The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson

The book was originally called Men Who Hate Women in the Swedish version and the author's antipathy for such men shines though in many layers of the story. The title was changed to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo for the English version.

A wrongly disgraced investigative journalist, Mikael Blomkvist, is hired to look into the mysterious disappearance of a young woman 43 years previously. He is ably assisted by Lisbeth Salander, a weird Punk security specialist and computer hacker with her own highly individualistic moral code. Her extreme revenge on those who seek to oppress her is another strand of the tale.

A Definite Yes!! - Interesting, unusual, a great page-turner

An intelligent story round all the daily political details of an investigative journalist, written by someone who was himself a well-known Swedish campaigning investigative journalist, famous for his anti-Nazism views.

The book started off a little slowly, with rather complex details about company finances and introducing a series of family members involved with the company, setting the stage for everything which followed. However, it was well worth paying attention, and persevering, because, after the first few pages,there were a number of intriguing strands interspersed, livening things up enough to make me want to see what it was all about, .

There was the mysterious gift of one flower every year for over 40 years which Vanger, an elderly director in the company received from an unknown person.

There was a journalist, Mikael Blomkvist, our hero, who unjustly lost a libel case brought by Wennerstrom, a fraudulent director of another organization; and as a result Blomkvist was black-listed by most publishers and had to lie low; nonetheless, he was offered a highly rewarding research job in a little village, where he was asked to investigate discreetly (whilst ostensibly writing a biography of the Vanger family business and family links) the disappearance and possible murder 43 years ago of Vanger's niece.

Lisbeth Salander was introduced as a wayward young woman with an undefined mental problem whose wings were clipped when she was denied full freedom because the court had ordered that she should have a legal guardian; oh, and the current guardian abused his authority over her so that she had a serious grudge against him; she was a fiendishly accomplished and unlikely computer hacker, although not much good at human relationships,but she did develop an affection for our journalistic friend. It sounds like she and Gary McKinnon the real-life English hacker who the USA have just failed to extradite, would have had much in common.

By the time these facts are established, I couldn't wait to read the rest of the book. I enjoyed the convoluted plot, and the location descriptions were realistic and interesting without being tedious. The characters were dramatic, heinous crimes were threatened and committed and the details of violent and sadistic scenes were not spared.......who would have thought that people could be so horrid!

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was faultlessly translated by Reg Keeland. He managed to keep the atmosphere and fluidity of language, and there was never a point where the translation was obvious or ungainly. One or two Swedish words were retained, but they did not jar or seem out of place.

All-in-all a very enjoyable and satisfying read, and I look forward to reading the other two books in the Millenium Trilogy.

In these videos you will find a bit about the book The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, a book club review, a film review, a song about the girl Lisbeth Salander.

There is also an interview with the author of the biography about Stieg Larsson "The Man Who Left Too Early".

Larsson's Life Was Every Bit as Exciting as His Characters:

He was a communist, and very vociferously opposed to the activities of the far right anti-semitic Nazi sympathisers in Sweden.

He was also a strong supporter of women's equality and his views about oppression of women shine through clearly in the fictional action of his book - those who have shown violence and aggression to women, and Lisbeth in particular, get their very unpleasant come-uppance, as she seeks to avenge the assaults on her.

Let's see whether you thought it should be on the best seller's list