I loved this book! It was fantastic. It was a slow burn, but I thought it was an amazing read. I can't wait to read more from this author.

There’s always multiple sides to any story, and the story of missing teen Alison Thomas is no different. There’s the version the police have, the version that conspiracy theorists have. The version of the eye witnesses. Stories that can either lead us to the truth, or lead us astray. Then there’s the truth...

What really happened the night Alison thomas, a pretty 18 year old with everything going for her, disappeared while on holidays with her family on the beautiful island of Saint X?

This book was definitely a slow burn, quite wordy and descriptive throughout. It took me the better part of February to read it, and it wasn’t until around the halfway mark that it started to pick up. By the 80% mark, I couldn’t put it down and had to know what happened.
The actual setting was not great on my netgalley ebook version, and I believe this did nothing to help matters.

Clive’s POV which was introduced much much later in the novel was probably my favourite, and brought it up by a half star- a star. It’s a pity this part couldn’t be brought forward as I would have been hooked much earlier if that was the case. This is not a thriller, or really even a mystery, but a study into what happens after. After the stories are published, after people have gossiped, after everyone has moved on. What happens to those closest to the missing girl, her family, is the accused, the community and so on? And what happens after we discover the truth? What purpose will the truth provide...closure? What will we gain? And what will we lose?

Whilst the mysterious, assumed murder of Alison (Claire's eighteen year old sister) on the island Saint X happens when Claire is seven years old, the bulk of this book centres on the aftermath of this mystery when Claire is twenty-five. She and Clive, (originally a suspect in the murder of Alison) are still haunted by the unknown and Claire is determined to uncover what happened on that night so many years ago.

We uncover that Claire is obsessed not only with the mystery of her sisters death, but also consumed with losing a sister that she never really knew. Through the perspective of Clive we unearth all that he has lost being connected to this mystery and all the questions he seeks answers to that simply cannot be answered as he lives his life in New York.

This was completely not what I was expecting. I headed in assuming I'd receive the standard mystery/thriller blueprint but was pleasantly surprised. Saint X is written with quite a visceral prose. Schaitkin has actually given us a literary thriller, in which the eerie imagery from her words really brings you into the lives of the characters and gives you a true and complete sense of who they were and who they are trying to be. Essentially this is a story about the people left behind after an unsolved mysterious death and the impact that this has on every facet of their haunted lives.

I have seen such mixed reviews on this book. It certainly wasn’t the story that I was expecting but I really enjoyed it. The story will stay with me.

First and foremost, Saint X is not a thriller. Do not go into this book expecting one because you will be disappointed. Yes it is about a girl who goes missing and turns up dead on a island. But it is so much more than that. It is a story of privilege, of rich and poor, of race and sexuality. It is a slow burn but absolutely worth sticking with in my opinion. The only let down for me was the ending, but I will let you make up your own mind about that. This would be a great book for book club discussions, there is so much you could talk about.

This book is heavy of details and beautifully descriptive. The island of Saint X is fictional but you can see it as you read about it. From that extreme to the cold and snowy New York where Alison’s younger sister has moved to work in the Publishing world. In a random encounter she gets into a cab driven by one of the men investigated but cleared of her sisters murder. This is the start of Claire’s obsession with finding out more. It consumes her whole life as she gets to know both her dead sister and Clive better.

A very big thank you to Macmillan Australia for my advanced copy of this book to read. All opinions are my own and in no way biased

Saint X, a fictional island in the Caribbean where 7 year-old Claire's sister Alison disappears on the last night of their vacation only to be found dead a few days later!
What happened that fateful night? Was Alison murdered by one of the resort boys Edwin and Clive who she had been sneaking off to party with during her time on the island? They were arrested the night of her disappearance! Or was she lured by the blacked haired woman with hooves for feet?

The story gets into the mind of Claire growing up after her sisters death and the chance meeting with Clive, one of the resort boys she runs into as an adult when catching a cab ride home which leads her to wanting to find out the truth around Alisons death.

For me, the writing style just did not gel and the twists and turns that I expect when reading a thriller just did not happen. I also felt there was a lot of description throughout the book that was irrelevant and just long winded.
I was at a point of DNF a few times throughout the firsts 70% of the book but after this far, can you really go back? The last 30% not better for me and moved a lot quicker but all in all, I was not drawn into this book where I could not put it down.



Thank you netgalley and Pan Macmillan Australia for sharing this ARC copy with me in return for my honest review.

I did not enjoy this book. If you are looking for a thriller, this is not the book for you. It is more a coming of age story about life after the tragic death of the main character's older sister. I found it to be excessively wordy and I felt that this caused the story to drag. I did like the short points of view from other characters.