Book review: Saint X a compelling murder mystery

Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin

Saint X – Alexia Shaitkin (Pan Macmillan, $34.99)

The perfect Caribbean family holiday: blue skies, immaculate sand, cocktails and volleyball in the sunshine. Fathers and mothers contemplate their rat race lives, teenage daughters roll their eyes, the little ones play in the sand.

Idyllic, right? But there are layers here, of privilege, resentment, prejudice and social hierarchy and paradise is lost when 18-year-old Alison fails to show for breakfast.

The narrative is driven by Alison's little sister, Claire, only 5 at the time of the disappearance.

Years afterward, adult Claire, now going by Emily, hops in a New York cab and comes face to face with one of the men suspected of Alison's murder. Her carefully constructed life unravels as her obsession with Clive spirals and her search for the truth takes over her life. But what is the truth?

Saint X is a murder mystery with a gently unravelling plot. We are treated to psychological portraits of each character and a present tense narrative that immerses us in Alison's tortured teenage existence with its existential angst and search for meaning.

The accused island men, Clive and his best friend Edwin, are well drawn, their life of working, flirting, drinking and smoking evoked through sensual descriptions - the sweat and ganja scent of their car, the lilt of Edwin's walk. And through it all, little awkward Claire hovers, the odd child who is a worry to her parents; they are shocked to find they were worrying about the wrong kid.

The writing is contemplative and beautiful, the settings of an idyllic island and the harsh winters of New York well juxtaposed.

Saint X is an immersive, complex story that has the reader in the heads of the main players in all their human glory. Poignant, compelling and fresh, this is well worth taking time out for.