Saint X

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

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 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.