Where to start? This book totally gripped me and wouldn't let go until the very end. I listened to this via Libro.fm, and the full cast and style of the reading made it feel like I was actually listening to a true crime podcast (which is right up my ally). The way the reader for Sadie's parts read was very believable, like we were hearing and seeing exactly what Sadie saw before she disappeared, and it was a very powerful rendition of the story. I would highly recommend this as an audiobook because of the full cast, the style it is read in, and because it makes the story come that much more alive.

Sadie lost her little sister Mattie a year ago. Her body was found near a fire, so a lot of criminal evidence pointing to who killed her was lost to the efforts to put the fire out. Sadie knows Mattie was killed, and if no one else is going to do something to find her killer, she will. Letting go of her old life, Sadie takes off without telling anyone in search of Mattie's killer. But in the effort, Sadie goes missing. West McCray, a radio host, hears of the story of the death of Mattie and her missing sister Sadie, and his boss tells him it's a story he should look into. West doesn't really want to take the case, because "girls go missing all the time", but he does anyways, which leads him into the messy life that Sadie and Mattie lived. With the help of Maybeth, the girls surrogate grandmother, West is able to pinpoint a start to what Sadie may have left for, and the story becomes all encompassing in his life. Can he figure out who killed Mattie? Can he find Sadie alive? Or will all of this be an investigation happening too late?

I was completely convinced this could have been a real story, with a real podcast that was made. I've done my fair share recently of true crime podcast listening (Up and Vanished, Atlanta Monster/ The Zodiac Killer, The Golden State Killer, and Bear Brook being some of my favorites) I was totally hooked by the style. The chapters that were "The Girls" podcast were so interesting because we had already followed Sadie in previous chapters on where she went and why, so being one step ahead of where West was just made me want to urge him on to get to the bottom of the story. I had figured we would lose Sadie's voice at some point, only finding out what happened in the end by West, but the ending left me heartbroken, but satisfied (I swear, that's not an actual spoiler). It really does give you a different perspective on murder and disappearing people cases, since half of the story is told by the person who disappeared. Since this can't actually happen in real life, it just makes you think of what the person who went missing or died (in Mattie's case) was doing or thinking when they met their fate. It leaves an unsettling sort of drop in your stomach, like the anticipation of dropping off something high but you haven't actually done it yet. It makes me want to go out into the world and find the real missing girls out there.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone really. It brings out a lot of appreciation for life and other people, and it will literally give you all the feels. Even though I just finished it, I almost want to listen to it again, it was that good. I want more stories like this in my life, since it brings to life themes that are true to real life, and help make people aware of others in a way they might not be already.