'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' by Stieg Larsson
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has been on the New York Times' Bestseller list for over a year now, and it seems that this is the Harry Potter-esque series of our time. Stieg Larsson was a Swedish journalist who wrote this novel back in 2005, and he sadly passed away 2004. Before I go on with my review, here is a synopsis of the novel:
"Cases rarely come much colder than the decades-old disappearance of teen heiress Harriet Vanger from her family's remote island retreat north of Stockholm, nor do fiction debuts hotter than this European bestseller by muckraking Swedish journalist Larsson. At once a strikingly original thriller and a vivisection of Sweden's dirty not-so-little secrets (as suggested by its original title, Men Who Hate Women), this first of a trilogy introduces a provocatively odd couple: disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist, freshly sentenced to jail for libeling a shady businessman, and the multipierced and tattooed Lisbeth Salander, a feral but vulnerable superhacker. Hired by octogenarian industrialist Henrik Vanger, who wants to find out what happened to his beloved great-niece before he dies, the duo gradually uncover a festering morass of familial corruption—at the same time, Larsson skillfully bares some of the similar horrors that have left Salander such a marked woman." ~ Publishers Weekly
At first glance, this just seems like your average crime novel, but it is so much more than that. It touches on topics such as libel, rape, retribution, serial murders and closure. It's one of those hard-to-put-down novels that keep you on the edge of your seat the entire ride, and is not predictable in the least. As an aspiring writer/journalist, this novel was right down my alley, and it really piued my interest.
I think the reason why I liked this book so much was that it was much more than just a crime novel. It burrowed further into society's inner-workings and explored the psyche of an array of characters. Lisbeth Salander used to be an orphan, and now she is a freelance researcher who uses her skills as a hacker to get information that not many people are privy to. The catch, though, is that she is still in a conservatorship and her new conservator takes advantage of her. She takes control of the situation though, and in a very graphic scene, she gets her revenge. This topic of rape comes in to play later in the novel as well. Lisbeth was a very awkward character in the beginning, but as the novel progressed I really came to like her and felt a connection with her. What she struggles through is really intense, and the reader can truly feel what she is feeling.
The other main character, Mikael Blomkvist, is a journalist who is accused of libel and sentenced to a year in prison. Before he is sent to prison though, he is contracted to investigate the murder of Harriet Vanger, and this case is the most perplexing that he has ever encountered. The case of Harriet is what truly made the novel so riveting. The case has been ongoing for about forty years and no one has ever discovered any new information. That changes though, after Mikael, in just over a year, solves what is truly a bizarre case. This plot line was very well constructed and I did not know what was going to happen. The relationship between the Vanger family is explored, and really gives the novel its touch of everyday life. It's amazing how deep, dark secrets of one member is kept hidden from an entire family for their whole lives. The culmination of Mikael's investigation is breathtaking, very graphic, and totally unexpected.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and I really do recommend it to everyone. The beginning of the novel was a little sluggish, but once you take the plunge, you will not want to come back until you have solved the case. Check it out!
(If you have already read it, or once you finish reading it, please leave comments and let me know what you thought of the novel. I'm really interested in your thoughts, so don't hesitate. Happy reading!)
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