Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 400
 Intelligent tense thriller with a conscience August 14, 2008
J. Cronin (Ireland)
403 out of 432 found this review helpful
Some incredible thrillers are coming from Scandinavian countries these days. Anyone who is a fan of the Kurt Wallander series of books by Henning Mankell will know what I mean. Now we have a new addition to the shelf, courtesy of deceased author, Stieg Larsson.
This is the first volume in the Millenium trilogy and after finishing this first book, I am very much looking forward to the next two volumes. Larssson died in 2004 soon after delivering the manuscripts for 3 crime novels to his publisher. It's a pity that this gifted author isn't around for a long time to come.
The tale is split between the shady secrets of a wealthy family and the murky dealings of a famous businessman. Mikael Blomkvist, a recently convicted journalist, is hired by Henrik Vanger to investigate the disappearance of his niece almost 40 years ago. Vanger promises Blomkvist the means to clear his good name as part of the payment and Blomkvist accepts.
The author manages to maintain an excellent pace throughout, but still delivers a strong social lesson while providing the thrills. It is an intelligent thriller with a conscience. Probably one of the best of its kind in recent years.
Excellent October 5, 2008
Stella (UK)
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
For someone who normally reads one chapter of a book each night before bed, I found myself reading chapter after chapter with this one - it was so riveting I could not put it down.
Once the characters are developed in the first few chapters, the story takes on a pace which gets more and more exciting as it heads towards it's crescendo. Excactly as all good stories should be.
I can't wait for the next installment!
A cracking yarn March 16, 2009
John Priestley (London)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo is the first of a trilogy that has as its central characters Blomquist (nice guy journalist and investigator)and Lisbeth (seemingly near autistic, punk, savant, IT genius hacker, investigator and not-at-all nice girl). In this first novel they collaborate to solve a murder mystery which is a generation old. In so doing they gradually uncover tensions and a dark underbelly in Sweden's burgeois middle class society. Eventually these tensions turn murderous and erupt into the present lives of the central characters in ways that are both more frightening and much more perverse than the narrative anticipates.
The pace of the storytelling is deliberate and detailed and takes the reader along. The characterisations and the relationships that arise from them are spellbinding and in the end you dont want to let them go.
If I have a niggle with Stieg Larrson it is with his sexual politics. He places himself solidly in the feminist camp, and his books contain some degree of a polemic against male violence against women. Not that I disagree with this perspective, however, woman as victim and man as perpetrator is an easy and comfortable call and not particularly original. It also creates a simplistic and one sided account of gender relations that can only be sustained by creating a central character (Blomquist) who has neither needs or obligations that are connected to women. He is unmarried, has no children and his sexual needs are met by a tide of women who offer themselves to him without him ever having to take any emotional risks (and who dont mind sharing). I dont think so Stieg.
Having said that, this is really a niggle. The book is a cracking read and I would recommend it to anybody.
Gripping December 28, 2009
Book 'em (U.K.)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Despite the slow start to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo I was soon hooked and devouring this book greedily. As the book moves past its intense character establishments, I was gripped by Larsson's ability to create suspense and intrigue. But, like my discovering of Angela Carter's work, I have once again come to a great author after they have passed away. Fortunately Larsson had given the other two books in the trilogy to his publishers, so I have those to look forward to. I feel we have all been robbed of a great thriller writer here.
Great read, great background, curious flaws January 30, 2008
Nils Andersson (Newbury Park, CA United States)
39 out of 48 found this review helpful
I got all three books in the trilogy as a present,
and read them all in less than a week (in Swedish), a personal
record.
The first book is now available in English.
(The literal tranlation would have been "Men who Hate Women".)
The books are complete page-turners, the suspense
keeps building. The author's death prior to publication
may have contributed to some minor errors of fact and
of internal consistency, but this does not detract from
the readability.
Apparently, the English version has problems, judging from
other reviews. I sincerely hope the publisher (and the translator)
will take better care with the third (and last) installment.
The background portrayal of a school system
gone haywire and of a mental health system out of control,
both violating people that don't quite fit in with the
Swedish way resounds with its plausibility. I am left with
the impression that the author had first-hand experience
with the horrors of the former, if not necessarily the
latter.
Curiously, the author fails to draw the conclusion that
it is the welfare state itself that is the cause, he clearly
embraces it - but then, he is a dyed-in-the-wool Swede.
A piece of advice to the reader: It is helpful to have a
physical map of Sweden handy; with the exception of one
of the main locations (Hedeby, which exists only unrelatedly
in Denmark) all the towns are real.
The "Millennium" magazine featured in the books exists
in the real world as "EXPO", and Mikael Blomqvist is
clearly the author's alter ego. I believe that somebody
familiar with the "in crowd" in Stockholm will find several
matches between the fictitious characters in the trilogy
and real people.
Nils Andersson
Showing reviews 1-5 of 400
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