by Stieg Larson
translated from Swedish by Reg Keeland
Published in 2005 by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
Summary: Mikael Blomkvist is a financial journalist of nation renown in Sweden who has recently suffered a major setback when he lost a libel lawsuit against him. Having lost his credibility as a journalist and preparing himself for a brief prison sentence he steps down from his magazine, but is approached by a wealthy business man with a proposition to both write a family history and to try and solve the mystery of Harriet Vanger, the man's niece who disappeared over forty years ago. As he follows some new clues, he enlists the help of a talented but socially awkward computer prodigy Lizbeth Salander. The two join forces to try and solve this decades old mystery only to begin to uncover some family secrets that are impacting the present.
Review: I have been seeing this book on end caps at Wal Mart and book stores for quite a while and have been intrigued by the title. While I was in Louisiana at Christmas time, my sister had just finished reading the book and loved it so my curiousity was peaked. She gave me the book and I started to read. Forty pages into the book I found myself not wanting to put it down. The character's were intriguing and conflicted, the plot line was complex but in a very catching kind of way that draws you from one scene to the next hungry to know what is coming and the style of Larson's writing keeps you drawn to the important parts of the story and not lost in the weeds of extraneous detail. With the exception of struggling with Swedish names, I loved the book.
Like his character, Larson was also a journalist but specializing in Nazi and fanatic groups. He wrote fiction for his personal pleasure. In fact he wrote all three books in this series just for the joy of writing, but someone convinced him to seek a publisher and he submitted all three manuscripts. Before they could be published he died of a massive heart attack, so all three books have been published posthumously. He was an incredibly gifted writer and story teller. He has not only mastered the use of language, pacing and character development as a writer, but he has also crafted and incredibly complex, yet believable and followable story line. American readers need to be aware that this book was originally published in Sweden and that all of our American sterotypes about Swedes and sex come true in this book. Equally the crime as it unravels is of a very graphic nature and the author is very matter of fact and at times quite detailed about presenting it. If sex and sex related crimes make you uncomfortable, this is not a book for you, but if you can look beyond these little details and enjoy a well written story, this is a great read!
Reading Recommendation: Yes, but be aware that this is a very graphic book dealing with a very delicate subject area.
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