The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
357093
This book was a gift to my son.  He loves to read and I did not want to pay full price.  I have never bought anything from Amazon before and loved how easy it was to buy on Amazon.
1267749
3.5 stars. As with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, this book takes quite a while to get going. More than 200 pages in, I was waiting for the action to start, and I got a little irritated with the tedium of the contents of Lisbeth Salander's grocery bags and the furnishings of her new apartment. The story picks up where TGWTDT left off, and once it got going, it was decent. I like Blomkvist and Salander's characters, even if Salander is a little unbelievable at times with regard to her self-preservation capabilities. The pace is not quick, and the mathematician stuff slowed it further (and bored me), but I enjoyed it overall. I'm undecided as to whether I'll read the third in the trilogy.
2586140
I had never heard of this novel when I received it, although it has been a bestseller all over Europe. I had a long plane ride from Seattle to Tokyo and needed a long book to get me through it. What a delightful surprise this novel ended up being. I fell in love with the characters, especially Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo. I didn't sleep on the plane because I couldn't put the book down. It is filled with scandals, politics, computer hacking, and murder. I am usually good about guessing endings to novels and I was surprised at the ending. I can't wait until the other two in the trilogy are translated into English.
276993
The whole movie is a tattoo in progress. The characters draw their own tattoos much like the choices they make in their lives. Some people are dancing bears and some are smoking dragons.
3543579
One of the best foreign mystery book and movie series I've ever seen. Saw "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" at the movies and couldn't wait for the second, and then the third. Bought the translated "Dragon Tattoo" Trilogy books and later, the "Dragon Tattoo" Trilogy DVD set.
2928675
Much like the Girl with the dragon tattoo, we have another crime story which has a long involved family secret its heart.  The story also explores social norms and the differences between generations (it all becomes clear when you read the story).  When her childhood friend is murdered, Eric is asked to write something in her honour.  Patrick is an old boyfriend who has become a local policeman and their paths cross as the investigation into murder proceeds.

Camilla Lackberg is another of now popular swedish crime writers, mixing family drama with crime fiction
4975315
Who would have thought that Stieg Larsson could follow up with a book as exciting as his Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but he certainly did so!
1469457
I loved the first story, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Was nicely surprised with the 2nd installment, The Girl Who Played wit Fire. I looked forward to the final installment, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest and I was not disappointed.  I found the foreign versions better then the domestic, but only because of the charm of these (to me) unknown fine actors...
394261
I bought this for my granddaughter.  Both her parents have tattoos.  She loves it and so do her parents.  Each tattoo tells a story but the most important one tells of the love of the father for the son.
4272914
It's actually good?

By the way, a swifty is a "fast one" in Australian speak, something I proudly learned from reading Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

First off, I didn't have high expectations because when the critics love something, it usually tends to be something I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.
However, in this case, I really enjoyed the book, and I feel its praise is deserved. The mystery of what happened to Harriet Vagner is one of the key segments of the book, and that mystery kept me on edge. There's a locked room theme, (locked island here) Harriet disapears off an island on a day when the bridge was closed and her body was never found. What, in the name of french toast, happened to her??

...But that's only part of the story. The other part deals with Blomvkist, an investigative journalist, and his battle with Wenstrom, a corrupt industry leader. If he solves Harriet's murder, he's promised a scoop that will sink the ship that is the destructive Wenstrom forever. Only probelm is, the Harriet case is not so easy to solve.

So, part mystery, part commentary on financial systems, and part thriller, with a cast of shifty characters on an island, all under intense suspicion for murdering Harriet. (Who is, by the way, a member of their sad, disagreable family.)

What drew me in most was the mystery of Harriet. Also, the character Salander(the girl with the dragon tattoo). Suffering from some type of Asberger's, the highly antisocial hacker is an interesting character. Blomvkist, journalist, and investigator into the Harriet affair,is a bit of a womanizer in a way, but overall he seems an honest guy. The whole set up reminds me of a strange 21st century version of Sherlock Holmes(Salander), with assistant Watson(Blomvkist)

The book, at about 500 pages, is long, but doesn't drag. Afterall, remember that there are two plots going on here. I'm very bad at following plot twists so I was thrown a curve ball in the later section dealing with the mystery that I didn't expect.

Some people cricize this book as being boring, but I had a hard time putting it down. The writing's pretty straightforward, unglamorous. There's no flair for descriptions that take your breath away...but I don't care. The heart of the story is good...interesting.

For once the critics were right, and some of the critics of the critcs just can't appreciate a good mystery.
2713042
Came up recommended because of girl with the dragon tattoo. Well written and suspenseful.  Definitely will check more books from this author.
1431934
I was unsure whether to continue this trilogy after reading "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo".  While I thought that book was OK, its odd pacing and meandering focus was a little off-putting to me.  I never understood the reviews that described it as impossible to put down.  But, I am really glad I forged ahead.  "The Girl Who Played with Fire" is so good, that I found that I even appreciated the first book more after reading this one.

Largely, that is because while Lisbeth Salander is the title character in all these books (at least the English versions), and while she is by far the most interesting character, she really is not that central in the first volume.  But, now she moves center stage, and becomes an even more interesting character as we understand her better, as well as watch her evolve.

But, besides this advantage, this installment in the trilogy does a better job of leading the reader through the mystery solving.  I felt that in "Dragon Tattoo" a lot of time was spent talking about how unsolveable the mystery was, and then rather quickly wrapping it up.  Here, you get to follow the investigators as they struggle to make sense of the various bits of information they come across, and can share their confusion when all the pieces don't fit as expected, until ultimately the whole picture becomes clear.

And finally, while there was one horrendous villain in volume one (who seemed to just sort of pop out of nowhere), here there are a bevy of shady characters that we encounter through much of the book, with some interesting quirks themselves.

There is one plot device toward the end that is just not believable, but that quibble does not spoil what is otherwise a great action/mystery story coupled with terrific development of one of the most interesting characters I have encountered.

As to reconsidering my opinion of volume one, I see now that it actually did a pretty good job of setting the stage for what comes next.  So, while "Played With Fire" can stand alone, I think I enjoyed it more as a result of having read "Dragon Tattoo" first.

I've seen some reviews that complain that "The Girl Who Played With Fire" ends with too much of a cliffhanger, but I did not find that to be the case.  While there are obvious opportunities for a sequel, I thought the conclusion of this volume was quite satisfying.
2991646
Stieg Larsson is a Genius!

Book Review of  "The girl with the Dragon Tattoo"

First off, if you cannot stomach reading about graphic sexual abuse, then you should pick a book with some lighter fare.  Having said that, this suspense thriller from the late Stieg Larsson will keep you on the edge of your seat.  At 600 plus pages, it's a hefty mystery but I finished it in record time, and you know a  book is good when you reach the last page and you feel wanting for more.

The story begins with Mikael Blomkvist, a publisher of a magazine titled Millennium who is sentenced to 3 months for libel against a corporate titan.  The plot gets going when he is approached by an old retired CEO Henrik Vanger,  former head of the Vanger corporation.  As he tells Blomkvist, he is officially hired to write the family biography but in actual fact Vanger wants him to try to solve the decades old mystery of his grand niece Harriet Vanger's disappearance.  To deepen the mystery, every year after Harriet's disappearance, Vanger receives a flower from an unknown person, a tradition which Harriet had started when she was eight.

The book's title character is perhaps the most intriguing- Lisbeth Salander, a  skinny 24 year old 90 pound,  pierced and tattooed goth chick with a distaste for authority figures  who has Asperger's syndrome and incredible computer hacking skills.

As a murder mystery Tattoo would have been an excellent read but it is so much more. It exposes the dark underbelly of Swedish financial politics,  abuse of social services by authority figures (Salander is directly victimized in one scene)  and right wing misogynist attitudes towards women in general.  After reading this book I can understand why it was originally titled "Men who hate women" although Dragon Tattoo is a catchier title.

Like many other readers worldwide I can't wait to get my hands on the next two books in the series " The Girl who played with Fire" and "The Girl who kicked the Hornet's Nest".  Larsson's untimely death in 2004 was indeed a great loss to the world of literature in general and crime fiction in particular.

He has left a lasting legacy which readers will enjoy and cherish for generations to come.
Well done Stieg.  Rest in peace.
1275471
Since I started reading on the Kindle I haven't read that many print books. But when I saw The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo at a garage sale for $1.25 I couldn't resist, especially with all the hype. Wow, what a deal that was. This is a serious novel. The first 20 pages or so made me feel like a complete idiot! I kept wondering why everyone liked this book so much and if it was just over my head. There were a lot of foreign references and name dropping that was confusing. Don't let this discourage you. Once the story got going it was much clearer and really hooked me.  Mikael Blomkvist, a financial journalist, is in the midst of a scandal. With no prospects and facing some jail time, he accepts an offer to look into a 40 year old mystery; the disappearance of a young girl. Blomkvist does well on his own, but later enlists the help of a talented but strange investigator with issues of her own. I loved considering all the scenarios and trying to figure out the mystery along with the characters. The author made me feel as though I actually came to know Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander and I look forward to meeting them again in the other books. While writing this review I checked Amazon for some information about the book and author and was saddened to find out that Stieg Larsson died in 2004.
3565442
"The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" left me scratching my head as to way it is so immensely popular. At 55 pages I was still lost in the introduction of the main characters and I already found the story line extremely slow and uneventful. I made myself read to page 100 before I gave up on it. By that time the story had only picked slightly and I was grateful for the excuse to start something more interesting. There is surely a fascinating plot, but it gets lost in the details of the words. At times I found myself reading a page or two and completely forgetting which character was being described. I am not sure if this is a direct result of the author's style or the fact that it was translated from Swedish.

Mikael Blomkvist makes a hero liken to Robert Langdon ("The DaVinci Code", Dan Brown), a middle-age or older gentleman, a bit of a womanizer or at least has unconventional romance, and is expected to have great knowledge in his respected field. He was found guilty of libel, as a reporter, but we are alluded to the fact that he may have been set up. Thus one was supposed to bond with his character out of sympathy or indignation. It really didn't work for me. I got tired of hearing his back-story.

Lisbeth Salander is the girl with the dragon tattoo. Moody, dark, proficient, and hard-core, she strikes me as a girl not to mess with. She intrigues me. I didn't discover enough about her character to say more than this. If I try this book again, it will be because I want to learn more about her.

Conclusion:
If you are the type that enjoys the poetry of words as much as the plot line, "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" is for you. Somewhere I am sure there is a good story, I just got bored to tears before I found it. One day I may give it another try, but for now there are plenty of other books that will get my attention first.
1872029
well written  page turner book, the same as his other novels are about the woman with the dragon tattoo.
1125724
"The Girl Who Played with Fire," as you may know, is the sequel to "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." Its another murder mystery, which isn't typically my preferred genre. But, like "Tattoo," it grabbed my attention and earned my admiration. In fact, I liked it even better.

Heres the spoiler-free nutshell: In "The Girl Who Played with Fire," the celebrated journalist Mikael Blomkvist is preparing to publish a highly incriminating expos of the illegal sex trade, but just before it hits the presses, a horrific double homicide rocks the investigation. Lisbeth Salander, the maverick hacking genius, is - of course - involved, but this time, shes not tasked with solving the murder. Instead, shes the primary suspect. Mikael staunchly asserts Lisbeths innocence despite hard core evidence against her, and in his truth-hound style, he battles to clear her name and bring down the real killer. Lisbeth, on the other hand, does not defend herself. Instead, she hides and hacks out an investigation of her own.

The book continues the theme of misogynism that Larsson began in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." For the sake of a good story, the situations may be exaggerated, but the sexism is not. Along those lines, Larsson introduces some scary new antagonists (including a super-sized man who cant feel pain) and surprising protagonists (such as a world-renowned professional boxer). Larsson also unveils some of Lisbeths tragic history, explaining much of the psychological idiosyncrasy that makes her such a brilliant antihero. The storys inconclusive ending builds suspense for the third and final book in the series, "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest."

This story is better than the first for a couple of reasons. First, since fewer pages are devoted to character development and setup, the action starts immediately. Also, Lisbeths backstory builds empathy; shes no longer just a freaky chick whos great with computers.

"The Girl Who Played with Fire" was translated from Larssons original Swedish by Reg Keeland, the same translator as its predecessor, so the linguistic style is the same: Smart, but not showy. Direct, but not terse. Plainspoken, but not bland. For pop literature, its about as good as you should expect. The art isn't in the prose. Instead, its in the plot construction and robust characterization. Larssons got me now. Before long, Im sure to pick up "Hornets Nest," and Im confident that Ill love it.

(You can see this and all of my other reviews at ninasbookieblog.blogspot.com.)