A woman in her thirties charms a well-off gentlemen into paying her meal and a room.  He hopes for a small reward for his generosity but he's in for a bit of a disappointment as she closes the door in front of him and enjoys a warm bath and a comfortable bed.  And that was her last relaxed moment in a while since the next morning she has to escape the police who are starting an investigation into the urder of the very same man, and for them she's the only suspect.

Sibylla Forsenström is used to take care of herself though, as she has been homeless for several years now.  The charming lady in the hotel is just a pose she uses when she feels the need for a hot bath and a soft bed, but in and around Stockholm she has many hideouts she can use in her rough life.  Not that she is poor, she is the daughter of a very wealthy family, and her mother gives her 1,500 Swedish Crowns every month, money Sibylla refuses to spend but in stead tries to save until it's enough to buy herself her dream: a small house for her own.  The money is not just support, on the contrary it is more a refund for a youth filled with emotional and psychological suppression, enough to make her live on the sideline of society.

But now she's the prime suspect of not one but several horrible murders.  It isn't until she meets Patrik, a teenager who almost admires her for living rough, that she is really sure she hasn't got anything to do with it, but except for her and Patrik nobody would even consider that.  So she will have to find the killer herself, and Patrik is willing to help her.  Special medication taken by at least two of the victims seems to be the connecting link the police have overlooked.  Now what?

Three stories are woven into this one, but it isn't before the end that one notices the third one was there.  The other two are about Sibylla Forsenström's present and past.  The present about a woman full of despair since her already difficult life is being made even more difficult by someone who doesn't even know her, the past about a youth without love, but filled with tension and emotional torture, leading to her feeling the worthless one she is now.

The present story, her hiding and trying to understand what is happening to her, and what she can do about it, could be seen as a whodunnit, there's even a bit of a detective story in it, but to me it felt more like the portrait of an emotionally needy woman who's now deprived of the one dream she has left, and her world collapses.  A part of her wants to just give up, but the fighter that is still there refuses to give up, and even takes over towards the end.

The story from Sibylla's youth is what makes this so special.  It gives what is needed to understand today's Sibylla, it shows how her feelings of being worthless, of being subordinate, of being second to everyone else's happiness were slowly built up by her parents, and by the one boyfriend she loved. 

The murders are almost side-issues, the investigation isn't that important either.  The ending is only just credible, the introduction of Patrik has a bit of a Deus-ex-machina, but none of this is important, Sibylla is what makes this into a very gripping story, Sibylla will grab your attention and won't let you go until the last page.