A mass shooting has taken place at a prep school in Stockholm’s wealthiest suburb. Maja Norberg is 18 years old and on trial for her involvement in the massacre where her boyfriend and best friend were killed. When the novel opens, Maja has spent nine excruciating months in jail awaiting trial. Now the time has come for her to enter the courtroom. But how did Maja, the good girl next door who was popular and excelled at school, become the most hated teenager in the country? What did Maja do? Or is it what she didn’t do that brought her here?

Malin Persson Giolito has written a perceptive portrayal of a young woman and a blistering indictment of a society that is coming apart. A work of great literary sensibility, QUICKSAND touches on class, money, emigration, and the games one plays with oneself when parents are no longer attuned to the struggles of their children.