Atanaria
“Saint X” by Alexis Schaitkin is a novel that defies simple categorization. While at first glance it appears to be a mystery centered around the disappearance and death of a young woman, Alison Thomas, on the fictional Caribbean island of Saint X, the story evolves into a deeper exploration of grief, identity, privilege, race, and the inescapable gaps between different social and economic classes. The novel, Schaitkin’s debut, was published in 2020 and quickly garnered attention for its nuanced, slow-burn approach to a genre typically marked by fast-paced, tension-filled narratives. Saint X is not just a thriller, but a profound meditation on the complexity of human relationships and the stories we tell ourselves about others.
Overview of Absence Writing
The story begins with the Thomas family vacationing at a luxurious resort on Saint X. Seventeen-year-old Alison Thomas, beautiful, charismatic, and somewhat enigmatic, vanishes during the trip. Days later, her body is discovered on a nearby cay. The local police arrest two men, Clive Richardson and Edwin Hastie, both employees of the resort, but they are soon released due to lack of evidence. Alison’s death is ruled as “accidental,” and the case, to the public, fades into the background as another unsolved tragedy.
The novel shifts its focus to Alison’s younger sister, Claire, who was only seven years old at the time of Alison’s death. Years later, now living in New York City and working a mundane job, Claire has rebranded herself as Emily—an attempt to distance herself from her family’s tragedy. Despite this effort, she remains haunted by Alison’s death, feeling the shadow of her older sister’s life and the unanswered questions of that fateful night. Claire’s obsession intensifies when she encounters Clive, one of the men initially accused of Alison’s murder, working as a cab driver in the city. This chance meeting sets Claire on a path to unravel the mystery of her sister’s death, as she inserts herself into Clive’s life, seeking answers that have eluded her for years.
Character Development
Claire/Emily
Claire Thomas, or Emily, as she now calls herself, is the emotional core of the novel. Her transformation from the forgotten younger sister to a young woman consumed by her sister’s death is both compelling and heartbreaking. Claire’s obsession with Alison is rooted in the unresolved nature of her loss. She barely knew her sister, and yet Alison’s absence defines her entire existence. Throughout the novel, Claire grapples with the sense that her life has been lived in reaction to Alison’s—her choices shaped by the need to either emulate or escape her sister’s legacy.
One of Schaitkin’s greatest achievements in the novel is the portrayal of Claire’s internal struggle. Claire is not searching for Alison so much as she is searching for herself. Her investigation into her sister’s death is less about solving the mystery and more about finding a way to live with the mystery. As Claire becomes more entangled in Clive’s life, she realizes that the answers she seeks may not provide the closure she desires. This slow realization is part of the novel’s brilliance—Claire’s journey is as much about coming to terms with the unknowable as it is about finding the truth.
Clive Richardson
Clive Richardson, the other pivotal character in the story, is a man whose life was forever altered by Alison’s death. Although he was never convicted of a crime, the suspicion that followed him after her disappearance shaped his future. Clive, a man of modest means from the island, represents the social and racial divides that Schaitkin explores throughout the novel. His interactions with Alison, though initially innocent, are colored by the inevitable power imbalance between a wealthy white tourist and a Black islander working at the resort.
Schaitkin gives Clive a rich backstory, making him more than just a suspect in Alison’s death. His narrative is one of survival, of trying to live in a world where he is constantly reminded of his perceived inferiority. Clive’s reluctance to engage with Claire’s quest for answers is understandable—her intrusion into his life reopens wounds he has long tried to bury. Yet, despite his reticence, Clive is a character of immense depth, and his relationship with Claire, while fraught, becomes a crucial element of the novel’s emotional core.
Themes and Symbolism
The Island as a Microcosm
The island of Saint X itself is a character in the novel, representing both paradise and prison. For the tourists, Saint X is an escape, a place where they can indulge in fantasies of luxury and adventure. For the locals, however, the island is a place of limited opportunity and unfulfilled dreams. Schaitkin uses the island as a microcosm of the larger world, where the stark divides between privilege and poverty, race and power, play out in subtle and overt ways.
The resort where the Thomas family stays is a bubble, insulated from the realities of life on the island. The tourists, including Alison, are largely unaware of the lives of the people who serve them. This ignorance, however, is not malicious—Schaitkin suggests that it is simply the way the world is structured, with those in power rarely noticing those beneath them. Alison’s death, and the subsequent investigation, exposes the uncomfortable truth that these divides cannot be so easily ignored.
Privilege and Power
One of the most striking aspects of Saint X is its exploration of privilege. Alison’s death, while tragic, is treated as an extraordinary event because of who she is—a young, beautiful, wealthy white woman. The media frenzy, the police investigation, and the speculation that follows are all driven by the fact that Alison is seen as someone whose life matters more than those of the locals on the island. Schaitkin critiques this societal bias, showing how the deaths and disappearances of local women on Saint X are largely ignored, their lives deemed less important than Alison’s.
This theme of privilege extends to Claire’s own investigation. As a young woman from a privileged background, Claire has the luxury of obsessing over her sister’s death. She can stalk Clive, dig into his past, and demand answers, all while remaining largely unaware of the consequences her actions have on him. Claire’s privilege blinds her to the ways in which her search for the truth may be an intrusion, even an act of violence, against Clive’s hard-won stability.
Memory and Grief
At its heart, Saint X is a novel about memory and grief. Claire’s obsession with Alison is less about her sister’s life and more about the void she left behind. The memories Claire has of Alison are fleeting, distorted by time and the narratives that others have imposed on her. In a sense, Alison becomes more of a symbol than a person—an embodiment of the lost potential, the unfulfilled future, and the mystery that haunts Claire’s life.
Schaitkin explores how grief can become a form of identity. Claire’s entire existence is shaped by her loss, and her search for answers is an attempt to make sense of the senseless. Yet, as the novel progresses, it becomes clear that some things cannot be understood, and that grief, in its truest form, is about learning to live with the unknown. The novel’s refusal to provide neat answers reflects this reality—Schaitkin is less interested in solving the mystery of Alison’s death than in exploring the ways in which that mystery shapes those left behind.
Narrative Structure and Style
Saint X is structured in a way that mirrors its thematic concerns. The novel moves back and forth between different perspectives and timelines, weaving together the present-day narrative of Claire’s search with flashbacks to Alison’s last days and Clive’s memories of his time on the island. This fragmented structure reflects the fractured nature of memory and the elusive nature of truth. Schaitkin’s prose is lyrical and measured, building a sense of tension and unease without relying on the typical tropes of the thriller genre.
What sets Saint X apart from other novels in the mystery genre is its focus on character over plot. While the central mystery of Alison’s death drives the narrative forward, the novel is more concerned with the emotional and psychological ramifications of that mystery. Schaitkin’s decision to withhold easy answers may frustrate some readers, but it is also what makes the novel so powerful. Saint X is a meditation on the limits of knowledge and the ways in which we create stories to make sense of the world, even when those stories may be incomplete or inaccurate.
Hauntingly Unforgettable
Alexis Schaitkin’s Saint X is a haunting, deeply introspective novel that defies the conventions of the mystery genre. It is not a book about solving a crime, but about the ways in which crime—and the loss that follows—reverberates through the lives of those who remain. Through the lens of Claire’s obsessive search for answers, Schaitkin explores themes of privilege, race, power, and the often-unbridgeable gaps between people from different worlds.
The novel’s refusal to provide easy answers may leave some readers dissatisfied, but for those willing to engage with its complexities, Saint X offers a rich, rewarding reading experience. Schaitkin’s nuanced portrayal of grief and memory, combined with her sharp social commentary, elevates the novel beyond the typical whodunit. Saint X is a story about what it means to live in the shadow of the unknown, and how the search for truth can be as much about self-discovery as it is about uncovering the past.
In her debut, Schaitkin has crafted a novel that is both timely and timeless—a reflection on the ways in which privilege shapes our lives, and a meditation on the mysteries that may never be solved. For readers who appreciate character-driven narratives and thought-provoking themes, _Saint X
