Saint X

　　年僅七歲的克萊兒(Claire)在一場家庭度假中，失去姊姊艾利森(Alison)。本該是豪華的加勒比海島之旅，一夕間隨著失蹤案變調。多年後，艾利森的屍體被尋獲，兩名度假村員工被逮捕。但因罪證不足，很快就被釋放，這件事造成Saint X島上的媒體關注。這樁駭人聽聞的命案，始終無下文。克萊兒一家只能回家，黯然生活下去，留下謎團在心中。

　　多年後，克萊兒在紐約工作，意外地碰上當年的嫌疑犯之一，可利夫(Clive Richardson)。瞬間燃起克萊兒調查真相的慾望，不單單是事件背後的真相，還有關於姐姐的一切。那年她才七歲，絲毫不了解她姊姊。這美麗，躁動，複雜的青年心理。正當克萊兒追著可利夫不放，一場風暴襲來，將兩人推向無盡的深淵。

　　本書為作者艾莉絲(Alexis Schaitkin)的首部小說。探討種族與貧富差距，家庭與自我成長。度假村裡的遊客，如何跟當地民眾有關聯，但一場意外卻將他們永遠地綁在一起。其作品散見於各種報章雜誌(Ecotone, Southwest Review, the New York Times)。她的小說被評為美國最佳短篇小說。她在維吉尼亞大學研習小說，並與丈夫居住在麻州的威廉城。

　　Named as one of Vogue's Best Books to Read This Winter!

　　"Richly atmospheric and irresistibly suspenseful." - Joyce Carol Oates

　　Hailed as a "marvel of a book" and "brilliant and unflinching," Alexis Schaitkin's stunning debut, Saint X, is a haunting portrait of grief, obsession, and the bond between two sisters never truly given the chance to know one another.

　　Claire is only seven years old when her college-age sister, Alison, disappears on the last night of their family vacation at a resort on the Caribbean island of Saint X. Several days later, Alison's body is found in a remote spot on a nearby cay, and two local men-employees at the resort-are arrested. But the evidence is slim, the timeline against it, and the men are soon released. The story turns into national tabloid news, a lurid mystery that will go unsolved. For Claire and her parents, there is only the return home to broken lives.

　　Years later, Claire is living and working in New York City when a brief but fateful encounter brings her together with Clive Richardson, one of the men originally suspected of murdering her sister. It is a moment that sets Claire on an obsessive pursuit of the truth-not only to find out what happened the night of Alison's death but also to answer the elusive question: Who exactly was her sister? At seven, Claire had been barely old enough to know her: a beautiful, changeable, provocative girl of eighteen at a turbulent moment of identity formation.

　　As Claire doggedly shadows Clive, hoping to gain his trust, waiting for the slip that will reveal the truth, an unlikely attachment develops between them, two people whose lives were forever marked by the same tragedy.

　　For readers of Emma Cline's The Girls and Lauren Groff's Fates and Furies, Saint X is a flawlessly drawn and deeply moving story that culminates in an emotionally powerful ending.

　　"Here is a marvel of a book, a kaleidoscopic examination of race and privilege, family and self, told with the propulsive, kinetic focus of a crime thriller. Brilliant and unflinching, Saint X marks the debut of a stunningly gifted writer. I simply couldn't stop reading."--Chang-rae Lee, author of On Such A Full Sea