Stieg Larsson - "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"

     If Dan Brown and Dean Koontz had a literary baby, it would be Steig Larsson.  His writing is fast-paced, highly detailed, well thought out, filled with many layers of mystery, a puzzle of multi-layered plot lines, and  macabre (if not bordering on grotesque).  Once I go to the 1/2-2/3 point, I COULD NOT put it down until it was finished!!!  Of course I had to because at this point in my life, I am only rarely able to dedicate entire days to my favorite hobby, AND although I fancy myself a fast reader, I'm incapable of reading 350+ pages in the space of a few hours.  I digress...

     One of my dearest regulars from work lent me his copy to read, and I'm so glad I did finally get to it.  I resisted reading it at first because it's such a popular series right now, and in my opinion, being popular doesn't necessarily mean it's any good.  I suppose I was waiting for a recommendation from someone I know.  The story begins with Mikael Blomkvist, a respected investigative journalist who is convicted of libel because he had "false" information regarding one of Sweden's wealthiest businessmen.  The other main character is Lisbeth Salander, an emotionally troubled, and very mysterious girl who is not what she seems.  She works for a security company to be a  researcher.  She's hired to find out all she can about Blomkvist for one off her company's biggest clients.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

      The next thing you know, Henrik Vanger, one of Sweden's oldest and wealthiest industrialists hires Mikael to spend a year trying to solve a forty-year-old mystery that has been haunting Mr. Vanger.  It involves the disappearance of his niece, Harriet who mysteriously vanished a lifetime ago.  Henrik gives Mikael the pretense of writing a chronicle of the Vanger family so there are not too many eyebrows raised at all of the research.  As Mikael digs further and further into the case, he finds some literal skeletons in some of the Vanger family's closets as well as some very dark and somber secrets. 

     This is a long and involved story, and it's somewhat "unorganized" in it's delivery.  Don't get me wrong, it's a good story that takes you by surprise time and time again, BUT I had a little trouble sometimes figuring out where I was in the story.  This may be due in part to the fact that it has been translated from Swedish into English, or to the fact that it was published posthumously, or that it's just the way it is.  Maybe I'm just a little slow on the uptake?  The chapters are very long, but have various "breaks" throughout to switch between story lines a la Dan Brown.  All in all, I have some mixed feelings about the book due mostly to the graphic and violent nature of some of the content.  I have found over the years that the stories I read have a way of slithering into my dream life, so I am somewhat sensitive to certain subjects and in order to protect my coveted "sleep time" I have to watch what I read.  That may not be the case for you, but now you know just a little more about me than you did yesterday.

     I do like how involved and engaging the story is, I was constantly wondering, "well what's gonna happen next?!?!?!"  Also, the character if Lisbeth Salander (aka the girl with the dragon tattoo) is so intriguing.  She in herself is an enigma and is, I believe, a truly unique literary character.  She has piqued my interest enough that I'll will most likely be reading the next book, which promises to reveal a little more about Lisbeth's personal history. 

Until next time...