Customer Reviews
An Idealistic Hero, an Unlikely Heroine, a Swedish Setting, Dangerous Secrets, and a Dandy Mystery Make for Great Fun - By: Donald Mitchell, 26 Nov 2008 
To me, this book is the most unexpected page-turning thriller I've readin some time. I couldn't wait for the next surprise.
I was reminded of first reading the early Ian Fleming books about James Bond, feeling like I'd entered a fascinating new world that I never had never dreamed of. But Stieg Larsson's writing is much better than Fleming's & these characters are more nuancedin their unusual characteristics.
The book defies normal novel categories. There are such a major story lines about both the hero & heroine that the novel would be more than adequate just developing those ideas. The mystery of a young woman's disappearance is more than adequate to sustain the interest of anyone who likes books about amateur detectives. In the background, there are dark secrets about a not-so-desirable family that would intrigue anyone who likes to read family sagas. What's remarkable is that these threads are very neatly combined so that you get a lot of story for your time, money, & reading pleasure.
Investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist has a problem: He's written something that he can't prove & has been sued for criminal libel. His blunder costs him his savings, his reputation, & his freedom while threatening the survival of his publication. How will he & the magazine recover?
Lisbeth Salander wants her freedom & finds it hard to win. Although she's tremendously talented, her past holds secrets that pin her down much as Gulliver was by the tiny ropes of the Lilliputians.
Henrik Vanger wants to find out what happened to his grand niece, Harriet Vanger, who disappeared while an accident was being handled near her home. Can he persuade Blomkvist to help him?
There has been a search going on for Harriet Vanger for over forty years. What have they been overlooking?
What skeletons are hidingin the pro-Nazi closets of the older generation of the Vanger family? How do these skeletons affect the present?
You'll probably never meet a more unlikely detection team than Blomkvist & Salander. The unusual chemistry & motivation behind their joint efforts directs the story into many unexpected & interesting directions.
Stieg Larsson gives as much attention to his characters & their development as most mystery novelists do to their plots. As a result, you can relate to these characters quite well . . . as though you had already read ten booksin which they interacted. He also takes the time to make these characters as unique as real people are, making them more vivid & rewarding to contemplate than the two-dimensional cutouts that serve as "characters"in most mystery novels.
His plot is also very fine: He usually doesn't telegraph what's coming next. People act as unpredictably as they doin real life . . . making the plot messy . . . as real life is messy.
I was delighted to learn that although Mr. Larsson has died that there are two more books coming. I can hardly wait!
impressive but flawed - By: josF, 22 Nov 2008 
Absorbing but too long & moralistic. The mystery is built up slowly & with masterful control but there are few surprizes & the solution, without wanting to give anything away, says more about the authors politics than anything internal to the plotting. Larsson was a talented writer but his passion for espousing the cause of the opposite sex might be more laudable if it weren't at the cost of selling out his own by portraying every male as either predatory or rehabilitated. As for the *** mild spoiler *** stories development into a hunt for a 'seven' like serial killer with a penchant for biblical quotations I agree with those who think this doesn't really work but I think there's a reason why the author took this path & that is to expose the hollowness of sadism. Nonethelessin terms of quality - & provided you can tolerate the financial journalism based subplot - this is vastly better than most thrillers you're likely to encounter.
Absolutely brilliant - it has everything and more - By: Carol Anne Søndergaard, 09 Nov 2008 I was recommended this author & started the book with an open mind but with some reservations. BUT it was brilliant - well written - not just a crime book, fascinating people & marvellous plot. I was really sold on this author only to find out that he only managed to write a few books before his untimely death - what a disappointment. The world was robbed of a truely good writer.....
A big juicy satisfying read - By: lmhh, 08 Nov 2008 This a big, complex, entertaining read. There are three plots runningin parallel which interlink with & complicate each other. This means the book has room for a classic detective story dealing with a decades old disappearance, & also strands delving into the complicationsin the lives of the two main characters - a financial journalist & the eponymous girl with the dragon tattoo.
I loved it, & am looking forward to publication of the second novelin the trilogy early next year. Recommended if you like a good mystery.
Formulaic... - By: bloodsimple, 10 Oct 2008 
This book has sold 5 million copies. What makes a book sell 5 million copies? Judging by this, the formula is: a fairly mainstream plot, some mild sex, a so-so conspiracy, & a style of writing that neither jars nor excites.
Let me first say that there is nothing actually wrong with this book. Aside from being much too long - common & acceptablein a first novel - there is nothing that will make you throw this book across a room. Nor,in my view, will you be riveted. It is like a three-part thriller on television, where you'll watch the final part if you happen to bein the room, but you wouldn't break a hot date to see it.
Larsson does a fair job of dissecting & explaining the `corporate fraud' part of the storyline, but the main problem is that this is simply a nebulous, almost victimless crime. He fails to bring it down to a human scale, & so robs it of any emotional value. Because of this, the story produces no drive or energy to push the other sub-plots forward. Thus, it sort of falls forward of its' own accord, without feeling like it has genuine momentum.
Some of the characters are clichés. The elderly patriarch, for example, has been done to death. The tattooed girl herself is actually the most interesting character, although less `enigmatic' than all the characters seem to believe. I did feel, though, that Larsson chickened out of making her genuinely dark, & she failed to impart a sense of foreboding that should have been there.
Is this a great thriller? No, it is not even close. It is a long, slightly rambling effort by an author who is finding his feet. On its' own merits, it is mediocre, & your money would be better spent on a dozen alternative authors. Thrillers about corporate fraud need to be brought down to a taut, human, emotional level, or they are simply exercisesin writing essays. For me, Larsson fails to achieve the correct scale or emotional connection.
