That girl

When I finished reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo earlier this year, I felt I needed a break before I went on to the next book in the series. It had been a hard book for me to read when I reached a certain point because of all the violence against women. What had started out as a financial thriller had suddenly changed course and turned very dark.

I liked the book. It was well written and had an interesting, if somewhat farfetched, plot. But most of all, the two main characters caught and held my empathy. I wanted things to turn out well for them, especially for Lisbeth Salander, but that book ended on a down note for Salander and so I was anxious to see what would happen to her in the second book.

Well, in the second installment of Stieg Larsson's series, The Girl Who Played With Fire, things go from bad to worse. Lisbeth is accused of three brutal murders and a nationwide hunt for her begins. The only one who seems to have any doubts of her guilt is Mikael Blomkvist, the journalist with whom she teamed in the first book. The journalist whose life she saved in one of the climactic moments. He sets out to investigate the murders on his own and to prove her innocence. He finds more than he bargained for.

Lisbeth is still the angry punk hacker with the numerous piercings and tattoos. She's a loner who seems to have no friends and yet we find that, when all the world seems to be against her, there are actually some people who care about her, believe in her, and who come to her defense. As the story plays out in this well-plotted sequel, we learn more and more about her past and about how she came to be the person that she is.

The violence in this book is not so one-sided or so graphically described as in the first book and so it was a much easier read for me. The denouement at the end is well-constructed and the suspense is built for the dramatic conclusion.

Coincidences abound in the book and serve to drive the plot, and yet the reader accepts them. After all, Sweden is a relatively small country and such coincidences could happen, couldn't they?

I couldn't put this book down and now I am going to immediately read the third book. I want to know what happens to that girl - The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

That girl

I am reading the first in the Millenium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I'm finding it virtually unputdownable. It's that good.

The book was originally published in Larsson's native Sweden in 2005 and the buzz about it started soon thereafter. I've had it on my wish list for reading for quite some time now and finally I'm acting on that wish.

Do you know about Stieg Larsson? He was a Swedish journalist and activist, a crusader against racism and right-wing fanatics. He lived under constant threat of violence and death from those that he opposed. He started writing the Millenium Trilogy mostly for his own amusement and had not attempted to have it published. He finally delivered the three completed novels to the publisher shortly before his death from a massive heart attack in November 2004. He was only 50 years old.

He had mapped out plans for additional books in the series, a total of ten in all. Now, of course, we'll never see the final seven, but we have The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and the recently released The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest. All have been highly acclaimed and the first two have already won several awards, in addition to being international best sellers. It seems likely that the final book of the trilogy will follow that tradition.

Larsson definitely knew how to write. He has created some fascinating characters and the plot, at least of this first book, is tightly constructed. Perhaps his journalistic training taught him to write in this way - with no unnecessary words.

I could say more, but I've wasted enough time here at the keyboard. I need to get back to my book.