Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder - and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the tattooed, truculent computer hacker Lisbeth Salander to investigate. When the pair link Harriet's disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history. But the Vangers are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves. A violent and bloody thriller; a sinister family saga; a mystery of massive financial fraud; an ambiguous and haunting love story - this is a genuinely complex and unique contribution to crime fiction.
Amazon Best of the Month, September 2008: Once you start The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, there's no turning back. This debut thriller--the first in a trilogy from the late Stieg Larsson--is a serious page-turner rivaling the best of Charlie Huston and Michael Connelly. Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch--and there's always a catch--is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues. Little is as it seems in Larsson's novel, but there is at least one constant: you really don't want to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo. --Dave Callanan
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Riveting:
What a loss and a shame that Stieg Larson has passed on! His talent for keeping one hooked from page to page is extraordinary. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is very well written with intricate twists and unforseen turns and a book I found nearly impossible to put down. I was quite impressed and am now anxious to read The Girl Who Played With Fire. Highly recommendable!
I don't like mysteries, but this is an okay read:
The story plot has been summarized in many reviews so I won't recap. Mysteries and bestsellers and mystery-bestsellers are not my favorite. For me, it is problematic in these two regards: 1) about two-thirds through the book there is no mystery. Some implausible event / occurrence /conversation happens that is there specifically to drive the story forward. I can spot it right away and it takes me out of the story. And, 2) the villains are the villains. No subtlety, no subtext. This book is predictable... more info
Stieg Larsson's untimely death at age 50 in 2004 is a tragedy:
I see laments on these pages that "I wish the next one was coming out sooner." Well, I was so fired up by the enthralling "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" that I went to Amazon UK and ordered The Girl Who Played with Fire there. That way, I don't have to wait six months. It's out mid-January 2009. [Rubs hands together!] About the book, what can I say that others haven't: Stieg Larsson's untimely death at age 50 in 2004 is a tragedy. His manifest talent fairly explodes on these pages. Every aspect of his... more info
A Book You Can't Put Down:
I loved this book and only wish the next one was coming out sooner. It is a shame that the author died so young. You couldn't wait to find out what was next and the characters were so well described that you felt you knew them. I would recommend this book to anyone.
