The Girl With the Dragon Tatto by S Larsson review

Stieg Larsson was a journalist, a political activist for the Swedish Communist Workers League, a photographer, president for the largest Swedish science fiction club and also the founder of the Swedish Expo Foundation that was established to "counteract the growth of the extreme right and the white power-culture in schools and among young people." He died early at the age of 50, but got internationally famous after his death for his Millenium Triology of crime novels, of which The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is the first.

The book is in its original language called Men Who Hate Women, and the two main characters are Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander. Mikael is a famous journalist in his 40s. We meet him as he's facing the biggest disaster for his career in his entire life. He's the part-owner of an investigating magazine called Millenium, where he has published a story about a wealthy buissnessman accusing him for serious financial crimes. The waterproof story has unexpectedly fallen into pieces, and without being able to prove his suspicions that he has been bugged he gets condemned in court for defamation. Mikael's life seems to be ruined, but in the middle of this mess he gets an unexpected call from the old corporate group owner, Henrik Vagner. Vagner wants him to solve the mystery that has been haunting his whole life. At the age of 13, Vagner's niece Harriet disappeared from the island up north, where the family Vagner lived. Now being old, Vagner wants to make a last try to find out what really happened to her and he wants Mikael to help him.

Lisbeth Salander is an eccentric girl in her 20s, with a photographic memory and a fantastic talent of finding information about people. She has a dark history which is a mystery she never reveals to anyone. The intendant that has responsibility for her is a man who takes advantage of her sexually, without realizing that Lisbeth have her own ways to defend herself. In the middle of dealing with the dark problems of her own life, she gets contacted by Mikael Blomkvist who has got information about her skills and needs her help in the Vagner-case. The unmatched pair continues searching for answers about the missing girl, and against all odds they do make progress. They are going to reveal deep secrets in the celebrity family of Vagner, secrets more dreadful than they could ever imagine, secrets about men who hate women...

I had heard from my friends that Stieg Larsson's books were really good crime novels, but didn't really know what to expect. Usually I like old classical detective stories best, and don't read today's crime novels. But The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo captured me from the very beginning. The mystery around Harriet Vagner was interesting and the solution unexpected. I was also impressed by how much information Larsson had. His books was filled with details that made the story realistic and informative as well as thrilling. His main character Lisbeth Salander is a special character that you get sympathy for, and also respect for her neverending strength to fight back and stand up against those who treat others badly. She's not the typical heroine, either. She has problems with her social life, is bitter and hard to understand for Mikael. Her life is also a mystery and that's what is to be revealed in the continuing books of the trilogy.
/ [Easterling]

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