Claire is only seven years old when her college-age sister, Alison, disappears on the last night of their family vacation at a resort on the Caribbean island of Saint X. Several days later, Alison’s body is found in a remote spot on a nearby cay, and two local men – employees at the resort – are arrested. But the evidence is slim, the timeline against it, and the men are soon released. The story turns into national tabloid news, a lurid mystery that will go unsolved. For Claire and her parents, there is only the return home to broken lives.
Years later, Claire is living and working in New York City when a brief but fateful encounter brings her together with Clive Richardson, one of the men originally suspected of murdering her sister. It is a moment that sets Claire on an obsessive pursuit of the truth – not only to find out what happened the night of Alison’s death but also to answer the elusive question: Who exactly was her sister? At seven, Claire had been barely old enough to know her: a beautiful, changeable, provocative girl of eighteen at a turbulent moment of identity formation.
As Claire doggedly shadows Clive, hoping to gain his trust, waiting for the slip that will reveal the truth, an unlikely attachment develops between them, two people whose lives were forever marked by the same tragedy.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“To mourn a girl with infinite futures was to mourn infinitely.“
Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin
The book begins on the island of Saint X which discusses a tranquil, yet sweeping description of the island, their inhabitants and the holiday-goers. The rather mysterious, yet airy mood that sets the tone of the rest of the story.
Saint X was a novel that was intense and had a brisk, yet tense pace that followed Claire decades after her sister’s death. Like most mysterious murders, Alison was a part of many fictitious stories and portrayed via the media as a person who was worlds away from the actual Alison. Claire then embarks on a journey to uncover what had really happened the night of Alison’s murder and pieces things together.
We meet Claire again as a young adult in her twenties. I enjoyed how the author added Claire’s state of mind and how her life changed in the years that passed. Her lifestyle was interesting yet, morbid as she dogged Clive Richardson, an original suspect who was released in Alison’s case.
Furthermore, the addition of various characters and their experiences enabled us to see things in a whole new perspective. The plot weaves between past and present, bringing various individuals back into the picture in the decades since the murder.
What I enjoyed about the novel was how themes such as the differences between the wealthy and regular people were discussed in depth at the beginning. As a debut novel, I was impressed at the amount of research and thriller elements that were put into play.
Saint X is a novel that will change the way you see a lot of things such as the divide between rich and poor, with a gripping plot that will keep you up at night.
The Fiction Magnet 