Sadie

Oh that cliffhanger is MALICIOUS but at the same time I can tell this story wouldn't have been as good if it ended any other way. The main goal of this book seems to be to highlight that there isn't always a happy ending to be found in stories like this. That sometimes, maybe even most of the time, everything doesn't get wrapped up in a neat little bow and has a satisfying end.

That doesn't mean it wasn't absolutely heartbreaking to read though. This story was highly emotional and even though it never goes into explicit detail it's still a very tough read. I really liked the hybrid storytelling between having half the chapters in Sadie's POV and the other half formatted like transcripts of a podcast. I don't listen to true crime podcasts because in real life I find the whole thing kind of icky but it definitely added a lot of dimension to this book that I don't think it would've had otherwise.

The dialogue felt a bit clunky in Sadie's chapters sometimes because the story was in such a serious tone that I could tell the author didn't want to divert from that even during conversations, but sometimes that left me thinking to myself “No one actually talks like that.”

Other than that, though, this was a very gripping read.