I previously watched the American movie "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and the Swedish trilogy on the books. I therefore thought, when I saw the books at a thrift store, 'why not try the books'. Sometimes the movies just don't do as good as the books so why not. This is a review for the first book, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo".
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
Author: Stieg Larsson
Language Read: English
Published: 2005
Genre: Mystery, Crime Fiction, Thriller, Suspense, Nordic noir
Plot
Reporter Mikael Blomkvist receives a request from a corporate man (Henrik Vanger) to help him solve a family mystery that has haunted him for over thirty years: what happened to his granddaughter Harriet? Who has been keeping up a tradition she started years before her disappearance (sending him a pressed flower on his birthday)? Who is responsible for the disappearance of Harriet, of all the family members that could have done it on the day in question thirty years ago?
Mikael finds that he has a connection to the Vanger family [Harriet had been his babysitter sometimes] and is given incentive to take the job. Having just had a major court case of "slander" against a major business mogul (Hans-Erik Wennerström), Mikael needs to take some time out of the spotlight and Vanger says he can help with dealing with the Wennerström case.
As Mikael works on the case, he finds out that there is a computer hacker watching his moves. Vanger had asked a security company (prior to offering the case to Blomkvist) do a background check on Blomkvist. The person that did the background check is a young woman named Lisbeth Salander and she checks up on him every so often. However, she takes interest in the case of the missing Harriet and soon Lisbeth and Mikael are working together to figure out the thirty-year-old mystery.
Can they solve the mystery? Did someone in the Vanger family kill Harriet and, if so, where is her body? Why would someone of the family attack Harriet? Are there darker secrets than just Harriet missing? And who is sending the pressed flowers on Henrik's birthday?
Review
4/5 - This is a very good book ["a page turner"] and I do believe that the Swedish version of this movie did a very good job sticking to the book. There are some dark things that this book deals with including vile murder rituals, attacks on women (murdered and raped), incestual abuse/rape/attacks, etc.
Even though the story has a lot of nasty topics to deal with, I do think this book was very well written. I enjoyed the intelligence that Lisbeth and Mikael both showed while dealing with their investigation. I was sad to see the book end but it was a good ending and had a bit of "look of hope" for Lisbeth. I picked up the second book immediately to read it as I was not ready to be finished with this 'verse, so the review for that will be soon.
I personally think this is very good book. I am glad to have it in my collection but I don't think that I will be rereading it any time soon (thanks to that never ending list of To Be Read books and To Be Watched movies and the reviews that ensue).
Oh, and by the way, the American version of the movie might have had decent special effects and whatnot but it didn't stick to the book as much as I would have liked.
That's my book review. Thanks for reading! More reviews to come eventually.
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