Like many others, I looked forward to Alexis Schaitkin’s debut with great anticipation. Widely touted as one of the best new books of the winter, it had some pretty big expectations to fulfill. For me, the first half of the book did exactly that. I loved the way the Schaitkin set up the beginning of the book before 18-year old Alison disappeared. She told about different types of locals and visitors to Saint X, referring to the main characters as “the father,” “the mother,” etc., giving the reader a glimpse into the lives of many different players. I also really enjoyed her exploration into the toll an infamous unsolved murder takes on the family left behind. This was especially true for Claire, Alison’s much younger sister, who later went by Emily in an effort to distance herself from her family’s unwanted fame.

“It wasn’t just that without Alison I felt I had to fulfill the role of two children. I did things that, were Alison alive, neither of us would have done. I pitied my parents in a way I did not pity myself. It is easy to discern the contours of other people’s pain, much harder to recognize one’s own.”

As an adult Emily’s voice was strong really drawing me into her own struggles to find a life outside her sister’s dark shadow. Had the book stayed in that lane, I’d have liked it to the end. Unfortunately, it veered off into the “unsolved mystery” realm and to me lost all focus. I felt like the second half of Saint X really didn’t know what it wanted to be. Emily’s quest to solve the mystery of what happened to Alison never really went anywhere, even though much of the story was focused on just that. Instead Emily went a little psycho in pursuit of a man once suspected in her sister’s murder. Her encounter with and pursuit of this man could have been a good element in Emily’s story, but it went on WAY too long and got FAR too weird for me.

For the first 75% I was able to hang in there with the overall story, enjoying the parts from Emily’s perspective, but generally not those from other’s points of view. The last 25% became a bit of a slog, going on and on with Emily’s compulsions. You don’t want to be unsympathetic to someone who lost their sister to murder, but in the end I wanted to shake her! Sadly, Saint X just wasn’t the thriller for me.

Note: I received a copy of this book from Celadon Books (via NetGalley) in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Saint X is a weird combination of coming-of-age novel and mystery but without the thriller aspects of a mystery. The plot doesn't go much deeper then the description on the back, but rather focuses on the characters involved.

It seems like the book itself doesn't really care about who dunnit, but rather how this death expands and affects the many people who knew Allison. That being said, it's a slow moving novel. I wanted to know what happened, but not in a way that kept me up at night to keep reading.

The author describes New York and Saint X in a way that comes alive and she explains the characters in a similar way. But novels that rely on the characters usually have to put the characters through a growth or trauma. And there is the whole murder in this book, but it sort of takes a back seat to who these people are and by the end I'm not convinced the characters changed or are better off than at the beginning of the novel. And that makes the novel just "eh" for me.

Thank you Netgalley and Alexis Shaitkin for giving me a digital ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

It’s written beautifully but has a detached tone throughout, especially through part 1. It keeps the reader at bay; intrigued, but also at arm’s reach.

However, it was a very interesting piece. I had incorrectly gone in with the expectation that the piece was a thriller, but it fell perfectly into the space of general fiction. The characters were beautifully developed and evolved throughout the piece. No one is all that likable, but there’s a realness that is inescapable.

The pacing was a bit slow for my taste, but the author did a great job at setting the scene and evoking those emotions. It was a slow build/evolution through pain and acceptance.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this ARC. A more comprehensive review will be posted to social media in the near future.

Happy #pubday to Alexis Schaitkin’s Saint X! This cover is great - immediately think it's going to be a cool, island thriller with the bright colors and palm trees -- it definitely was not that at all.

Thank you to Celadon books and #netgalley for the advanced copy for my honest review!

Tiny Synopsis: Claire was only 7 when her older sister Alison disappeared during their family vacation on the island of Saint X. Her body found only days later and the two men working at the resort were arrested in relation to her murder only to be released after insufficient evidence. Many years have passed and Claire finds herself living in New York and by coincidence is in one of the suspected men’s (Clive)’s taxi cab. She is unable to find closure from her sister’s murder and ends up following him, hoping to find answers.

My Review:⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5 stars

As you continue to read about Claire and her sister Alison, especially how her sister thought of her parents and life, you just have to roll your eyes. This is one judgmental, entitled little brat. And you feel bad for disliking her character because she is murdered, but its hard to care about her when she is just so unlikeable. Claire is no different - she is obviously more shy and really blossoms into her own character but as soon as she stalks one of her sister’s alleged killer - she becomes obsessed. And that’s when I wanted tp really tune out of the story. I actually really enjoyed Clive’s and Edwin’s story more than the sisters, their dialogue, their background as friends, and island energy kept me going. I kind of was expecting more of a mystery and thriller type, but it was a bit different than that. A solid read, but not one of my favorites this month.

Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin was THE book for me, the one I heard about and then sort of pined after, like a crush, until I finally got my hands on it. 2020 has a lot of promising new releases, Saint X is one of them and after reading it, after anticipating it and joining in on all the hype for it, I can say it is well deserved. Far more literary than I anticipated, Saint X is a lush, atmospheric suspense novel that will have you wondering if the truth will ever be known.

From the perspective of several narrators, Saint X takes readers on a journey to the Caribbeans where beautiful, 18-year-old Alison disappears, leaving behind her much younger sister Claire. We follow the sisters on their vacation, young Claire as she grows, older Claire as she goes from missing Alison to obsessing over her, and several of the secondary characters that were also impacted by the disastrous events of Alison's death. I hated Claire and yet I understood her plight, her desperate need to know more. She derails her life for answers, willing to forego the fine, easy lifestyle she maintained for the truth. The characters, though certainly not all likable, are in many ways relatable. I could feel their emotions from the pages; Schaitkin really created an incredible complex set of narrators.

Okay, yes, I got bored reading. 50%-70% are just...hard chapters to get through. I didn't connect to the characters, there were a lot of words, and it didn't feel like we were getting anywhere. It was the slowest downward spiral for a character I had ever read, but I still couldn't stop reading. The story I couldn't put down was still there and I had to have my answers. Like the synopsis promises, Saint X is engrossing, the slow parts are certainly slow, but the mystery is so unique, the location so beautiful, that you must keep up with it.

Well-written and fascinating, Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin is an interesting dive into the perception people have of themselves and of others. There is a magnifying glass in this book, highlighting the impact that race and privilege ultimately played in Alison's life before her death and after. I found myself thinking while reading, both about my experience and my perception of others, how often a story I see on the news is tainted by those perceptions. Far more than just a book of life and loss, Schaitkin doesn't shy away from exploring themes of race, sexuality, and class in her debut novel, Saint X.

When a book tells you that a woman looks into her sister's death several years afterwards, I think I am going to get a suspense book about finding out what happened. Maybe that was my mistake? The end result is that I didn't enjoy this book as much as I probably could have or thought I should. Instead, it is a slow read and more about Claire/Emily dealing with her sister’s death than the actual death itself. I liked that the author moved around and gave insights from several otherwise minor characters, but again, I expected those vignettes would add to the suspense. They didn't. Instead it was more a look at the long term impact of Alison’s death on everyone involved. So overall, a good book but really not what I was looking for.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Celadon Books, and Alexis Schaitkin for the opportunity to read this ambitious debut novel. I thought it was wonderful and would make a fabulous book club selection because there is much here to explore.

When college freshman, Alison, is on vacation at Saint X with her family disappears and is later found dead, little sister Claire and her parents must figure out a way to move on. Especially since two island men, Eddie and Clive, were suspected of her murder but released for lack of evidence. We see Claire as a young adult obsessed with finding the truth.

This book explores how this death reaches and touches so many people, even those on the periphery, for decades to come. Plus there's the class issue to explore - Rich families spending vacation on Caribbean islands; the island natives earning a living catering to such families. Beautifully written, you will be transported both to the islands as well as the gritty world of NYC.

Fabulous debut - can't wait to read more from this author!

When 18 year old Alison goes missing on the last night of a family vacation and is later found dead, there are all sorts of unanswered questions. What happened that night? Years later, her younger sister, Claire, has a chance meeting with one of the suspects and sets out to find out. This book was not your usual mystery. With an intriguing premise and unique writing style, this book started strongly, but then meandered all over the place. I found it wordy and overly descriptive and just downright boring in places. Not a big fan.

When one reads the description of this book, they expect a thriller, a mystery, or a book about grief--at least that was what I was expecting. And while there are subtle elements of my expectations, this book was a slow burn novel about privilege and a novel that begs for discussion with a book club. I had lots of thoughts and opinions that need hashing out and discussion. I have mixed reviews and I think that this book mostly just wants me to re-read it!

Overall this book was enjoyable. However very descriptive! This did make it drag out in spots for me.

A family vacation to a remote island turns into a family nightmare! The very last day of the trip Alison, 18 year old girl dies. Her sister Claire is left to figure out her life without her. Claire is much younger then her sister and tries not to be a burden to her parents. However this leaves her feeling alone and unsure of herself. The book does progress rather quickly to when Claire is an adult. Living in NYC, working for a publisher. She has seemed to find her way until one day something sets her back. Here the story slows down a bit. We can many different points of views throughout the book.

So if you like lots of details this book is for you!!

I loved this book - I wasn't sure if I would like it based on the first couple pages, but after getting past the description of Saint X, I couldn't read it fast enough.

This novel reads like a murder documentary on Investigation Discovery. When Claire was a little girl, her family and she went to the Caribbean for their family vacation. As vacations go, it was a typical vacation. Alison at age eighteen, wanted to do what teenagers do—hang out, drink, party and have fun, fun, fun. That was all well and good for Claire who looked up to her big sister, but being the youngest didn’t afford her the same luxuries her sister enjoyed.

On the last night of their stay, Claire recalled seeing her sister leave their room or perhaps she was imagining it? Either way, when her parents awoke the next morning, and Alison was not in her room, needless to say, all hell broke loose. Alison’s disappearance is a parents’ worse nightmare. Where could their daughter have gone and with whom? Why would she leave without letting them know where she would be? As other tourists were enjoying the island of Saint X, unfortunately, one vacationer stumbled across Alison’s lifeless body floating just beneath the waterfall giving off the eerie look of a fractured mermaid.

What in the world? The police of Saint X conducted a full-on investigation. As a result of their thorough investigation, two young men who worked at the resort of Saint X were apprehended and held for questioning. The only problem was, there wasn’t enough sufficient evidence to hold them. Unfortunately, the police had no choice but to turn these young men loose. Well that certainly didn’t sit well with Alison’s parents.

Alison has been gone for as many years as she lived. Claire is now an adult with a job and living in New York City moving along with her life, as life dictates, when she grabs a taxi to head to an appointment. Just as Claire was about to exit that taxi, she noticed the man driving it was none other than one of the young men accused of murdering her sister some eighteen years prior. Was this a coincidence or something more sinister at play here to toy with Claire’s mind? And that, readers, is where this story takes off and soars.

OMG, this was an incredible story! I must admit, at first glance, I almost abandoned the book because the very beginning was extremely boring. To be fair, Schaitkin was laying the foundation for what was to come so she gave plenty of backstory within the first ten percent of the book. Once I got the rhythm of where she was going, I couldn’t put the book down. I hated to go back to work because I just wanted to find out, who the hell killed Alison?

With that being said, I must admit the ending was quite a shocker! I was not expecting what I got, and although I get how everything came together, I was a bit disappointed. As I was reading, I had about six scenarios playing around in my mind, and I was praying that one of them was going to be the ending, but Schaitkin took me down a completely different path that I did not see coming. In most cases, this would be a good thing, but for as well as she wrote this book, I just wasn’t satisfied with the ending. I wanted more for all the words I’d invested in, and I felt shortchanged.

Even though the ending made me feel this way, it did not take away from the story. It is all that I said it was, and it was worth my time and energy to read it. It was so damn good. I really can’t stress that. You may wonder how I can say it was good and then not be in love with the ending? Well, that’s a fair question and an easy one to answer. Authors aren’t always going to venture down the path you may way to go as a reader, but that doesn’t take away the greatness of the story.

I’ve read some amazing books through my lifetime and I did not like the ending to all of those stories, but I still enjoyed the ride. This is why I’m a “true” avid reader. When you are, you appreciate all types of writers, whether you agree with their style or not. Amazing read!

This book begins with a family vacationing on the island of Saint X in the Carribbean. The family has two daughters: Claire, who is seven, and Alison, who has recently started college. Alison and Claire are sharing a hotel room at the resort where they are staying. The final night of the trip, Alison sneaks out during the night and by morning she has not returned. A few days later her dead body is discovered on a remote beach.

This book deals more with the younger sister, Claire, and how her life is affected by losing her sister when she was so young. It also follows the story of Clive, one of the men suspected of having something to do with Alison's death.

While this book wasn't what I expected, I did enjoy it. It deals a lot with class issues and it was interesting to see the points of view from the different characters.

I liked this book and read it in one day because I needed to know the ending. There were some moments were my attention was drifting away but over all I would recommend it for everyone. On the beginning I thought that it was just typical murder story but then I realized it that it’s actually more about how someone’s death affects other people’s life.

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for a fair review.

The Thomas family is vacationing at a resort on Saint X. On the last night of their stay, eighteen-year-old Alison goes missing. A few days later her body is found on Faraway Cay. Although two young employees at the resort are arrested, they are released due to lack of evidence.

Twenty years later, the elder Thomases have relocated to California, while their younger daughter, Emily (née Claire), is working in New York. One fateful day, Emily gets in a taxi and recognizes the name of the driver—Clive—one of the men accused of murdering her sister. She embarks on a journey of discovery, proving that she has never healed from her sister’s death. As her curiosity becomes obsession, she learns more about her sister, parents, and herself.

Saint X defies expectations. It shows the tragedy of conceits—particularly among young people, who care so much about how others see them. Clive is a tragic hero, who lets things happen to him. And Saint X, a fictional Caribbean island, is an evocative setting that shows how those conceits impact the trajectory of a region and its inhabitants. #SaintX #NetGalley

I’ve read a lot of genre-based complaints about this one but I thought that if I went into it understanding that it’s not a thriller, I wouldn’t have as many issues.

Unfortunately that didn’t turn out to be the case. I found the writing self-indulgent and rambling and the long chapters certainly did it no favors. I wish I’d just skipped to page 291 - The Girl section and read from there because the rest of the book was ancillary and didn’t contribute, emotionally or plot wise, to the story. Because of the way the perspectives were written, there was no apparent growth in any of the characters.

The dialect bothered me as well, not because I dislike dialects but because I deal with a lot of immigrants from the Caribbean and none of them speak with any sort of grammar structure similar to the one used here.

Ultimately I just didn’t connect with the characters and since this is such a character-driven book, there really was nothing left to hold on to. 2.5 stars.

The annual Thomas family vacation, this time to the small island of Saint X, becomes a nightmare when Alison, a freshman at Princeton, disappears and then is found dead in a pool on Faraway Cay. Her family moves from Connecticut to Pasadena, California and her much younger sister Claire changes her name to Emily for a fresh start. But it isn't really, not for Emily, who one night years later finds herself in a NYC cab driven by Clive, one of the men suspected of killing Alison, a crime for which no one was ever charged. Emily becomes obsessed with him, as well as with her sister all over again. This is Emily's story, but it's also Clive's- Clive whose live was changed as a result of something that happened when he and his friend Edwin were with Alison. It's told by Emily and Clive and in various short parts by other players and by a third person sort of voice over. If you've spent time at one of this type of island resort, you'll recognize and appreciate the commentary. You, like me, will become concerned first about Emily's physical safety and then about her mental health. There's no easy answer here but there are wonderful characters. Schaitkin is a terrific storyteller- she sucked me into this one and didn't let go. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. An excellent read.

A family vacation on the beautiful Island of Saint X is what every family dreams of, but what happens when it turns into a nightmare? A daughter goes missing at the end of their vacation and her body is found. What happens years later, when her little sister runs into the suspected killer, who got away with it?

I was not able to finish this novel. I made it to about 56% and found myself skimming full chapters just to get through it. I was quite interested at first, but then quickly lost interest. I didn't care about Gogo's chapters. I felt like Claire was spiralling and unrealistic in her approach. It was so slow and so boring, I couldn't force myself to continue. While I am still interested to know the ending, I won't be able to force myself to read the remaining chapters to find out what happens. I'm so let down that I don't want to finish this one because I had such high expectations. I gave this book a 2 star, because it was written well, and I did like parts of it, but it is simply just too much and too boring for me at this time.

This had so much potential. The synopsis was so spot on. Unfortunately, I'm not the right reader for this book and could not get myself to read this anymore. The book in general is OVERLY descriptive and was unnecessary. I did not like the writing style and the POV kept changing. First it was they do this he does that and then by chapter two it switches to first person?! Um excuse me? Plus, who was narrating would switch with no warning and no clear character development that I was just left frustrated and uninterested.

I would not recommend this, but thank you Celadon for giving me the opportunity to review this.

Couldn't put this down! the author found a way to make you feel like you are really in the character's shoes and understand their mind frame as they try to live their lives after a teenager is found murdered on a Caribbean vacation and how it is still impacting them 20 years later. I cant wait to read more from this author!