The first thing I was surprised to find when I started Saint X is that it is not a thriller. Instead, this book reads more as a tale of survivor's guilt. As a slate of different characters reflect on the death (murder? suicide? accident?) of Alison Thomas, you start to see the ways (big and small) in which a host of people can be responsible for a single death.

This book is also a wonderful look at the truth of a sensationalized tragedy, in the vein of Are You Sleeping. Schaitkin looks at how our cultural desire to gorge on personal tragedy has real effects.

Through Claire following Clive, we also get a deeply personal look at how PTSD continues long after an event and can have a deep impact on your life that can resurface without warning.

Saint X reminds me of Little Fires Everywhere in the way it takes a topic that could be a cheap thriller in the hands of another writer and turns it into a literary experience.

Disclaimer: As we continue the discussion of Own Voices in the book community, I want to give the advice to listen to Caribbean reviewers on whether the patois used comes across as authentic or offensive.

The one thing that kept me from 5-stars is a personal struggle with first-person narrative that doesn't serve a purpose within the world of the novel. The way this was written, I kept expecting it to be a manuscript Claire was writing, but it did not pan out and the decision felt a little wasted.

4.5/5

What a book!! This would make for a great Book Club read ... so much to chew on and digest. Multiple themes run throughout this novel. Black vs White. Rich vs Poor. A glimpse of how deep the ties between privilege and race run. This novel will stay with you weeks after reading. The type of read that requires deep thought and pondering before heading to book club.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Saint X was a title I was excited to read; the cover is bright and intriguing, and the synopsis is one that leaves you wanting to know more. When I dove into this book, I was intrigued. Unfortunately, around the 30% mark I became disengaged and found myself skimming over the majority of the paragraphs. The book took a turn from being a mystery to being overly descriptive and seemingly uneventful. I kept pushing myself to read the book in hopes to find out what happened to Alison, only to find that the ending was as lackluster as the paragraphs that I had skimmed. The book had so much potential yet left me wanting much much more.

*Thank you to Celadon Books for the copy of the ebook in exchange for my honest review*

2.5 stars
Unfortunately this book was just not for me. I really struggled to get though it and at times I felt like it was painfully slow. I have read many glowing reviews for it, so don’t take my word for it and try it for yourself.

"Each of our lives is anchored to a single moment, whether disturbing or traumatic or euphoric or inscrutable, from which we never move on"
This book is about the tragic story of Alison, an 18-year-old girl who is traveling with her family on an island called Saint X and is found dead on the last day of vacation. Alison little sister Claire now with 25 year old start an obsession with the man who where suspect of his sister death.
This books made me angry so many times but is was entertaining and bring different topics like racism and class differences. 4 stars for me
thanks to Celadon Books and Netgalley for this ARC

This was unlike any mystery/thriller-type (though this is really not a thriller) that I’ve ever read. Where those are dark and dreary, Saint X is bright and beautiful. The style and way that the stories of the main characters are told so carefully was really lovely. Such a great writing style, with such detailed descriptions you feel like you’re in all of these places with Claire and the rest of the characters. I look forward to seeing more from this author in the future!

Thanks to Netgalley and Celadon Books for an advanced copy of this book.

I unfortunately had to put this book down and not finish it. I very sadly have to admit this book is not for me. It may be a timing issues but it is so not what I thought it was. I think it’s being misadvertized as a thriller/mystery when it’s more family drama which isn’t my thing. I hope to find the right mindset and time to read this one because I was so darn excited for it

Here's a murder mystery that feels almost introspective as it slowly crawls through the story. The class differences between the rich Americans who vacation on this Caribbean island and the people who work, sometimes behind the scenes, to make this a tropical paradise/getaway are a main theme in this novel. But probably more important are the reflections of several of the main characters about their lives and dreams and past. Dealing with the trauma and far-reaching consequences of the death of one person drive the story forward. Unfortunately, so many paragraphs were filled with long, repetitious descriptions, lists, or memories that the narrative bogged down for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Celadon Books/Macmillan Publishers for the ARC to read and review.

I like a lot of things about this novel - the use of secondary texts (articles and interviews mostly) and the general plot but man it is such slow going for me. I'm 70% through it and putting it down to find something more propelling. I imagine I will come back to it because not knowing what happened to Allison will bother me. We'll see!

A family vacations on the tiny island, Saint X, when the dazzling older daughter never returns.. After her body.is found, two young men, workers at the resort are taken into custody as they had been seen with her earlier in the evening. However they were soon released as the timing cleared them. Years pass, and the toll of the death and lack of answers plays havoc with those involved. One day her much younger sister runs into one of the men in New York City and she plays a dangerous game of stalking him. Evocative, slow moving yet oddly compelling. While this wasn't at all what I expected, I did still enjoy reading it.

I'm obsessed.
This is a book that makes me lose sleep and forget to eat because I cannot put it down to accomplish either of those fundamental tasks.
The voice is detached yet enthralling, and the selection of detail gives the story a voyeuristic feel that lends perfectly to the story. Detached and yet eerily intimate you cannot help but turn the page and read through the night. Schaitkin's characters are so very human and real, and the theme of the construction of identity is one that will keep you up after you have turned the last page.

Saint X is chilling, relatable, and socially relevant.

I have been seeing this book ALL over social media and it has been getting rave reviews so of course I had to request a copy. When I started to read the book I had a hard time focusing and since it was an anticipated read I decided to check out the audio book instead. I was able to enjoy the story better with the audio but I felt the book was overly descriptive and wordy. The chapters were so long and I would lose focus a lot while listening. Then we have all of these different points of views that in my opinion not all were needed. This book is billed as a thriller and it didn't give off a thriller vibe at all. It was VERY slow going. Then we finally get to the reasoning behind Allison's murder I found that to lackluster and anti-climatic. I had a lot of hope for this book and sadly it didn't work out in my favor.

I was really looking forward to this book because it was giving me some 'Natalie Holloway' vibes and I'm all for mysteries. However, I can't wrap my head around how this book was chaptered. In the beginning it just kept jumping around and it was hard to keep track of whose pov I was reading and what was going on because there weren't real chapters. It just felt very unorganized.

Another thing I wasn't a fan of was how much DETAIL this book has. I was skimming so many of the pages because it was droning on and on about things that didn't really need to be in the book. We didn't need a million years of backstory to understand who discovered what and why. I felt the detailing was overshadowing the suspense of the plot.

I also can't understand how it ended the way it did. I was first disturbed by Claire's obsession with Gogo and then how she tried to kiss him. Like what? Nowhere in the book does she ever let on for having 'feelings' for him so I felt that was meant as a twist in the book but I found myself annoyed by it since it didn't make any sense. Second, once Gogo explained what happened the last time he saw Alison; it was OUT OF LEFT FIELD. I feel like Schaitkin was just trying to find ways to keep the story interesting and mysterious until the end but honestly it was just all out of left field. There's no lead up between him and E that would explain what happened that night so again, it was out of left field for me. I'm very sad this book wasn't what I thought it was.

“Saint X” by Alexis Schaitkin is a novel that centers around a young woman who sees the man suspected in her older sister’s murder years later. Though from the younger sister’s perspective, there are snippets exploring the lives of others who found themselves connected to the murdered college girl.

The novel starts on the picturesque island of Saint X, where the Thomas family is enjoying their summer vacation. While 7-year-old Claire stays with her parents most of the time, her 18-year-old sister Alison runs off and hangs out with the other college-age kids at the resort. Except on the last night Alison doesn’t return. Claire senses something is wrong and tells her parents. A search leads to Alison’s body found in shallow water nearby. Devastated by the loss and the infamous stamp of Alison’s demise, the family returns to New York and eventually moves to Southern California. Claire becomes Emily, using her middle name for a new identity to separate herself from her sister’s well-known murder. Emily returns to New York to work in publishing only to see one of the men accused of Alison’s murder from the island. She begins to follow him and develop a friendship while still sorting out her grief and contemplating on the woman she became in the shadow of the sister she barely knew.

The writing is so seamless and poetic where it captivates the reader, making the book a possible quick read. It’s about a murder mystery with the family behaving the way anyone would expect, but the emotional angles are wrapped under the actions, especially with Claire aka Emily. Other characters get their own chapters such as the suspects who claim innocence and the tourists at the resort who had noticed Alison at some point during their stay and now feel an unwanted connection to her murder.

Overall, it’s a book that will keep your attention and does a good job of unpeeling characters’ layers amid the aftermath of a traumatic event.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* Was lucky enough to get this for free after seeing it on BookishFirst and wanting to read the whole book, I had seen the book previously on GoodReads but it was a soso book for me as a To Be Read in the first place.

This book was odd, and not what I thought it was. at first I had little interest, read the first few chapters, was hooked, interest dropped off, and was hard to pick back up partially because of the layout but that might have been due to it being an advanced copy but it made it hard to tell when the point of view switched which was annoying and odd but not a total deal breaker so I bumped the score up to a 4 from a 3.5.


I also liked most of the characters and liked how the characters had growth, that's super great ngl!

I'm over 20% in and this book is a DNF for me. Although the book is being promoted as a mystery a la Natalie Holloway, it is more a character study of those left behind. Normally I don't mind character driven books but this one just isn't working for me. I'm not a fan of the way the book is written and it's a little slow for my personal tastes. Saint X is definitely a case of "it's not you, it's me" because I know quite a few people adored this book but sadly I'm not one of them.

There has been a lot of people talking about this book. After reading it for myself I understand why. This book is fabulous and will be a much talked about book and probably a movie! Great book

I'm really sad to say that I don't know if it's my bookslump, or the book, but I just couldn't get into this one no matter how much I tried I just kept skim reading it.

a young woman becomes attached to the man she believes was complicit in her sister’s murder. The book is a slow-burn and the narrative structure a little all over the place, but I was drawn into the mystery and different character backstories, and for a debut book, Schaitkin is an author to watch. At your own risk.

Thank you to Celadon and NEtgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Claire is seven years old when her older sister Alison disappears and turns up dead during a family vacation to the Caribbean island of Saint X. Two local men are arrested for her death but the evidence is slim and the story turns into national news a la Nathalie Holloway and Madeline McCain consuming the lives of the remaining members of the family. ⁣
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Saint X was marketed as a thriller. But for me, it’s was a meditation on grief and acceptance and a discussion on wealth, the media, race and privilege. And I absolutely loved it. ⁣
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Schaitkin’s writing style is phenomenal. Her ability to write grief in all it’s different forms jumped off the page. From Claire’s obsessive hunt to learn about Alison’s life and death to Clive’s grief at the role he played and his distance from his home and family, the emotions of the central characters was palpable. ⁣
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For me, this book wasn’t about how or why Alison died, it was about Claire coming to terms with the person her sister really was, which then allowed her to come to terms with who she really is separate from Alison and the tragedy of her death. ⁣
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Go into this book looking for a powerful and emotional read, not a fast-paced thriller, and you will not be disappointed. ⁣