Claire is seven years old when her older sister, Alison, disappears on the islands of Saint X. Though two men are arrested when her body is found, they are shortly released, and Alison’s death becomes a big mystery (I got major Natalee Holloway vibes). Years later, Claire encounters one of the men believed to be involved in her sister’s murder. She develops an odd relationship with him, and learns more about the sister she never really knew.
This gets a solid 3.75/5 stars from me. I really enjoyed the multiple perspectives and plot lines. Sometimes I don’t think that style works, but the author did really well with it. The setting was just fantastic. The author spent a lot of time painting a picture of Saint X, and I felt like I was actually there! The descriptions of the vacation made me feel a lot more invested in the plot. The themes were also great - there’s a good parallel between the “haves” and the “have nots” and a great explanation of privilege without being in-your-face. Finally, I loved the dialogue; the conversations felt genuine.
It did take me awhile to get into the story, though. While I enjoyed the setting descriptions, some parts were a bit extraneous and took away from the pacing. I feel like a lot of time was spent developing the “twist” which really didn’t feel like much of a twist at all.
Overall, I do think this is worth reading. There are great conversations that will come out of this story upon release. Saint X comes out on 2/18/2020.
This gets a solid 3.75/5 stars from me. I really enjoyed the multiple perspectives and plot lines. Sometimes I don’t think that style works, but the author did really well with it. The setting was just fantastic. The author spent a lot of time painting a picture of Saint X, and I felt like I was actually there! The descriptions of the vacation made me feel a lot more invested in the plot. The themes were also great - there’s a good parallel between the “haves” and the “have nots” and a great explanation of privilege without being in-your-face. Finally, I loved the dialogue; the conversations felt genuine.
It did take me awhile to get into the story, though. While I enjoyed the setting descriptions, some parts were a bit extraneous and took away from the pacing. I feel like a lot of time was spent developing the “twist” which really didn’t feel like much of a twist at all.
Overall, I do think this is worth reading. There are great conversations that will come out of this story upon release. Saint X comes out on 2/18/2020.