The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.

For the past couple of years, I've seen this title around, I've heard people talking about it. Either love it or they just don't get the hoopla about its popularity. But I kept my distance...until recently. A few of my friends have been after me to read it, they wanted to have a group discussion. I checked at the library, but there was an absurd amount of people ahead of me that I just went out and bought myself a copy.

I found the first hundred pages or so slow. Don't get me wrong I was enjoying the story but I wanted the author to get to the point. And all of the sudden it just picked up and I felt like I was bombarded with tons of info and with all that information my emotions were all over the place. And I couldn't keep my hands off the book. I wanted and I needed to discover what or who was behind the mysterious disappearance. But there was also my curiosity about the secondary mystery of the story, the Wennerstrom issue, was Blomkvist set up or was he telling the truth.

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed both Blomkvist and Salander. They are great characters, they both have their own issues to deal with, Blomkvist needing to put his life back together after the trial and Salander dealing with a creepy lawyer, and wanting a sense of normalcy. I think the author only scratched at the surface of Salander's personality and background. And I cannot wait to see more of her.

I loved this book! And I cannot wait to get my hands on the next book of the series, The Girl Who Played with Fire.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (5/5) Mystery/Thriller; Translated from the Swedish by Reg Keeland; New Author; Published: Penguin Group (2008); Series: # 1, Millennium Trilogy; Thriller & Suspense Challenge (7); Books 2010 (75);