Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin

Celadon Books, 368 pages, $16.99 (c2021)

“Saint X” initially presents a typical murder mystery scenario. A well-off family from White, Upper Middle Class America takes a vacation on an island somewhere in the Caribbean. Saint X could be any of a number of islands with rum drinks with little umbrellas in them. It could be any island with beautiful sand, inviting turquoise waters. It could be any island with a top-end resort. It could be any island with a resort staffed by smiling locals who have one of the charming, tourist-friendly Caribbean accents.

Perhaps the book is like Agatha Christie’s “A Caribbean Mystery.” Then, again, it may be something unexpected.

Alison is the teenage personality at the center of the book, but we hear her first-person voice only in her taped diaries. And how reliable can a teenage diary be? At the time of her death, Alison is 18 or 19 years old. She has just taken a break from an Ivy League college to travel with her family (mother, father, 7-year-old sister, Claire) to the island with the placeholder name of “Saint X.”

Claire adores her older sister and follows her when she can. Alison likes to break away from her family to join other young people in beach games and beach flirting. Two interesting locals staff the beach section. They carry chairs and towels, serve food and drinks, clean up mistakes, and acquire the forbidden drug or two for the guests. Alison makes their acquaintance. Soon, she is disappearing from the hotel after her sister has fallen asleep.

The night before they are set to return home, her family is befuddled when Alison is nowhere to be found. Sadly, her body is found on Faraway Island (ironically named because it is very close by) in the haunted pool at the base of the island’s waterfall. Legend has it that a woman with long black hair and hooves instead of feet haunts the island, drawing unwary people to their deaths in the pool at the base of the waterfall. 

The local police slowly eliminate the suspects, even the most likely, the two staff members whom Alison liked to hang with. When the coroner cannot even determine if Alison was murdered, her parents finally leave the island with angry, resentful hearts. Little Claire’s obsessive tendencies are more intense. She draws in the air with her finger. She is within herself and it would be a wonder if she emerged undamaged from the ordeal.

This part of the tale only takes up a fourth of the book. In flashforwards and flashbacks, more of Alison’s tale is told. But in the end, it is not really Alison’s tale but Claire’s and Gogo’s (one of the local staff suspected of murdering Alison). Also, thoughts by other peripheral characters are inserted, too. It’s a juggling act that author Alexis Schaitkin performs. She never gives too much away at one time.

Claire has the main first-person voice. Most of her tale takes place about twenty years later. She is working in New York when a chance meeting with Gogo occurs. The narrative is riveting (but not thrilling in “that” way), sensitive, intense, clouded and then clear. The murder mystery is not really solved in a traditional fashion, and it truly becomes less murder mystery than an exploration of what tragedy and misfortune do to people with sensitive souls.

Although “Saint X” did not take me where I expected, it was a wonderful journey. I thought this was a remarkable book.

State of Terror by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny

Simon & Schuster/St. Martin’s Press, 512 pages, $30 (c2021)

I have almost too much to say about “State of Terror,” 99% of it good. I didn’t expect to like it so much. I thought it would be just a political thriller. But it was also about friendship, steadfastness, and the character of people. Not “character” as in, “He is such a character!!” But as in “He has a good character.” The internal state, not the outer one. 

The start of the book seemed a bit rough as some of the main characters were introduced and we got a detailed description of Secretary of State Ellen Adams, just on her way back to DC from a disastrous trip to Korea. After I finished the book, I went back and reread the beginning. It was much better then when I knew who the characters were and what had happened to them.

As you will, too, should you read this book, I assumed Ellen Adams was Hillary Clinton. The physical description was not but the internal monologue? A big YAAAS for clearly hearing Hillary Clinton’s voice! Even if Clinton did not want you to picture her in the part, tough noogies. Adams’ best friend is a woman named Betsy Jameson, who, it turns out, is a homage to Clinton’s real best friend, the late Betsy Johnson Ebeling. Adams’ daughter, Katherine, is not Chelsea but is named after the daughter of a real Ellen, the late Ellen Tauscher, who served in Congress and the State Department. Real people shared their names and probably something of their defining characteristics with the fictional creations.

Ellen Adams was appointed Secretary of State despite having been newly-elected President Doug Williams’ opponent in the primaries. (That sounds familiar.) I have no idea how contentious the relationship was between President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton, but President Williams and Secretary of State Adams do not share a drink at the end of the day and stare off into the sunset thinking deep thoughts. As a matter of fact, Adams suspects Williams purposely sent her off to Korea just to humiliate her.

Let me quote the description of the first meeting in the book between Williams and Adams after Adams’ trip:

To the cameras and the millions of people watching, [Williams’] handsome face was stern, more disappointed than angry. A sad parent looking at a well-meaning but wayward child.

‘Madame Secretary.’ You incompetent shit.

‘Mr. President.’ You arrogant asshole.

One of the characters in the book is former president, Eric Dunn. He is a thinly disguised fictionalization of Donald Trump. Dunn is eviscerated by author Clinton (and presumably to a lesser extent by author Penny) with great glee. Some might say “State of Terror” is the ultimate revenge novel.

After Adams returns to DC, three bombs go off in three different cities in the world, although none are in the U.S. There are many victims, but the primary focus seems to be on killing nuclear scientists coming out of Pakistan. The U.S. intelligence people (and Secretary Adams) begin to assemble the clues. A man named Bashir Shah — a terrorist named Bashir Shah — was released from a Pakistani prison at the special request of former President Dunn. Is Shah masterminding a revenge against the U.S./world for imprisoning him? What were the scientists doing in three different cities? Assembling nuclear bombs? For sale? The ultimate horror on a worldwide stage.

Adams has to meet with several government heads to determine whether the U.S.’s suspicions are warranted. Then … what to do about the information she receives? The scenes of Adams meeting with ayatollahs and presidents are riveting. I was reminded of Frank Herbert’s “Dune” and all the levels of hidden meaning in the book’s diplomatic meetings. One of my favorite scenes takes place in the war room back at the White House. I have no idea how close we came to nuclear war in real life during any of the modern-day presidencies (with the exception of the “Cuban Missile Crisis”), but the different viewpoints and responsibilities of the disparate parts of government should give us pause to reflect on how tenuous our stability really is.

In fiction, Hillary Clinton — because I am assuming it was Clinton who wrote the war room scenes — presents an all-too-feasible scenario. I loved the look into the “back rooms” of power, and like a martini, I was shaken, not stirred. (Well, I was stirred but that would spoil the simile.)

Louise Penny definitely wrote the chapters which take place in Three Pines, Quebec. Yes, Inspector Gamache makes an appearance. Irascible poet Ruth Zardo is mentioned a couple of times. In addition, some of the book’s humor and warmth seems very Louise Penny. The melding of authorial forces was not seamless — and that seemed to be on purpose sometimes —  but it did not detract from my enjoyment.

The plot had the requisite twists and turns and definitely earned the designation of thriller. I’m very grateful what happened in the book didn’t happen for real. (Or did it?)