Everyone Is Lying
A Deliciously Twisty Review of "Killing Sadie" by Rachel Peterson
Some books ask you to settle in, get comfortable, and enjoy the journey. Killing Sadie by Rachel Peterson grabs you by the collar, drags you into a barn full of secrets, and dares you to figure out which character is lying the most. Published by Simon Pulse, this young adult thriller arrives on August 4, 2026, and it is an extremely difficult book to put down once the stories—and the inconsistencies—begin piling up.
Thank you to the publisher and author for the book and my honest review.
The facts initially seem straightforward. After one of the McClain family’s infamous barn parties, seventeen-year-old Sadie Cooper and her apparent killer, Mason Vreeland, are both dead. Sadie’s twin sister, Jayne, witnessed the murder and held Sadie as she died. Mason was then killed by Sadie’s boyfriend, Ben, while he was supposedly trying to save her.
It sounds like a tragic but uncomplicated case. Mason killed Sadie. Ben killed Mason. Case closed.
Except this is a thriller, so naturally the case is approximately as closed as a screen door during a hurricane.
The story unfolds through the perspectives of Jayne, Ben, and Sadie’s best friend, Liz, as they explain to the police what happened at the party and during the days leading up to it. The problem is that their stories do not quite match. At first, the differences appear small enough to dismiss. Someone remembers a conversation differently. Someone leaves out an interaction. Someone insists they were in one place when another person’s account suggests otherwise.
Then those tiny inconsistencies begin multiplying, and suddenly everyone looks suspicious.
One of the strongest parts of Killing Sadie is the way Rachel Peterson handles the unreliable narrators. Every point-of-view character is either lying, hiding something, manipulating the truth, or doing an impressive combination of all three. Trying to decide who deserves your trust becomes part of the fun. Just when I thought I understood a character’s motivations, another detail appeared and made me reconsider everything.
The book is filled with gaslighting, betrayal, secret grudges, questionable relationships, and people making spectacularly bad decisions. In other words, it contains nearly everything I want from a fast-paced young adult thriller. The drama is delicious, the tension keeps building, and the characters’ shifting versions of events create a constant sense that something important is being hidden just out of sight.
I did predict the culprit after chapter five. As an avid thriller reader and writer, I always make a prediction before reaching the ending because apparently I cannot simply relax and let a mystery happen to me. I need to mentally assemble a crime board, connect imaginary red string between suspects, and decide who did it before the book tells me.
This time, my early prediction was correct all the way through.
However, figuring out the answer did not make me want to stop reading. That is an important distinction. Some mysteries collapse once you identify the person responsible, but Killing Sadie remains compelling because the mystery is not limited to one question. Knowing—or suspecting—who did it does not automatically reveal how the situation developed, what each character is concealing, or why everyone is working so hard to control the narrative.
I wanted to see how all the lies connected. I wanted to know which details were genuine clues and which were carefully constructed distractions. Most of all, I wanted to watch the characters’ stories fall apart.
The third act shifts into Sadie’s perspective during the days before the party, finally allowing readers to see the events through the victim’s eyes. This change gives the book’s title and central mystery additional meaning. Sadie may be at the center of everything, but she does not fully recognize what is happening around her. Watching the truth come together through her point of view is both satisfying and frustrating because the warning signs become increasingly visible—even when Sadie cannot interpret them correctly.
The final reveal is worth the wait. Although experienced thriller readers may recognize certain clues early, I think many readers will be surprised by the full truth. Peterson does a fabulous job of using omissions, assumptions, and conflicting perspectives to keep the story moving. The suspense does not depend entirely on a single shocking moment. Instead, it comes from gradually realizing how much information has been distorted.
My only real criticism is that the overall concept did not feel particularly original to me. Unreliable narrators, deadly parties, tangled teenage relationships, and victims who missed something important have all appeared in other young adult mysteries. The publisher recommends the book for fans of How to Survive Your Murder and Dead Girls Can’t Tell Secrets, although I have not read either comparison title, so readers familiar with those books may notice similarities that I cannot evaluate.
Still, originality is not the only thing that makes a thriller successful. A familiar idea can be incredibly entertaining when executed well, and Killing Sadie is very well executed. The multiple perspectives are engaging, the discrepancies are carefully placed, and the constant lying gives the story an addictive momentum. I may have solved the central mystery early, but I still had a fantastic time watching every secret crawl into the light.
Overall, I am giving Killing Sadie 4.8 out of 5 stars. It may not completely reinvent the young adult thriller, but it delivers a compulsively readable mystery filled with lies, gaslighting, betrayal, and characters who should never be allowed to coordinate their stories without legal supervision.
Pick this one up when you are in the mood for a twisty, fast-paced thriller that will make you suspicious of everyone. Just do not start it before bed unless you are prepared to say, “One more chapter,” several times before accidentally finishing the entire book.
About the book:
Synopsis:
For the first printing only! This hardcover features sprayed edges while the special edition supply lasts.
Perfect for fans of How to Survive Your Murder and Dead Girls Can’t Tell Secrets, this young adult thriller unspools the truth behind a tragic murder through multiple unreliable narrators who all have secrets to keep.
Here’s what we do know: there was another infamous barn party at the McClain family farm last night, and things went horribly wrong. By the end of the night, there were two dead bodies in the old barn: seventeen-year-old Sadie Cooper and her killer, Mason Vreeland. The murder was heartbreakingly witnessed by Sadie’s twin sister, Jayne, and Sadie died in her arms. Mason was killed by Sadie’s boyfriend, Ben, in an attempt to save Sadie.
Aside from figuring out Mason’s motive, it should be an open and shut case.
But it’s not.
The story unfolds just after the murders, and Jayne, Ben, and Sadie’s best friend, Liz, are telling the cops what transpired at the party and the events leading up to it. But little details don’t match. And those little details start to add up to big discrepancies. But who’s lying, and why?
The shocking truth is revealed in the third act, when the POV shifts to victim Sadie herself, in the days leading up to the party. Witness exactly what happened—and see if you can piece it all together. Because poor Sadie totally missed what was right in front of her.
About The Author
Rachel Peterson graduated from Miami University of Ohio with a degree in English and creative writing. Born and raised in Ohio, she started her career in advertising before spending nearly a decade in New York City as a marketing executive for technology companies. An avid traveler, Rachel now splits her time between Manhattan and the Midwest, where she lives with her husband, Ken; their dog, Olive; and horse, Hope.