Quicksand – Malin Persson Giolito

 

“You are innocent until the courts have ruled that you are guilty. What kind of weird statement is that? Either you’re innocent all along, or else you did it, right from the start.”

I’d never heard of Malin Persson Giolito before I picked up this book, drawn in by its cover and a description of it as ‘The Secret History meets We Need To Talk About Kevin’. I was not disappointed- more than that, I was astounded.

I couldn’t put the book down. It’s one of those which hooks you in; I ended up cooking dinner one handed, the other grasping this book. Luckily, I avoided any serious burns.

The story starts with a high school shooting. The main perpetrator, Sebastian, is dead. His girlfriend, Maja, survives and we follow her trial as we try to establish whether or not she was complicit in the murder of her classmates.

Malin Persson Giolito has struck the perfect balance with her main character. She is not overly likeable, but I didn’t hate her either. She seemed naive, but as convinced about the definition of ‘true love’ as we all were at eighteen. From the outside looking in, we can see the huge flaws in her relationship, but it is impossible to say we would have acted differently when overwhelmed with the attentions of an older, richer and more popular man.

I won’t say any more about the story because the main enjoyment I got from it was never knowing what would happen next. Suffice to say, the description I had read prior to the book is an apt one and I immensely enjoyed the process of reading it. The accolade of ‘best Swedish crime novel of 2016’ is worthy and I’m looking forward to Malin’s next book already.

8.5/10

Quicksand

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