August 15, 2010

Review: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson



Publisher: Vintage Crime / Black Lizard
Reading Level: Age 18+
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: Swedish

Disgraced journalist Mikael Blomqvist is hired by Henrik Vanger to investigate the disappearance of Vanger’s great-niece, Harriet. Henrik suspects that someone in his family murdered Harriet over forty years ago. Starting his investigation, Mikael realizes that Harriet’s disappearance is not a single event, but rather linked to series of gruesome murders in the past. He now crosses paths with Lisbeth Salander, a young computer hacker, an asocial punk and most importantly, a young woman driven by her vindictiveness. Together they form an unlikely couple as they dive deeper into the violent past of the secretive Vanger family.


Even though The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was published in 2005, I’ve only recently noticed it all over bookstores and television. It will even be a movie soon. Now, normally I’m not one to just jump on a bandwagon, but this time I thought I’d take a chance. I found this book at a garage sale for $1 and I can honestly say that it’s the best $1 I’ve ever spent!

This is the first crime novel I have ever read, and at first, I was a little put off because there was just SO much information. Characters, settings, background, history…there was ton of information to remember and keep up with, but it was so worth it. I found myself dying to find out how this mystery would be solved and at times, I could not put the book down.

One fantastic part of this story is how much the characters transform throughout the book. When you first meet “the girl with the dragon tattoo” (her actual name is Salander), you’re just thinking to yourself ‘what in the world happened to this girl?’. She’s distant from other people, shows almost no emotions, and is incredibly intelligent. Such a character! But by the end of the novel, she’s not only changed, but she actually falls in love. I don’t want to give too much away, but one of my favorite lines toward the end of the novel is: “What she had realized was that love was that moment when your heart was about to burst”.

Salander is also a phenomenal female character! She has photographic memory and is beyond gifted. She’s cunning, sneaky and just someone that I would love to have on my side, and HATE to have as an enemy, lol.

The mystery, the crimes, the characters, the love…this novel deserves 5 out 5 stars. The very best part is that this is only book one of the Millennium Trilogy. The other two are The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest. You can bet that these are the next books I’ll be reading!

4 comments:

  1. I've been wanting to read this for awhile now & I have it on hold at the library, but so do a million other people! haha. Thanks for the review--I'm looking forward to it when I actually get it!

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  2. I loved this book too :) It was really well told even though the beginning was a bit slow! I haven't read the other two yet but I own them :)

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  3. I've seen so much hype fort his book! I think you may have just sold me on it :)

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  4. Welcome to the club! ;) It took about three tries for me to get into the book but one I got past the financial journalism thing at the beginning, I was hooked. I do wish the original Swedish title was kept, though -- I think it more accurately represented the feel of the book!

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