Book of the Week: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

So once again I'm late to the party and only just got around to reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The novel, published posthumously after the death of the author Stieg Larsson, is the first in the Millenium trilogy. Despite its length I finished the book in two days. I'm not sure if the book lives up to all the hype (what ever does?), but I found it an absorbing read and am looking forward to delving into the next novels in the series.

For those who haven't read it yet the book centres on Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist and part owner of the magazine Millenium.  As the novel opens Blomkvist has been convicted of libel against a ruthless industrialist, Hans-Erik Wennerström, who is making it his mission to sink Mikael and his magazine.  It is at this low point of his career that Blomkvist is approached by the elderly Henrik Vanger, the wealthy retired CEO of the declining Vanger Corporation, with an investigative assignment.

Vanger asks Blomkvist to look into the decades-old case of the disappearance of his niece Harriet from the family island under the pretext of ghostwriting Vanger's autobiography.  Blomkvist grudgingly agrees and no one is more surprised than he when he actually starts making progress and has to pull in a "research assistant" in the form of Lisbeth Salander, the girl of the aforementioned tattoos.

I have heard the character of Salander described as "feral" and I think that's a good word.  Salander is an obviously troubled young woman who is a computer hacker and expert PI.  Blomkvist and Salander become an unlikely team and bond over the unravelling of the Vanger mystery.

The plot of the novel is sprawling and at first its hard to keep all the characters--especially the Vanger family--straight.  Some of the content is difficult to swallow and its easy to understand why the original Swedish title of the novel translates to Men Who Hate Women.  There are more than a few of those in this novel, but there are also characters who are good, who help one another and search for the truth. 

Overall, I think Dragon Tattoo is a worthwhile read and an engrossing mystery/thriller and I will now be moving on to the second installment of the trilogy, The Girl Who Played With Fire, as I'm eager to know more, especially about the tough yet lovable Salander's past. 

Apparently there is also a North American movie version of the book in the works.