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Saint X

2020 | Thriller

"Saint X is hypnotic, delivering acute social commentary on everything from class and race to familial bonds and community, and yet its weblike nature never confuses, or fails to captivate. Schaitkin's characters have views you may not always agree with, but their voices are so intelligent and distinctive it feels not just easy, but necessary, to follow them. I devoured Saint X in a day."
NEW YORK TIMES, Oyinkan Braithwaite (author of My Sister, The Serial Killer)

Claire is only seven years old when her college-age sister Alison vanishes from the luxury resort on the Caribbean island of Saint X on the last night of her family’s vacation. 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. It’s national tabloid news, a lurid mystery that will go unsolved, but for Claire’s family there is only the sad return home to broken lives.

Years later, riding in a New York City taxicab, Claire recognizes the name on the cabbie’s licence, Clive Richardson – her driver is one of the men originally suspected of murdering her sister. The fateful encounter sets her on an obsessive pursuit of the truth, not only what happened on the night of Alison’s death, but the no less elusive question of exactly who was this sister she was barely old enough to know: 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 uncover the truth, an unlikely intimacy develops between them, two people whose lives were forever marked by a tragedy.

Alexis Schaitkin's Saint X is a flawlessly drawn and deeply moving story that hurtles to a devastating end.



Published by 2020

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Images And Data Courtesy Of: 2020.
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Saint X Reviews & Ratings (2)
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lurkykitty (3 KP) rated

Mar 26, 2020  
Saint X
Saint X
Alexis Schaitkin | 2020 | Thriller
9
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
A compelling and intelligent mystery
When Claire is only seven years old, her eighteen year-old sister Alison disappears and is found dead when their family takes a vacation on a Caribbean island. This book takes place mostly in NYC where Claire, now called Emily, is a young adult working at her first job. By happenstance, she runs into one of the men from the island who was accused of killing her sister, but was not convicted due to lack of evidence. She befriends this man to learn more about what happened to her sister, to the detriment of her own mental health. The initial impression of this book was that it would be a fast paced thriller with a stunning conclusion. However, it is more a commentary on unresolved grief, the assumptions that are made based on race and class, and how one event can shatter the lives of so many. It could still be categorized as a mystery. I found the multiple points of view valuable in understanding the characters and events. Even though, at times, Saint X did not move quickly, it was still a compelling and interesting read.
  
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saheffernan (157 KP) rated

Mar 7, 2020  
Saint X
Saint X
Alexis Schaitkin | 2020 | Thriller
5
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Wonderfully descriptive, bits to move the story along, somewhat compelling characters. There are different parts I loved and different parts that were just so slow. The first 3 pages was description of the island we would be visiting and not really any story. 1/4 of the way in it picked up and continued for about a few chapters but then we got to mid way and it just started to get hard to believe and continued on a slow pace until the end.
I did really like how we learned of Alison through articles, many people's recalled memories, her diary entries. These are the parts I felt kept the book interesting after each chapter we'd get more and more of Alison.