Took awhile to understand the numerous characters in the family but once I got passed the first 25+ pages and flipping back and forth to the family tree, I was totally intrigued. Very good story and couldn't wait to pick up the book to read more. Good writer and storyteller. Highly recommend.

Many of the people who reviewed this book have given a basic description of the plot, which is complex but reasonably easy to follow. What few people have addressed however, is the completely over-the-top climax and ending, which pretty much negates the intriguing story that came before.

This reminds me in some ways of another very well-reviewed book, "The Good Thief." That's another book that was beautifully written with fascinating characters that went badly out of control towards the end, as if the author just wanted to finish writing and didn't care about the investment of time and energy on the readers' part. As long as she could get to the words "The End," maintaining the story's integrity just didn't matter past a certain point.

In much the same way, the last quarter of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," including the climax, ended up being ridiculous and completely over-the-top. Believing for hundreds of pages that I was in the hands of a master storyteller I feel cheated, both by the author and by the reviewers in major publications who fell all over themselves praising this book.

So, here's a short story: My mom e-mails me with the subject, "I want the book, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" for Christmas." That's it. Nothing in the body. She obviously wanted this. Me, being her daughter in college, thought that a book would be cheap. I signed onto my Amazon.com account, typed in the title, found the book, clicked buy, and it arrived a few days later! So simple, so efficient. Amazon has helped me with many products and many more to come!

Stieg Larsson's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", the first of a trilogy of thrillers, comes to our shores highly praised by all the lucky Europeans who have had their hands on it since 2007. It is a fantastic read because it is multi-layered, suspenseful and mysterious.

The two main characters, Lisbeth Salander and Carl Mikael Blomkvist, circle around each other for the first half of the book, after which they actually meet and their stories converge. While the backbone mystery of the book involves the disappearance of a young Harriet Vanger, Larsson intertwines this story with multiple other themes including corporate corruption, journalistic ethics, violence against women and mass murder.

When the book ends, the Vanger mysteries are solved satisfactorily, if gruesomely. And yet, I found myself securely hooked and waiting for the second book. The history and motivation of Lisbeth Salander remain so mysterious. She is on top of a short list of the most interesting characters of my recent fiction forays.

If you like smart books, mysteries or suspense and can handle reading about terrible things like rape and murder, this book is more than worth it.

I've heard a lot of great things about this book and it seems like a lot of reviewers loved `The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo', but I was slightly wary. There have been times when everyone raves about a book and I find it disappointing, then I'm left wondering how it received so much praise. The last time I felt this way was for My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. So, I was trying not to keep my hopes up, ignore all the reviews and simply let the book run its course.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo starts off with investigative journalist, Mikael Blomkvist, being convicted of libel and now faces up to three months in jail. Needless to say, he isn't feeling too great about what happened. Mikael decides to leave his magazine, The Millennium, and lay low for awhile. It doesn't take long for him to get a call asking him to work for business mogul, Henrik Vanger. The job is to solve a 36-year old crime, involving Henrik's niece, Harriet. Mikael, after some convincing, decides to take the job.

Lisbeth Salander, hacker extraordinaire, recently did some digging up on Mikael's past, on behalf of Henrik; however, the job was shut down once Mikael took the job. Lisbeth ends up getting mixed up in the mystery and works with Mikael as they solve the case. As the mystery of Harriet starts to unravel, another one pops up and this one could potentially destroy the Vanger name and business, not to mention destroy Mikael and Lisbeth as well.

To be honest, I'm not sure what to say about this book. Other than I loved it. When I read the first few chapters, I thought that this was an okay book. The author took time to develop a back story to Mikael and his libel case. During this part, I was wondering when the main story would take place. After a few chapters, when Mikael starts his case for the missing Harriet, I felt like the book was starting to pick up. As I continued on reading and I found myself liking the story more and more with each passing page. The mystery of Harriet and the Vanger family was sick and twisted, but I needed to find out what happened. I felt sad when I had to put the book down to sleep, or go to work and by the end of the novel, I was left wanting more of Lisbeth and Mikael. Thankfully, The Girl Who Played With Fire will be released on August of next year.

One thing that did surprise me was how graphic the novel was. Mikael and Lisbeth find that along with Harriet's disappearance, that she knew about different women who were murdered in incredibly brutal ways. Before that happens, and before Lisbeth joins Mikael, she goes through something that I wouldn't wish to anyone, even if I hated them. It's a very chilling and hard to read scene. After that, I found myself really caring for Lisbeth and when she took care of her problem, she became my favourite character in the novel.

The mystery of Harriet isn't so much about her as it is about the dead women. I figured out what happened to Harriet early on and even though that would sometimes ruin a novel for me, I found that it didn't here. Instead, I was just happy that I was right and it brought a close to the main plot. I did find that with each plot, I was left feeling something different. While I was happy about being right with Harriet, the mystery of the murdered women left me feeling sick because of the killer and their motives for killing them. Also, I usually figure out who the killer is, but sadly I didn't here and I was shocked when I found out. The libel case was my least favourite plot in the novel, mainly because the mystery of Harriet and the women were just so terrific. It did end with a nice closure and it doesn't get in the way with the actual story, as it only takes place in the beginning of the novel and at the end.

The plots were well crafted and the character developments of Mikael and Lisbeth were handled beautifully, along with the other characters in the novel. Each person is flawed, but they feel real. I'm not a person who cares if a character is likeable or not, I just need them to feel like a real person that I'd see down on the street. Mikael is a great character, but I found Lisbeth to be the shinning star of this novel. Without her, I don't think this novel would be such a success.

The ending...what can I say about it? It ended abruptly, leaving me to question what will happen next. Stieg Larsson died shortly after submitting this novel and two other manuscripts back in 2004, so I was hoping that the other two manuscripts would continue the story of Mikael and Lisbeth, because it's far from over.

This is a great thriller, an excellent read, and one of my favourite books this year. If you have the time definitely pick this book up, hopefully you won't be disappointed.

5/5

This is an outstanding book for a reader who wants an intellectual murder story mixed with unusual historical Swedish commerce, family saga, fascism and corruption. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and as an American, I learned more than I thought I would about the structure of Sweden's system.

The story revolves around Mikael Blomkvist, who although he is convicted of libel, is hired by the scion of the prominent Vanger family to solve a possible murder (many years prior) of his niece, Harriet Vanger. The book contained a page of the family tree which I bookmarked separately as I need to keep referring to the vast family for clarification.

Blomkvist is characterized a brilliant journalist and a ladies' man who is hardworking and determined to chronicle the murder and the Vanger biography. The family is rife with selfish, crazy and egocentric people which makes the story interesting on every page.

Paired with Blomkvist is Lisbeth Salander, a 24 year old, who had a deplorable childhood. She is a brilliant investigator and computer hacker with a determined streak of violence. She was a very believable character. I have known some young American women who came up through the foster system and her plight and anger seemed quite realistic to me.
In addition to the corruption that unfolds, I was somewhat astonished to learn how many Swedish women are subjected to sexual assault.

This is one of the best novels I have read in a long time. The translation, I trust, is excellent. It is very sad to know that Steig Larsson died so young. He certainly was a gifted and brilliant novelist. I am looking forward to the next releases of his books in the US.

Since the plot of this book has been described in detail in other reviews, I will refrain from that in my review. Upon reflection, after finishing this book, I decided that part of its appeal lies in the fact that many if not most of human drives and emotions are present somewhere in the story: greed. lust, love, revenge, sadism, sloth, political extremism, fear, and deceit, among others. The author combines all these good and bad human traits into a lyrically-written mystery with overtones of irony and undercurrents of violence. The book is well-organized, too, which makes it eminently readable. There is a flow to the words that is addictive: when you add that to the story, the result is a marvelous read. It's tragic that the author passed away several years ago, although I understand several additional books may be published. I hope some of the same characters are in the later books, too.

I am a voracious reader -- recently of police procedurals from other countries. I don't really have anything to add to the reviews that have already been posted. I just have my personal experience: I received this book on Thursday evening and started it at around 7pm. And I read it RIGHT THROUGH. Finished it at just after 2am. And was late for work on Friday, because I didn't really get enough sleep. It was THAT good.

Mikael Blomkvist of Millennim magazine is in big trouble. He has been accused of libel by wealthy industrialist Hans-Erik Wennerstrom. Wennerstrom may have violated the law, but in Sweden you have to have very good proof if you're going to write about it and if Blomkvist can't get enough to back up what he's written, he could be going to jail.

But maybe not. Blomkvist gets a call from an aging lawyer, who represents eighty-two-year-old Henrik Vanger, who is very rich. Vanger wants Blomkvist to write his family's history. He also wants Blomkvist to find out what happened to his grand niece who vanished back in 1966. Blomkvist isn't eager for the tasks, but Vanger says he has the proof Blomkvist is looking for in the Wennerstrom matter, so Blomkvist agrees.

However, he needs a assistant, but not to worry, one is handy and ready to work for him, the waif-like and very young Lisbeth Salander. Blomkvist wants to know if she's any good and she shows him just how good she is by providing him files she has on him and he is astounded. It seems she's dug up stuff only he knows about himself. She is apparently the queen of hackers. Together these two have a year to fulfill Vanger's requests.

I don't know if I've made this story sound exciting, but it is. The characters work well together and they play off each other beautifully, however this book is not for the faint of heart. There is a lot of violence against women and that can be off putting, but it's necessary for the story. I know, because I'm squeamish and I couldn't put it down.

This is the first book of a trilogy written by Stieg Larrson who died shortly after having handing them in to his publisher. All three have been published in Sweden, but sadly I can't read Swedish, so I'm going to have to wait for the next two. This is an excellent mystery, which works on a whole lot of levels. Mr. Larrson is a fresh voice, new (to me at least) and already missed.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene

As I read this book I found that I couldn't connect with the characters, nor the Swedish culture, in which they live. I don't think that American readers will be intrigued by the characters, nor the plot. I wanted to say, "OK... and?" It read like the outline of a great novel that could've been, but was never fleshed out to be one. I'd like to take the "outline" and give it to someone the likes of James Patterson.

'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' is a well plotted crime thriller that suffers a bit from a sub-par translation from Stieg Larsson's native Swedish.

The translation was never so bad that it prevented easy understanding but the book was full of small incidents where a character's thoughts or words didn't seem authentic. Larsson also has a habit of dropping completely unnecessary technical details on the reader. There are times when knowing the exact model of motorcycle or computer adds to a reader's feel for a character but there are times in 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' when Larsson drops in the specific model of cell phone and it interrupts the flow of the novel.

Translation and nit-picky writing issues aside, 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' is a pretty good mystery novel. The characters aren't necessarily any deeper than those you would find in a Nelson DeMille novel and the plot is equally improbable. It does, however, manage to weave shady financial power brokers, serial killers, family power squabbles, hackers, outcasts and the publishing industry into an engrossing whole.

The ending is a bit weak, but 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' is apparently the first in a series so the ending makes sense. When 'The Girl Who Played with Fire' is released in August of '09, I'll be looking forward to reading it.

I loved this book. I just want to give a warning , it is grpahic in some parts but just skip those parts and you should be ok. The characters in this book seem so life-like that at any moment they could appear in real life! The crux of the story is Henrik Vanger hires Mikael Bloomkvist to investigate the mysterious disappearance of his niece year ago. Her name was Harriet and she was 16, the odd part is at the time she went missing the island was completely closed off because of a car accident. This leads Bloomkivst into researching the most dysfunctional family in literature! There is also Lisbeth Salander who is a top notch private invetigator with a shady background. Just when you think the book is finished with the identification of the killer it takes another turn! This is a great book if you like thrillers it is written so that it goes back and forth between characters. It's face paced good time! Except for the graphic violence in SOME parts of the novel I highly reccommend it!

'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' is a well plotted crime thriller that suffers a bit from a sub-par translation from Stieg Larsson's native Swedish.

The translation was never so bad that it prevented easy understanding but the book was full of small incidents where a character's thoughts or words didn't seem authentic. Larsson also has a habit of dropping completely unnecessary technical details on the reader. There are times when knowing the exact model of motorcycle or computer adds to a reader's feel for a character but there are times in 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' when Larsson drops in the specific model of cell phone and it interrupts the flow of the novel.

Translation and nit-picky writing issues aside, 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' is a pretty good mystery novel. The characters aren't necessarily any deeper than those you would find in a Nelson DeMille novel and the plot is equally improbable. It does manage to intertwine shady financial power brokers, serial killers, family power squabbles, hackers, outcasts and the publishing industry into an engrossing whole.

The ending is a bit weak, but 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' is apparently the first in a series. When 'The Girl Who Played with Fire' is released in August of '09, I'll be looking forward to reading it.

Whenever a book (or movie or television program or cd or anything) gets too much buzz, I tend to be hyper critical and not really fully enjoy it. Maybe I'm negative; maybe it's human nature. But I went from dying to read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, after reading about it in Vanity Fair, to feeling a sense of uh-oh...everyone is talking about this book way, way too much.

So I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to lose myself in this novel and get fully involved in it. I was also surprised that not only were the characters and the plot fantastic, but I also was really engaged by the setting in a European country where I've never been and frankly know little about.

This book had a distinct flavor and yet remained highly readable. The tension was reminiscent of Silence of the Lambs, and I was completely hooked and entertained through to the last pages. Many times, mysteries and thrillers don't know how to resolve themselves, but this book was fully realized.

I'm glad there will be two more books by Steig Larsson and sad that he died too young.

This was a suspenseful mystery that actually started off slowly but just picked up speed and got better and better and better...The character development was amazing-they jumped out at you because they were real with major imperfections. These were people many will relate to. Though it appears predictable in the beginning...we soon learn how wrong we can be.I won't give you the plot line or I'd ruin it. All I'll say is that it incredible- you will find entertaining.

I think that the overwhelmingly positive reader reviews simply reflect how deeply many of us hunger for something, anything that seeks to transcend the pop fiction genre of all the usual suspects. This book does vary from, but imho, does not transcend the pop fiction genre. And I am not reacting to the ghoulishness of some of it. Just a boring, predictable, hard not to put down story.

Having read rave reviews about Steig Larsson's debut novel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I had high expectations. At the same time, I was a bit wary with the knowledge that most hyped books end up to be disappointing reads because my expectations are initially so high. So I approached the book with some trepidation and was surprised to discover that none was necessary; The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo really was an amazing read that blew any expectations I may have had out of the water.

In some ways, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo really reminded me of Tana French's novel The Likeness. The subject matters weren't similar by any means, but they both had an exceptionally literary quality that is difficult to find in mysteries. Any fan of Tana French would most likely enjoy this novel, as they are both exceptional mysteries.

I had trouble putting Larsson's novel down. From the prologue itself, I was completely gripped by this powerful novel. I felt like I had to know what happened, and was completely satisfied with the conclusion. Though all threads weren't resolved, I felt like my curiosity had been sated. The characters were also very well written and personable. All in all, it really was an impressively well-written novel

I was surprised when I discovered that the author of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson, passed away in 2004 from a heart attack. However, he left three unpublished manuscripts behind, the first of which was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. These three novels were written as the "Millennium Trilogy." The second book, called The Girl Who Played With Fire, is set to be released in the US on January 8, 2009 - a book I will most definitely be reading.

I read Swedish, and read these in the original -- those who are waiting for the translations of the second and third books in this series have a lot to look forward to. The first one is masterful, fascinating, wonderful, gripping, and every other adjective you could possibly want in a thriller or mystery. What's incredible is that the next two only get better, with the same characters being drawn into intrigues that are much wider and deeper than the original story about a teenager's disappearance. My advice: place your pre-orders now for the next part of this series!

At first this book seems like a predictable formula thriller complete with brutal murders and violent rape scenes as well as contrived timing of discoveries and life saving feats of heroism...but upon closer examination it appears to be a scathing commentary on the many ills of society.

On the surface...
Journalist Mikael Blomkvist has just learned that he has been convicted for libel against the powerful businessman Hans-Erik Wennerstrom and will be serving time in jail in the near future. But before he begins to serve his time he's hired to look into the mysterious death of a sixteen year old girl. The girl, Harriet Vanger, disappeared forty years ago, her body still hasn't been found. Her aging great uncle has been obsessed with finding out what happened to her. The uncle has offered to pay Blomkvist a ridiculous sum of money as well as giving him incriminating evidence to bring down Hans-Erik Wennerstrom if he will commit to looking into the circumstances of Harriet's death for one year. Blomkvist agrees and with the help of his assistant Lisbeth Salander he grasps the thread that will enable him to unravel the mystery surrounding Harriet's death.

Beyond the obvious...this is a story rich with criticisms of the unethical, corrupt, greedy and opportunistic in society. The corrupt and evil are served what seems like fair and just rewards for their crimes. But what does that say about those serving up the justice. Even our heroes need to be examined, how do they stand up to scrutiny?

For me this was a difficult novel to get into. There were many references that were purely Swedish in nature that I didn't get. There were brand names, government agencies and other references that left me wondering "what the hell are they saying?". I think that the translation could have been done so that it made the Swedish references more clear to the rest of the world (or specifically "ugly-Americans" like myself).

It's not a horrible story, though it is rather graphic and violent. I thought many of the relationships were unrealistic, the character descriptions were conflicting and the dialog was often unbelievable and while I don't think Larson was the worlds best writer, I have to say that I think he tells a decent story that pulls you in and makes you want to find out 'who dunnit'.

I found the most compelling part of the story the character Lisbeth Salander. Larson left us hanging as far as her history is concerned and I will probably read the next installment, 'The Girl Who Played With Fire', just to find out more about her (it's scheduled to be released January 2009).

If you liked this you might want to try Beautiful Lies by Lisa Unger, I thought that was very well done and for some reason the character Lisbeth Salander reminds me of Unger's Ridley Jones.

Mr. Larsson wrote two sequels not yet translated. I'm putting them on my "must read" list.

Big disappointment
Starts off slow, then gets better, end is a disappointment. A waste of my precious reading time.
Barbara Lyons

Dysfunctional families often provide great fodder for mystery. Stieg Larsson uses the formulaic "locked room mystery" and instead of ten little Indians populates the crime scene with members of a vast family enterprise who comprise an important part of Sweden's industrial elite.

What happened to Harriet Vanger, beloved niece of the family's patriarch, who disappeared from the face of the earth in 1966? The question has haunted Henrik Vanger for thirty -six years. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a disgraced journalist. Blomkqvist facing a short stint in the pen after a conviction for the criminal libel of another Swedish industrialist, has not many other job prospects. He agrees to spend a year writing a family history while looking into the details of the unsolved crime. In his work. Blomkqvist is eventually joined by Lisbeth Salander, a brilliant, tattooed and pierced freelance researcher,whose computer skills give her access to information not generally available to the public, or even the police.

The amateur inquiry into this extended clan quickly focuses on several of the family's black sheep, members with strong political sentiments before and during the Second World War. Could these sentiments have may have triggered an apparent murder a generation later? Perhaps, the journalist wonders, the clusters of insanity with certain branches of the family tree contain homicidal tendencies not previously detected. Or maybe the motive was greed, was young Harriet the natural successor to her uncle Henrik.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is the first part of a trilogy delivered by Larsson prior to his untimely death in 2004. It quickly became a huge bestseller, not just in Sweden, but throughout Europe. Originally entitled Men Who Hate Women this part delves deeply into the evils of misogyny.

Throughout the novel, Larsson pays tribute to female mystery writers, among them Enid Blyton, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Sue Grafton, Val McDermid, and Sara Paretsky. The late New England writer Al Blanchard once described to me his membership in Sisters in Crime as being an "honorary sister", Larsson honors the craft and production of women writers in the genre.

This book will make you hungry for the sequel.

This book was slow at the begining. After chapter 2, the pace picks up and you can not put it down. Lots of twists and turns. Enjoy.

Steig Larsson revived my faith in finding that rare well-crafted mystery novel that is creative, intelligent, and highly readable wth an unpredictable ending. Don't miss it!

I bought this book because I wanted to try a new author. The reviews were good, so I took a chance and the book traveled with me to the beach on vacation. It was a book that I couldn't put down. I will not go into the plot since other reviews and the publisher do credible jobs of outlining that. Woven into the mystery was excellent character development that spoke of the human condition -- a style that makes books in all genres much more interesting and allows the reader to feel part of the of the story instead of an outsider looking in. All the characters have flaws and are living their lives the best they can. This is what allows the reader to identify much more closely with the entire book. When the last page came, I was disappointed and wanted more. The plot closed up nicely, but I wanted the characters to continue. For me, this is a sign of a great book and a great author who understands what literate people really want to see in a book. Well worth the money and the read.

I loved the book and the author's style. It seems like there is another book caming out, he left me with the idea of a sequel. I recommend it

I loved this book! It's very Swedish, there are a lot of big corporate/financial details (think Wall Street Journal), and the author has a huge gripe about violence against women. If you can get past these three items, then it's a fantastic story. I listened to it and I was spellbound, but I also leafed through the text to figure out how the Swedish names were spelled.

It's the first of a trilogy and apparently they have been blockbusters in continental Europe. The next book, The Girl Who Played With Fire, will be released simultaneously in Britain and the US on January 8.

This book is about a disgraced financial journalist who takes on an older financier's personal quest (for a decent sum of Swedish Kroner). He crosses paths with a much-younger computer hacker who is someone you'd likely avoid in person (you have to love the details about the state of her apartment) but is amazingly sympathetic. Together they uncover details of the mystery that are very different than the expected.

The book covers a lot of ground including their personal histories and a complex history of the family that they are researching. And there's a lot of social commentary, especially about violence against women, but also about workplace ethics. Most of the relationships are complicated and yet it's all very-believable.

Kudos to Stieg Larsson. Unfortunately, he died shortly after turning in the manuscripts for this trilogy.

Somewhere out there there are dozens of Goth girls with a new hero, and it's not Marilyn Manson. Her name is Lisbeth Salander, and she's tough, smart, and hard to get to know. She has a photographic memory and fantastic computer skills, and you don't want to get on her bad side.

Lisbeth works for main character, Mikael Blomkvist, an investigative journalist who's been found guilty of libeling billionaire financial wizard Hans-Erik Wennerstrom. Blomkvist wrote an article accusing Wennerstrom of embezzling 65 million dollars from the Swedish government but was unable to substantiate part of the story. Blomkvist must serve a prison sentence but before he can clear himself, he is hired by another billionaire industrialist, Henrik Vanger, to find out what happened to his brother's daughter who disappeared almost forty years ago. Lisbeth was hired to do a background check on Mikael Blomkvist, and Henrik's lawyer recommends that Mikael hire her as a research assistant.

The Vanger family is bad news. One of Henrik's brothers was pro-Nazi during WWII. Harriet's father was a drunkard before he drowned during one of his binges. Harriet's mother is a witch. None of the Vangers get along, which makes it hard for the company to agree on a direction. Blomkvist thinks the search for Harriet is a hopeless case, but Henrik has been obsessed with her since she disappeared and he has boxes full of evidence. He wants Blomkvist to look at them one more time. Stieg Larsson runs the reader through a maze of possible clues, most of which don't go anywhere, at least not right away, but finally Blomkvist finds a photograph that cracks the case wide open.

Lisbeth is instrumental in both climactic scenes. She's such a multi-dimensional character. She's been declared mentally unstable; so although she's twenty-four, she must report to a guardian when she needs money. When her previous guardian dies, she's confronted with an abusive replacement whom she deals with in typical Lisbeth ingenuity. Despite her obvious talent, she has a terrible inferiority complex. She just can't believe Mikael Blomkvist could possibly see anything in her when he could have beautiful Erika Berger, Mikael`s friend and publisher.

Author Stieg Larsson is almost as interesting as Lizbeth. He was managing editor of a magazine opposing right-wing extremism. Before he died he submitted three complete novels. He especially hated financial speculators. There's a telling quote near the end of the book: "...it's the financial gnomes that some tough reporter should identify and expose as traitors. They're the ones who are systematically and perhaps deliberately damaging the Swedish economy in order to satisfy the profit interests of their clients." Pretty appropriate, considering what's been happening on Wall Street.

I sure hope the next two novels are sequels and that we'll hear from Mikael and Lisbeth again. I also hope they make a movie out of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO. I'm already casting the various parts. Are you still alive Winona Ryder?

I first heard of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" on the Jay Leno show.
That being said, I don't usually go for authors whom I am not familiar with. I stick to tried and tested authors like Lee Child and Stephen Hunter and the like..but seeing all the hype this debut author's book created I decided to give this one a chance. Boy! I wasn't disappointed!
My first reaction to the book was doubt seeing it's bulk. A solid 500+ pages. I am not very patient in reading long novels. But once I started reading The Girl with the Dragon Tatttoo, I couldn't stop and was finished with it over a weekend.
It started kinda slow...about some financial reporter and his investigation and some high finance stuff that made me think if I made a mistake starting reading this. But it soon picked up pace and every chapter end, I was slapped in the face with a new revelation that kept me going farther and farther into the book. a decades old cold case Murder, a sleepy small town, suspicious townsfolk who are all suspects in the investigation etc., makes this book truly worthwhile.
This book is full of shock and awe. I can assure that. I even gifted this book to my cousin and he loves it too.
I am only sad that the author is no more and his creations are limited to three books. I can't wait till January when the next book in this series is due to come out.
Read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and you'll soon be writing praise about it too. A solid 5 stars!!

It started a tad slowly but the characters were inviting and the story progressed nicely. It all held together well and I enjoyed it a great deal. Looking forward to the release of his next book. Sad he died.

IF YOU LIKE A MYSTERY BUY THIS BOOK
If You Like Character Development Buy This Book.
Mr. Stieg Larsson's debut novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is terrific. An intricate novel that combines a complex murder mystery with a dysfunctional family saga, a complicated person love story, intricate financial corporate intrigue, and an esoteric 50 year serial crime spree. Well written, Mr. Larsson's keeps the reader in absolute suspense from page one to the end of this amazing tale. In many ways this novel is a lot like an expanded and more complex Agatha Christie or Conan Doyle mystery. Mr. Larsson builds the mystery as he adds facet upon facet until a complex mosaic leaves the reader wondering where the author will go next? The good news is that Mr. Larsson does not disappoint as he weaves layer upon layer of suspense. The basic thesis involves a discredited reporter who is hired to investigate and find the strangely missing niece of a very rich Swedish businessman. From there the story grows into a labyrinth of who-done-its, as Mr. Larsson brings in a multitude of interesting and in many ways despicable characters. To go into more detail would spoil a wonderful tale of mystery. Again, this is an extremely well done and satisfying mystery on many levels.
Character development was superb and the very heart of this novel. Mr. Larsson's literary forte is his wonderful ability to develop numerous characters and have then all interrelate. As the mysteries deepen, the characters become even more complex until the story reaches a thundering climax or should I say climaxes! Bravo and well done Mr. Larsson.
Heavy use of raw language and some extreme violence but all germane to this tale of interpersonal relationships. No gratuitous sex.
I heartily recommend this novel. The beginning drags just a bit as Mr. Larsson sets the literary table but then by page 20 or so hold on to your seat as the roller coaster ride begins. Could be book of the year. If you liked Child 44 you'll love this novel. Worth the hardback price. I am looking forward with anticipation to Mr. Larsson's next novel .

I could not put this book down. It is well written and the twists and turns are abundant. The characters are well developed and I enjoyed every minute of this incredible book.

i read the reviews before i ordered the book . i couldnt wait to read it based on the high star ratings. i do not think the book was as good as everyone said it was. there was way to many people to keep track of and i found myself back tracking to see who was who . i liked the main characters , and found the relationship between the two of them interesting, but it was not a book that i looked forward to reading at the end of a day.

Eh, it was just okay. There are too many unrealistic thread and holes in the book. The book has two different storylines and only one of them is interesting, the disappearance of a character. I just could not get into the libel story-line - I just kept thinking, "So what? Get over yourself."

I am amazed at the amount of publicity that this book has generated. As far as mysteries go, it's really just ho-hum.

I bought this book in audio version, and it is one of the FEW books that held my undivided attention. The book is crafted with intelligence and precision. I am thoroughly impressed.

This is the best crime fiction I have read in many years. It's a real thriller with well-drawn characters you become very involved with and won't forget, and at the same time takes on big issues of power, justice, morality and corruption in a country we always think of as the model of propriety. Very well written, it is a book you won't want to put down once you get started. I can hardly wait for the forthcoming books in the series.

I bought this book after reading a review that it was the Europeon version of the Da Vinci Code this year. It is very well written and once you pick it up and get into the book it is very hard to put it down. I have bought it for several friends as presents and e mailed alot of my friends to buy it. It is hard to find a good mystery novel with great characters and a really good story these days. If you really appreciate a good read, buy this book. You will be glad you did.

I'm a big fan of mystery novels and this is one of the best new ones I've read in quite a while. The mystery in this novel is actually nested inside an adventure involving financial misconduct by a shadowy mogul and his use of false information to destroy the credibility of an investigative financial reporter.

The novel was paced well and I enjoyed the bits of Sweden (the setting). I found the plotting to be excellent, the pace gripping and the characters interesting.

This was a "required" read for me, as it was chosen by my bookclub. I read the first 50 pages or so and my head was spinning. There were SO many names (and it didn't help this was translated from Sweedish, so they were not 'typical names'). But, once I got all the people sorted out in my head, I could not put this one down. I gasped out loud and found myself thinking about what was going to happen next while I was away from the book. The 'ending' happened about 50 pages or so before the book was over, but it was still a good ending. Then I closed the book and found myself thinking about the people and wishing I knew more. Glad I found out this was the first in a Trilogy! It makes even more sense now that things ended the way they did. The 2nd Book, The Girl Who Played with Fire will be available in the US in July 2009, but I "cheated" and went to Amazon.co.uk and they are releasing it in January 2009, so I preordered it from them.
Glad I read it, look forward to the 2nd one. The translation was sometimes off (spelling of words and such) but it had no impact.

Attempts to be too many different books. The final message seems to be that no woman is whole without a man.

This was one of the best mystery novels I have read in a long time. Reading this was such a welcome relief from James Patterson novels. I love the foreignness of the book, the pace is great, and the characters jump off the pages with personality.

I started to lose interest after an intriguing beginning. Novel became predictable and a bit too "CSI" for me. Would have liked more character development of the girl with the dragon tattoo.

I thought this book was great for 2 reasons: the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Harriet and the description of Sweden. This was the first time I read anything about Sweden and I liked reading about the country. The reason for 4 stars and not 5 is because I wasn't a huge fan of the Wennerstrom story line. The financial corruption and libel case just didn't hold my interest as much as the Vanger storyline. However, it's still a great book and I read it in only 2 days. It kept me intrigued.

Very good book. No dull parts. Keeps you reading throughout. Good character development. I particularly liked Lisbeth. She's very cool. Great story. I couldn't guess the ending. I didn't know much about Sweden, so some of the names were hard for me. Wasn't a big problem because the book was so good otherwise. One of the best books I've read this year. I understand it is the first of a trilogy, so I hope the other two come out pretty soon. I definitely will read them too.

Having for several years been enamored with a marvelous, real live Swedish girl, I came to this novel comfortably familiar with Sweden's history, geography, economy, and the general social situation. Many of the things that bothered some critics, like place names and the value of the kronner, are easily overcome, especially with the Internet [one kronner = around 15 cents US].

Stieg Larsson had a first rate talent, and his Lesbeth Salander is a superb example of this. You quickly get a protective ache for this girl's welfare, and applaud when she triumphs over the bullies who try to make her a victim. And it is truly heartbreaking when Lesbeth tends to her mother, who clearly prefers her other daughter, Camilla, who has stopped seeing both her mother and Lesbeth.

The story is heavy going, and at times Larsson himself gets tangled up. At one point, for example, he has old Henrik Vanger describing faimly relationships to Blomkvidt, and instead of using the pronoun 'I', he says "Henrik", just like he is refering to the family chart instead of his own memory.

But the big thing that disturbs me the most with this novel is heavy sexual freedom the good guys/girls have with one another. Blomkvidt, separated from his wife, spends a lot of time hopping in and out of the beds of 3 of the women. Salander is many years younger than Blomkvidt, and Berger, his colleague at the paper, has a husband. James Bond aside, it is simply not plausible that Blomkvidt can get away with the enormous intellectual energy required to do the job he was hired to do, and still be in thrall with obvious lust.

All of these good guys/girls have high standards of what is noble and ethical in man's public morality, but fail miserably in personal sexual responsibilities.

Shakespheare said it best---

"So, oft it chances in particular men,
that from some vicious mole of nature in them...
By the o'ergrowth of some complexion,
Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason,
Or by some habit that too much o'er-leavens
The form of plausive manners; that these men,
Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect...
His virtues else, be they as pure as grace...
Shall in the general censure take corruption
From that particular fault.
[Hamlet, Act I, Scene IV, lines 25 - 38}

This is a page-turner with interesting characters and an intriguing central mystery, but Reg Keeland's English translation (first published in London) lurches from fluid and lyrical to awkward, and could use some editing for American readers. The lingering British spelling of judgment as "judgement" is particularly annoying.

It is a shame that Stieg Larsson died young. He showed great promise as a mystery writer, especially in those sections of the book where he draws upon his experience in magazine publishing.

Readers have had more than enough of sadistic violence in mysteries, particularly against women and animals, and I feel confident that had Larsson lived he would have outgrown this kind of shock appeal. One villain in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, when his crimes are exposed, tells the principal researcher that he enjoys stalking and capturing his victims far more than their inevitable rape, torture, and murder.

I read a lot of thriller/mysteries, and I consider this book one of the best. It was coincidental that part of the plot line focused on financial corruption and accountability, considering the current financial meltdown in the U.S. The book touched upon various subjects: financial journalism, libel, feminism, nazis, hate crimes, family sagas, business ventures and disappearances. The point of a mystery is to draw you in as a reader and keep you guessing as you fervently turn the pages. The novel exceeded my expectations and I look forward to the second novel in this trilogy.

Whew! This book took me forever to get through! It became a chore and then a challenge, then it actually became interesting...then it fell flat.

The story begins very slowly with a cryptic storyline about large scale financial crime and the journalist who tries to expose it. There are lots of names of, presumably, local publications, European businesses, and other institutions that Europeans are apparently familiar with. This meant nothing to me and made it hard to trudge through.

However, silly me, the book isn't about mobsters and Swedish mafia. It's about something else. Hmmm... It takes over 1/4 of the book to actually get to the main story line. Hmmm...

Interesting characters are introduced in great detail and then they disappear from the story. Story lines are started and abandoned. There is an inordinate amount of detail about meaningless things--the inside of a cabin, how someone is dressed, a character's apartment even though this has no bearing on the story, etc.--and yet much of this detail ends in dead end tangent after dead end tangent. It was frustrating and hard to make sense of. After 100 pages, it became downright boring.

Based on the statistics quoted at the beginning of each chapter, the book is centered on the theme of women being used and abused by men. It's a great set up for a story, and yet, the theme is so lost in the details that I had a hard time remembering this.

The main character, Mikael Blomqvist, is an investigative journalist and all around good guy. If the book is supposed to be about men who are hatefully aggressive towards women, Blomqvist is played as the direct opposite. He seems to be played as the kind and gentle, but hapless sex toy of strong women throughout the book. His role with women is to be kind and conversational, to respond to their sexual advances with mild surprise, a conjuring of the appropriate physical response, and because he's such a nice guy, he has sex with them, each and every one, over and over. What a guy! Like Gomer Pyle on Viagra... Thankfully, the detailed descriptions stop short of the bedroom scenes.

Finally, at the halfway point, the true story line appears and it's a good story. Mikael Blomqvist proves to be intelligent and dedicated to the job at hand. The mystery surrounding a young woman who disappeared without a trace back in the 60's is Blomqvist's adventure, shared with a skinny goth girl with a serious emotional disability, a photographic memory and an aptitude for hacking computers. It's a good mystery and it plays out extremely well. I enjoyed this part of the book. The mystery, the suspects, the new evidence emerging after 35 years, the hunt, the chase, the rescue. It's all there. Very well done.

Once the mystery is solved, however, the original story line is picked up again and the book crawls to a feeble and flat ending. After wading through the first half of the book, I was rewarded with a terrific mystery, only to be let down again at the end. It felt like it was supposed to go somewhere, but there was no where to go. Did the author die before finishing? Honestly, this book could have been 250 pages long, rather than 465, and it would have been glorious. As is stands, I'm left confused as to why this book was declared a blockbuster in Europe. I'd like to believe that something was lost in the translation from Swedish to English. I was so glad to be finished that I couldn't bring myself to care about the information on the author. Hopefully this isn't the best this author has to offer.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson is one of the best reads so far this year. Like the books I've read by other non-American authors it is wordy. Reading Larsson's work was for me similar to reading Umberto Eco. Translated works can take just a bit of commitment, but like Eco's work, Larsson's novel is worth it. Then, of course, there are the Scandinavian names and the constant reference to the Kronor, the Swedish unit of money. For me none of this was a problem, it's just something you deal with when you read a translated work. Trust me, in the end the story makes it all worthwhile.

I also have to admit that I had a real difficult time getting through the early stages of the novel. Until I reached page 100, or there-a-bouts, I really thought that perhaps I'd made a huge mistake and thrown away $24.95 (less the discount). Well, I needn't have worried.

The Girl delivers on every level. Well written, with an intelligent plot that will keep you coming back, wonderful pacing, and great writing style, Larsson treats the reader to a memorable experience that will linger even after you turn the last page. Then there are the memorable characters such as Mikael Blomkvist, a magazine reporter and editor who is on his way to jail for supposedly printing slanderous material on a wealthy industrialist, or Lisabeth Salander, a troubled, tattooed and pierced young woman who is much more resourceful that her guardians or the courts are aware. Only her part-time employer Dragon Armansky appreciates Salander's research talents.

A nearly forty year old disappearance (murder????) of Harriet Vanger, a sixteen year old member of a wealthy Swedish family serves as the center piece of The Girl. There are other plot elements including greed, abuse of women on the most personal levels possible, dysfunctional families, and the list goes on. I won't give a way the ending, don't want to be a spoiler here, but suffice it to say that you'll be glad that you stick with the book until the end.

The sad news is that Larsson died before The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was ever published. The really good news is that there are two additional books he finished before his death. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the first in the Millennium series. The Girl Who Played with Fire which is due out in January, 2009, and Castles in the Sky will complete the set. An unfinished fourth part will remain unfinished.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is a terrific read. You won't be sorry you picked it up.

The 100-page prologue almost did me in. Because the book had so much positive hype I slogged on, hoping the book would redeem itself. Since our main character is a journalist specializing in the world of finance, the reader is subjected to a very dull, painstaking description of the business world of Sweden. Yawn! Then the "cast of thousands" is introduced. Confusion!

But just when I was ready to pack it in at the end of the prologue, the storytelling improves dramatically. It is almost as if another author takes over the book. I think the prologue material would have been better served up in flashbacks.

The title features the most interesting character in the book: Lisbeth, the girl with the dragon tattoo. Her mind may work differently, but ultimately it is a gift that allows her to see more clearly than the conventional thinkers around her. Unfortunately the view she sees is the dirty underbelly of Swedish culture. I can't wait to read more about her in the rest of the trilogy.

I think the glimpse into Sweden, a milieu I have rarely encountered in novels, was the second most interesting thing about the book. The author skillfully transported me to Hedeby Island where the landscape is an integral part of the story.

In spite of the dreary prologue, the rest of the book was an unexpected romp, full of plot developments that were true surprises. For this reason I give it four stars.