Saint X

On the surface this book looks like a conventional mystery set up with a holiday/vacation angle. A teenager goes missing on her Caribbean holiday. What happened to her? But this book traverses so much more than the core mystery. Each of the different elements of the story cleverly propel the narrative forward.

I loved the multiple different character perspectives we were given from both minor and major players in the narrative. I loved the descriptions of the fictional Saint X island. I found Clairey's character (the young sister of the missing girl) really absorbing and her impressive imaginings of her sisters experiences and life before her disappearance were very sad but also very captivating.

This is a book that delves deeply into intimate relationships between friends, siblings and addresses more broadly the relationship between western tourists and the destinations they visit. It gives a commentary on how tourism provides economic opportunities for people living in tourist destination countries but it has an exploitative nature.

Overall a brilliant book and well worth a read. The ending brought it all together satisfyingly.

Thanks to the author Alexis Schaitkin, Picador and Netgalley for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.