Saint X: A Novel
Written by Alexis Schaitkin
Narrated by Alex Hyde-White, Bailey Carr, Dana Dae and
3.5/5
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About this audiobook
A New York Times Notable Books of 2020
"Alexis Schaitkin’s splashy debut novel, Saint X, is an audiobook lover’s dream...Queue this one up for a murderous, dreamy delight." — Paste
Hailed as a “marvel of a book” and “brilliant and unflinching,” Alexis Schaitkin’s stunning debut, Saint X, is a haunting portrait of grief, obsession, and the bond between two sisters never truly given the chance to know one another.
Claire is only seven years old when her college-age sister, Alison, disappears on the last night of their family vacation at a resort on the Caribbean island of Saint X. 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. The story turns into national tabloid news, a lurid mystery that will go unsolved. For Claire and her parents, there is only the return home to broken lives.
Years later, Claire is living and working in New York City when a brief but fateful encounter brings her together with Clive Richardson, one of the men originally suspected of murdering her sister. It is a moment that sets Claire on an obsessive pursuit of the truth–not only to find out what happened the night of Alison’s death but also to answer the elusive question: Who exactly was her sister? At seven, Claire had been barely old enough to know her: 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 reveal the truth, an unlikely attachment develops between them, two people whose lives were forever marked by the same tragedy.
For fans of Emma Cline’s The Girls and Lauren Groff’s Fates and Furies, Saint X is a flawlessly drawn and deeply moving story that culminates in an emotionally powerful ending.
Praise for Saint X:
“Here is a marvel of a book, a kaleidoscopic examination of race and privilege, family and self, told with the propulsive, kinetic focus of a crime novel. Brilliant and unflinching, Saint X marks the debut of a stunningly gifted writer. I simply couldn’t stop reading." – Chang-rae Lee, author of On Such A Full Sea
“Richly atmospheric, by turns coolly satiric and warmly romantic, Alexis Schaitkin’s brilliant debut novel Saint X imagines a chorus of voices in the aftermath of the alleged rape/murder of a privileged American girl vacationing in an exotic Caribbean country. Part ’true-crime’ thriller and part coming-of-age novel narrated by the deceased girl’s younger sister, Saint X is irresistibly suspenseful and canny." — Joyce Carol Oates
Alexis Schaitkin
Alexis Schaitkin is the author of Saint X. Her short stories have been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories and The Best American Nonrequired Reading. She received her MFA in fiction from the University of Virginia, where she was a Henry Hoyns Fellow. She lives in Williamstown, Massachusetts, with her husband and their two children.
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Reviews for Saint X
166 ratings12 reviews
What our readers think
Readers find this title to be a complex story with multiple narrators and Caribbean accents that add depth. Some reviewers found it long and dragged on, while others loved the well-written complex thriller without gratuitous content. The book explores the emotions and consequences of unexplainable deaths, providing interesting insights into human nature. However, some reviewers found it anticlimactic and ending with a thud. Overall, it is a satisfying listen/read with a twist.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The story keeping building up but there is no real climax. Not a satisfying read, but does provide some interesting insights into human nature.
2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5For anyone who has suffered an unexplainable death of a friend or loved one, this book explores the gambit of emotions of not only those directly involved, but also how decisions of periphery characters can cause consequences that are not only heartbreaking but deadly.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beginning that had me questioning whether or not I wanted to continue reading. Then picked up and got my attention to the point tjay I couldn’t stop.
Ending with me going ... That’s it?1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Not at all what it was marketed as. This is possibly the most anticlimactic book I’ve read in recent years, dragging miserably in the middle and ending with well, a thud.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Oh my what a long drawn out nothing! What the heck?
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nice, good audiobook production. Was a bit lengthy at the beginning of the second half. But all in all a nice audiobook to listen to.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love her books—not cozy mysteries, which I do not love, but well-written complex thrillers without gratuitous violence, sex or profanity.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I really liked this book. I only gave it four stars because it was a little long, and started to get little “long winded” , but it’s a great story with a twist!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Loved the multi cast narration/story seemed to drag in parts but overall very satisfying listen/read
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/54.5 stars just because it ran out of steam. This broke my heart.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Well done!! ☺️
This is a complex story about how one foolish young woman, on a one week vacation with her family to the Caribbean, commits one very stupid act that ends up with extreme adverse reactions affecting a number of people. As we listen on, however, and the story unfolds, we begin to see how the individual lives and reactions of each character also contributed to the ultimate outcome.
This book has multiple narrators, which is good and necessary, and adds to the depth of an already complex story. The Caribbean accents were a great pleasure to listen to!! - Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5This book dragged on FOREVER! If it wasn’t an audio book I never would have gotten through it.