sawyl | The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Reply)

Perhaps a slightly obvious choice, but I've recently read Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo which, although not perhaps as good as the hype, was still enjoyable and satisfying.

Convicted of libelling Hans-Erik Wennerström, journalist Mikael Blomkvist decides to retire from the public eye to allow his magazine, Millennium, to rebuild its reputation. Asked by retired industrialist Henrik Vanger to investigate the disappearance of his niece, Harriette, from an isolated island in 1966, Blomkvist reluctantly agrees. Quickly concluding that a member of the sprawling Vanger clan must have been responsible, Blomkvist sets about investigating the members of the family who were trapped on the island on the day of the murder. But as the investigation proceeds, it becomes painfully and dangerously apparent that the murder case is not nearly as cold it first appears.

Eventually realising that he can't cope alone, Blomkvist decides to recruit an assistant. Following up on a chance comment from Dirch Frode, Vanger's lawyer, that Milton Security had run a background check on him prior to his employment, Blomkvist decides to recruit Milton's star investigator, Lisbeth Salander, the eponymous girl with the dragon tattoo. Despite her hopeless social skills and deeply dysfunctional life, Salander and Blomkvist make a superb team and soon find themselves on edge of breaking the forty year-old case.

Although there are some bits of the book that could, perhaps, do with something of an edit — some of the early bits with Salander in Stockholm spring to mind — the story picks up very satisfactorily once Salander and Blomkvist team up to solve the mystery. And while I'm sceptical about Salander's hacker skills (although, to be fair, Larsson talks the talk better than most writers) and general kick-arse-ness, I liked the idea of a protagonist who just doesn't seem to give an damn what any one else thinks about her, regardless of the problems it causes for her.