Weil.
(Because)
Carlsen 2023.
From the very start Selin doesn’t like the hitchhiker. When she and her friends nonetheless give him a lift, fatal consequences follow. As soon as he takes a seat in the VW bus, he gets on the nerves of Selin, Manuel, Knut, Philipp, and Esther with racist and sexist commentaries. At the next petrol station, the clique leave him behind, throwing his bag out the window. Soon afterwards they reach the holiday home of Esther’s parents, where they plan to study for their Abitur exams in ethics. With a bang on the door the following morning, a nightmare begins for the five teenagers that takes them – and the reader – to the limits of what is bearable. According to Martin Muser’s epilogue, “Because” is a book about (his own) fears of violence, helplessness, and being at another person’s mercy. As in a chamber play, he plumbs the questions of guilt and responsibility. He sets a catastrophic spiral of events in motion – which leads to the painful recognition that for some things there is simply no plausible explanation. (Age: 14+)