelling and grammar mistakes littered throughout the first half of the story, that sort of pulled me out of the story a bit.

It’s just another layer of tragedy in a story that’s already seen more than its fair share.

– West McCray

So hopefully the next book I will be reviewing is Titans of History but I am also reading the classic The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde so we shall see which one I finish first.