David Starkweather

The first in Stieg Larsson’s series of three novels (all written and submitted to publishers just before his death) The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is a complex, page turning thriller.

The story revolves around two central characters; Mikael Blomkvist, a financial investigative reporter and Lisbeth Salander, a socially challenged but brilliant computer hacker working at a security company. Lisbeth is a high performing investigator, unfortunately for her, she also is considered by the state to be a socially inept individual not capable of taking care of herself. Blomkvist on the other hand is partner and editor for the Swedish financial magazine, Millenium, who has just been convicted of Libel against of the biggest financial investors in the region. The ruling against him has nearly bankrupt him and his magazine.

Shortly after his conviction, Blomkvist is approached by Henrik Vanger, head of the Vanger Corporation and member of the Vanger family. They are one of Sweden’s elite family’s and the primary stakeholders in the Vanger Corporation. The Vanger family has an intricate lineage filled with greed, violence and corruption. The saving grace for this family seems to be Henrik, at nearly 80 years old, and he can no longer go on without finding out the truth to what happened to Harriett, his niece on the day she mysteriously disappeared nearly 40 years ago. No one knows what has happened, but Henrik suspects that she was murdered by one of his relatives.

Both of the main characters are brought together by the mystery surrounding Harriet’s disappearance and the recent actions that have prompted Henrik to try once again to find out the truth. Salander and Blomkvist risk their lives trying to fulfill Henrik’s quest to solve the 40-year-old mystery and together they end up discovering some shocking secrets hidden in the Vanger family that make bring the mystery into light.

This Swedish novel has an intricate story that sucks you in from the start. Larsson does a fantastic job of keeping the story interesting throughout the book, regardless of which characters are in focus. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is a detailed story with a quick pace that makes the nearly 600 pages fly by!