Saint X

Alexis Schaitkin's second novel was my first book review on Goodreads, so I went back to this one before I knew it had been made into a Hulu series. I have not seen the Hulu series (yet), so no show/book confusion will enter this review!

I admire many things about this novel, including beautiful descriptions, flawed but nuanced characters, and page-turning drama, but I find it hard to shake the sense that the author was trying to do too much. For example, the "one-off" chapters in which minor characters "confessed" to minor sins related to the missing girl made me wonder a little too much about who they were addressing.

A more focused switch between Claire/Emily's POV and Clive's would have strengthened the book for me. I also struggled with the parts toward the end where Claire/Emily was imagining her sister's POV, and I had to keep reconsidering what I was reading. I respect the idea that there often no answers in situations like this, but I think the author conveyed that well enough without the need for those imagined scenes. The overall POV started to feel a little shaky and metafictional, which is a thing, but not necessarily always the best thing.

I would have read a whole book about Clive. His life in New York had a gray, lived-in sadness haunted by his bright but not always happy childhood and youth on the island.