Quicksand by Malin Persson Giolito

 

A mass shooting has occurred in one of the wealthiest high schools in Sweden.  Three students and a teacher are dead.  Maja Norberg is arrested.  One of the dead is her best friend and another is her boyfriend who started the shooting.  Maja is charged with murder as she fired the shots that killed her friend, Amanda, and her boyfriend, Sebastian.

This story is told entirely from Maja's perspective.  At first she can barely speak as she is shocked by what has occurred.  We hear how Sebastian, the son of a billionaire, picked Maja out of her class to be his girlfriend.  They sailed on yachts and Sebastian gave enormous parties.  But it is soon clear that Sebastian's father considers him a failure and that Sebastian is damaged by his father's disdain.  He lives in a fog of drug use and soon Maja wants to leave him but when she tries, bad things happen.

Most of the narrative is about the trial.  Maja's parents have hired one of the best attorneys in Sweden and he is sure that Maja doesn't deserve to be in jail.  As the narrative unwinds, it becomes clear that Maja shot Sebastian to stop him killing more people and that her friend was caught by an errant bullet.  But can Maja, who is the most hated person in Sweden and whom the newspapers and mass media have covered as a spoiled rich girl, find justice?

Mmalin Persson Giolito is a Swedish author and lawyer.  Her law background makes the court case interesting as the reader sees behind the testimony to what the various attorneys are trying to accomplish.  But more interesting is the depiction of these rich teenagers and the degree to which money and privilege has ruined their lives, how they would trade the money for a true connection with their jetsetting parents.  This book is recommended for readers of mysteries and court cases.