Sadie by Courtney Summers

Sadie by Courtney Summers
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The unique concept and style is absolutely stellar. I was completely captivated, even when I didn't want to be.

This is a YA suspense story about Sadie, a teenager who goes missing after her 13-year old sister is murdered. It's told in two unique, alternating parts. One part is Sadie's POV, right up until the point at which she officially disappears. The other part is a missing person's podcast, presented just like an investigative story, as the podcaster travels, researches, and interviews people trying to piece together what might have happened to Sadie.

This story is dark, ugly, emotional, and gut-wrenching, but you won't be able to look away. It reminds me a bit of watching those hour long investigative shows that I grew up with as a child, where they try to track down answers to unsolved mysteries, murders, and disappearances.

The unique style lends itself well to an audiobook format, so I highly recommend this book on audio.

Book 29 read in 2019

Pages: 311

When to Rob a Bank: ...And 131 More Warped Suggestions and Well-Intended Rants by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner

Summary: "Over the past decade, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner have published more than 8,000 blog posts on Freakonomics.com. Many of them, they freely admit, were rubbish. But now they’ve gone through and picked the best of the best. You’ll discover what people lie about, and why; the best way to cut gun deaths; why it might be time for a sex tax; and, yes, when to rob a bank. (Short answer: never; the ROI is terrible.) You’ll also learn a great deal about Levitt and Dubner’s own quirks and passions, from gambling and golf to backgammon and the abolition of the penny." -Amazon

I fell in love with Freakonomics through the podcast.  You can find all of the episodes (and listen for free) in their archive.  I highly recommend it.

I have read each of the books in the Freakonomics line, and this one might be my favorite.  The short, often snarky entries in this compilation held my interest while also challenging a lot of my thinking, and the writing is straightforward, making the complicated subjects and theories easily accessible.

If you've never read or listened to anything from Freakonomics, the overall point is to take real-world problems or questions and look at them through the super-logical eyes of economists.  This can be harsh, as emotion is not an economists friend, but sometimes removing emotion is the only way to really dissect the human condition and the nuance of life.

Again, I HIGHLY recommend the podcast.  As for this book, it is a collection of their blog posts, which you can read here.  So find one that interests you, read it, and if you want more - go for this book.

4/5

400 pages

It Devours! by Joseph Fink and Jeffery Cranor

It Devours! by Joseph Fink and Jeffery Cranor
My rating 4 of 5

Summary: Nilanjana Sikdar is an outsider to the town of Night Vale. Working for Carlos, the town’s top scientist, she relies on fact and logic as her guiding principles. But all of that is put into question when Carlos gives her a special assignment investigating a mysterious rumbling in the desert wasteland outside of town. This investigation leads her to the Joyous Congregation of the Smiling God, and to Darryl, one of its most committed members. Caught between her beliefs in the ultimate power of science and her growing attraction to Darryl, she begins to suspect the Congregation is planning a ritual that could threaten the lives of everyone in town. 

This book is part of the Welcome to Night Vale podcast universe. It's kooky, weird, and fun! I love that the podcast writers continue to build up their world. 

347 pages