Genre: Mystery/Thriller
First published: 2005
Pages: 644 pgs.
Challenge: Thriller & Suspense Challenge 2010
Mikael Blomkvist is a financial investigative journalist who with his business partner, Erika Berger, owns the Milennium; a financial magazine known for publishing independent articles of critique in the Swede business society. After writing a condemning article on Wennerstrom, a powerful business man, Blomkvist finds himself slapped with a libel suit and consequently sentenced to 3 months in prison. The unflattering media attention on him catches the interest of another Swedish mogul; Henrik Vanger.
Vanger, who has since retired from the business world, is plagued by a mysterious event that happened more than 30 years ago and gets in touch with Blomkvist, hoping that the latter would assist him in unravelling the truth to the mystery that has been haunting him for years. But before he makes the acquaintances of Blomkvist, he appoints an independent company to perform a thorough character investigation of the journalist, and in comes Salander; a 24 year old social enigma who happens to be an extremely intelligent agent and a resourceful researcher.
Along the way, Blomkvist and Salander cross paths and together they find themselves entwined in one of the most twisted and revolting crimes in Swedish history….
My Thoughts on this exciting mystery novel:
Yup. You got it. The Girl in the Dragon Tattoo was exciting, fast-paced and one of the most ingenious crime novels I’ve read for a while. I wanted to read this book after seeing a rave review about it by vvb32 and I’m sure glad I did. This is my first novel by a European author (who’s not British) and I was pleasantly surprised to say the very least. Like vvb32 though, I wanted to knock my head against the wall when I read the first few chapters as it tended to drag too much on the characterisation of each character. (I felt that the intro on Salander’s boss, as well as Blomkvist’s first meeting with Vanger could have been alot shorter). But once I got through that, Steig Larsson had me instantly hooked. I liked Blomkvist’s nature and how he approached the mystery. A word of warning though, the truth to the mystery is quite shocking and repulsive, and some readers might find certain parts of the book disturbing. Oh, and I wouldn’t do justice without giving the translator i.e. Reg Keeland the credit that he deserves. Not many translators out there are able to preserve the originality of a story in a different language, but I think Keeland did a great job as the novel was thoroughly captivating.
9 comments:
good review ... the book sounds interesting enough. I'll prolly thumb through the next time I'm at the store. :)
Quite a few people out there seem to like it too. I say go for it, you won't regret it ;)
Great review, I've seen this book a lot lately, and it sounds like a worthwhile read.
I've read so many raving reviews and been meaning to get hold of this for so long. I don't think I've seen a bad review for it.
This is one of those books I always mean to read and every time I see someone review it, I write it down to remind myself then never pick it up. I really need to get it. Thanks for the review!
Hey thanks for leaving a comment:)You are right about the repulsive mystery. Have you read the 2 sequels aswell?
I've read the 2 sequels to " The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" aswell and liked them(not as much as the first one, but they did not lack of suspense. I like Lisbeth and her complex personality. On one page you think you finally understand what she's doing, but on the next one she'll do the total opposite...
Unforunately Stieg Larsson died while he was writing the forth novel, so we'll never know how Lisbeth's and Mikael's connection would have developed after the third one.
Need to review both sequels soon!Have you already reviewed them? If so, I would be interested in reading them:)
Hi Sarah, I still haven't read the 2 sequels yet so can't really comment. And yes, it really is such a shame that there's no conclusion to Mikael and Lisbeth's relationship. Anyway, I am hoping that it'll blossom into something more in the next 2 series ;)
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