Quicksand

My review of Quicksand by Malin Persson Giolito:

 

 

I am glad I was able to get the ARC of this fiction book. It reads like a true story. I really enjoy Scandinavian Noir and this book was part mystery, part legal thriller, and is told from the perspective of one of the main characters. Maya Norberg stands trial for the deaths of several people in her high school class in Sweden. It's one of the worst massacres in Swedish history. Maya is telling the story and we go back and forth between then, before the killings, and now, as we hear about her trial and her time in jail. The big question, is Maya guilty? No spoilers here, but this book translated (the first of this author's to be translated to English) from Swedish was a page turner. Maya's voice resonated with me and felt genuine. All the things that we think in our head, but don't speak aloud are articulated here. The feelings we had when we were 17 or 18 and our relationships with our friends. The characters are drawn from a broad spectrum, Maya's boyfriend Sebastian is the super rich boy with lots of dysfunctionality (having it all doesn't make for a happy life), Amanda, Maya's best friend one of the popular girls, Dennis the refugee from Africa, Labbe, Sebastian's well adjusted best friend and Amanda's eventual boyfriend, Christer the teacher who's trying too hard to be cool, and Samir another refugee from an unnamed Muslim country. All of them are drawn into the vortex that will eventually lead to 5 deaths. Will Maya's legal team lead by Sander be able to convince the judges of her innocence? The media has already portrayed her as a snobbish, uncaring killer, but is she really? Thank you to Penguin Random House & the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.