Book Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I had been wanting to read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for quite some time. So when it became my turn to select the next book for my book club, I decided to choose this. It’s the first book of a trilogy written by Swedish author, Stieg Larsson, who passed away shortly after delivering the manuscripts.

The story begins with the main character, journalist Mikael Blomkvist, who just lost a defamation and libel suit against him by financier Hans-Erik Wennerstrom. Not only has Blomkvist lost his reputation, but he is expected to pay a huge fine and serve a small time in jail for his crime. I slogged through this part of the story, hoping that the rest of this book wouldn’t be as dry and melancholy as this section was.

My interest perked up when I was introduced to the character of Lisbeth Salander, a misfit who was under the guardianship of the Swedish welfare system. She works only when she wants to work, much to the annoyance of her boss and his employees. Salander specializes in digging up people’s secrets in excruciating detail, using shady and/or illegal means.

The story switches between her POV and Blomkvist’s until they meet in her apartment, where he confronts her for hacking into his computer. By this time, Blomkvist has agreed to investigate the 40 year-old case of Harriet Vanger, who disappeared in September of 1966. Her Uncle Henrik believes that she is dead and wants Blomkvist to find out who killed her.

Blomkvist and Salander work together to uncover some shocking evidence that will rock the wealthy Vanger family to the core, as well as put them in a very nasty light. Larsson did an excellent job with fleshing out his characters and building the suspense. There were plenty of twists and turns, but I didn’t find myself too surprised by the ending. I won’t say why because it will spoil it for those who haven’t read the book yet. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is definitely worth reading, despite its slow start.

My favorite character was Lisbeth Salander who has had a very rough life. She is the reason why I bought the second book The Girl Who Played with Fire. I’ll let you know what I think of this book when I finish reading it.

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