The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

If you dig thrillers, Larsson’s trilogy is for you

by PRAVAT J. GURUNG

FROM ISSUE # 168 (December 2009) | IN THIS ISSUE
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The girl with the dragon tattoo is a huge 500 page multi-character tale of some considerable power. The book blew me away and I spent my weekend reading it, such is the power of the words of Stieg Larsson, who passed away in 2004. One of the finest books I ever read in the crime-fiction genre, The girl with the dragon tattoo is the bestseller it deserves to be.

The most interesting thing about this book is the vast array of characters Larsson has created. They mesh together perfectly in a way that captivates the reader and takes him to a whole new world. The two main characters of this book are journalist and publisher Mikael Blomkvist and his partner, the enigmatic and deeply troubled Lisbeth Salander.

Blomkvist is hired by wealthy former CEO Henrik Vanger to uncover what happened to his grand-niece Harriet, who vanished four decades ago at a family reunion. We have all the elements of a classic locked-room mystery, as the island the case is being investigated on is cut off due to a road-tanker crash on the only bridge that connects the inhabitants to the mainland. Henrik Vanger believes that the teenage Harriet was murdered by one of his family members. Blomkvist himself is compelled to take on the case as he needs to lift himself out of the disgrace of recently losing a libel case. And so begins this tortured tale of family secrets, evil and compassion. What follows is a story of role reversal, where the hunter becomes the hunted.

The follow up to this book, The girl who played with fire, is available in the market as well. We suggest you read both! Then you can await the release of the third book in the trilogy next year. Sadly, Larsson did not live to see the success of his thriller trilogy, but his work has now become an international phenomenon.