The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
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Book Reviews of The Girl Who Played with Fire
Book Review: We're with you Lisabeth
Summary: 5 Stars
Meet Lisbeth Salander, a Swede. She is 26 years old, stands 4-feet-11, weighs less than 90 pounds. Multiple piercings and tattoos. Is a superhacker and gets by as a freelance investigator for Milton Security. Sleeps with men and women, as it suits her. Dresses in black. Knows martial arts. Has a photographic memory. Is a ward of the state and has a guardian. She has at least one secret identify.
And she can react with shocking violence when provoked. Seriously. Do not piss her off. She is dynamite in a tiny package.
Lisbeth came to light in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," the first in Stieg Larsson's Millenium trilogy. In that book, she first met Blomkvist, the disgraced journalist and publisher of Millenium, a muckraking magazine. They were hired to discover the fate of a girl who disappeared nearly 40 years ago. They also go after a crooked financier. The revelations were horrifically perverse, the ending violent. Rate these books a hard R.
"The Girl Who Played with Fire" starts out about a year after the conclusion of events in "Tattoo." Blomkvist is back at the helm of his magazine in Stockholm. He and his staff are working with a freelance journalist and his wife on an expose of sex trafficking in Sweden and the story is going to name names, including cops, judges, politicians, etc., who make money importing prostitutes from the Baltic states. On the side, Blomkvist's still conducting his not-very-secret love affair with his editor-in-chief, Berger, who is married to someone else.
For her part, Lisbeth is island-hopping in the Carribean, spending her stolen fortune (see earlier book). She has a little adventure involving a hurricane and a wife-beater. I'll leave it at that, but the scene is a taste of what she's capable of. She returns to Stockholm and checks in on her guardian, a detestable lawyer who hates and fears her, who she is keeping on a short leash with information that would put him in jail if revealed. She rents a luxurious apartment (under her secret identity) and begins stocking it with furniture. She hooks up with an old pal, a lesbian, to show off her new breast implants (Lisbeth was really flat chested before).
All is just fine until one night the freelance writer and his wife are murdered in their apartment. Across town, Lisbeth's guardian is also found murdered. All were shot with the same gun, which is found immediately. It has Lisbeth's fingerprints on it. Her photo is on the front page of every newspaper in Sweden the next day. She is a target for the whole nation.
At this point, the novelist does something risky. Lisbeth disappears from the novel for about 100 pages. Three separate investigations get under way -- the police, Millenium magazine and Milton Security. A lot of characters crowd into the novel, including cops (both honest and crooked), reporters, private investigators, motorcycle outlaws, mental health professionals, even a boxing instructor. Nearly all of them, of course, have Swedish names. American readers might have trouble keeping track, You might want mark pages to refer back to if you forget who someone is.
It's a thrilling moment when Lisbeth resurfaces, sending Blomkvist a dramatic e-mail. They begin parallel investigations. Lisbeth is roaming Stockholm in disguise. She escapes trap after trap. Her lesbian friend is kidnapped, leading to a smashing (literally) rescue scene. In an incredibly cinematic scene, Lisbeth gets cornered by two armed and hulking motorcycle outlaws. It becomes evident there are people who really, really hate her. The book races to a conclusion that has Lisbeth, at one point, gun in one pocket and Taser in another, leaving mayhem in her wake as she blisters down the highway on a stolen Harley.
Dismaying revelations about Lisbeth's upbringing emerge during all this and the reader comes to realize that deep inside this ruthless and fearless young female warrior is a once-frightened and badly damaged little girl.
A word of WARNING: I liked this better than "Tattoo," which has more complexity but less adrenaline. Also, less of Lisbeth. But "Fire" contains a MAJOR SPOILER to the first novel. Highly recommended you read "Tattoo" first.
The book is seamlessly translated into English. One oddity, though -- The spelling is British (criticise, programme), but vehicle velocity is in miles per hour, which is American.
As those reading these posts know, Larrson died after completing only three in the Millenium books. The third and final novel has already caused a sensation in Europe, but has not yet been published in English. I may have to learn Swedish.
Coffee. Lots of coffee. Must be a Swedish thing.
The ending is a total cliffhanger. From what I understand, the third book begins at the very moment this novel ends.
Book Review: Review Based on C. Hitchens' Comments in Vanity Fair Magazine
Summary: 5 Stars
As a Christopher Hitchens' fan, I was nevertheless very disappointed by his review of Stieg Larsson's trilogy of spell-binding Swedish novels. They are about corruption in government, criticism of the Socialistic state of Sweden and it's courts, using Lisbeth Salanger as his protagonist. Also Larsson makes a point of exposing misogyny very often, and this is perhaps his biggest theme. What else would one expect from a self proclaimed Feminist whose first novel was originally named "Men Who Hate Women".
It occurs to me that Hitchens skimmed these books rather than read them closely, as he made many factual errors: i.e. Salander did NOT have Asperger's Syndrome, as Hitchens claims, rather it was only mentioned as a possibility for her condition but then was eliminated, ruled out. He also talks about her "return from the grave", which helps him de-personalize her into a cartoon like creature or Nordic god, as he seems determined to equate this very modern novel with Nordic sagas, and other pre-Christian mystical super human powers. Salander was shot in the side of the head, in fact, and a small amount of soil put over her, as her enemies presumed they had killed her, however, as a cliffhanger one sees in quite a few thrillers, she was only grazed by the bullet, so digs herself out, showing she is not some mythic troll or Flashman, but a real person coping.
Another thing that makes me wonder why he is so obsessed with Sweden as some very blond, Nordic holdout from the rest of the modern world is the fact that he says Wynona Ryder should play her in a Hollywood movie "except for the hair color", meaning blond. Salander is in fact brunette with "very black eyes" and her father, whom she is said to resemble, is an emigre from Russia.
He also bemoans the use of Swedish place names, but perhaps he forgets this was a Swedish novel, written in Swedish, with events occurring in Sweden.
He tries to make Sweden sound like a benign place on the surface, but in reality a racially charged secret port for Nazis, a place swarming with violent Neo-Nazis and skin heads. In the U.S. we also have our share of Neo-Nazis and violent skin heads, no more and no less percentage-wise than in Sweden, perhaps more in fact because of our racial tension in this country. He refers I think to the Hell's Angels Harley-Davidson Hog riding group that is paid by criminals in Sweden to try to kill Salander. Their dialog with Salanger is in fact extremely sexist and sexually homicidal, but not a word about politics, for sure.
As for "prurience" in the novels, this is simply not so, Hitchens perhaps being too obsessed by 1960 pornography such as "I am Curious Yellow", which he insists on mentioning. Sweden is a very morally conservative place today, so this film is irrelevant.
As for "All The Evil", which Hitchens dismisses as melodramatic drivel, this refers to Salander being the child of a drunken wife beater, who is also a hater of all females, and is an evil criminal whom Salander retaliates against finally at age 12, only to be put into a sadistic psych ward for some years, because her father must be protected by the government, here a small group of corrupt high level Security Council officials, as her father had been a secret, top Russian informant, given a new identity in Sweden, which secret is protected at any cost. Salander is damaged by this, but is a very human survivor, which is why the reader cheers her on.
Modern crime writing in Scandinavia is on the rise and is rivaling the English at its best. I suggest Ann Larsson of Sweden and Hoag of Denmark, but there are many more.
Linda Williams Standridge
Huntington, Massachusetts
Book Review: Salander's Third Theorem
Summary: 5 Stars
Stieg Larsson was born in 1954, was a journalist and an expert on anti-democratic and far-right organisations. He died suddenly in November 2004, shortly after delivering the manuscripts for three crime novels - known together as the Millennium Trilogy - to a Swedish publisher. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is the first part of this trilogy.
About a year has passed since "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo". Lisbeth Salander, having arranged a very healthy income at the end of that book, has spent much of her time travelling. As the book opens, she's relaxing on Grenada; however, no-one in Sweden has any idea where she is. Dragan Armansky, her boss at Milton Security, has more or less assumed she's resigned while she'd broken off all contact with Mikael Blomkvist before leaving. Blomkvist was both baffled and disappointed, though Salander had seen herself as a woman spurned.
Salander's had a very difficult life. It would be easy - and foolish - to dismiss her based on first impressions : she didn't finish high school and has no formal qualifications, has several piercings and tattoos and is barely five feet tall. However, she's highly intelligent, has a photographic memory and is a supremely talented hacker. She's very resourceful and also knows exactly how to handle herself in a dangerous situation. However, she's an exceptionally private person and comes across being rather cold and detached. (Although some suspect she may have Asperger's Syndrome, she has a very limited number of friends - and some at Milton positively despise her). She was institutionalised in her teens - after "all the evil" happened, when she was 13 - and is still classified legally incompetent. Her mother's dead, and her father's identity is officially unknown - so a lawyer, Nils Bjurman, officially makes decisions on her behalf. (Salander, of course, is more than capable of looking after herself). Bjurman is a nasty, sleazy and corrupt individual, who viewed Salander as his own personal toy - something to use as he pleased. Although Salander has managed to turn the tables - she has an extremely personal video that could ruin Bjurman - the lawyer has had enough to doing as he's told. Now, he's planning to have her dealt with...in a very conclusive manner.
Meanwhile, all is going well at Millennium. Having been approached by a freelancer, Dag Svensson, the magazine will devote a themed issue to human trafficking and the sex trade. Svennson is offering an article for the magazine, a very detailed book and a wealth of research. His girlfriend, Mia Johansson, has spent some time researching the same field as the basis for her PhD research. However, where Mia focussed on the girls involved, Svensson has been focussing on the "suppliers" and the "clients"...and the results feature some very interesting names. (While they have journalists and policemen, there's a mysterious character called Zala they can't quite pin down. However, he appears to be a terrifyling character.
Although Salander now has a low opinion of Blomkvist, he still thinks well of her - for a long spell, he checked on her apartment, and tried to re-establish contact. They finally do re-connect in "The Girl Who Played With Fire" - although not in the circumstances either would have hoped...
Another cracking book - though one that, like its predecessor, can occasionally make for uncomfortable reading. The events of "The Girl Who Played With Fire" are as difficult emotionally and psychologically for Salander as they are physically - with any number of people raking through her past, and newspapers speculating about her private life. However, it also means that we learn a great deal about Salander's past...Absolutely recommended.
Book Review: Surprisingly better than the original
Summary: 5 Stars
How do you top a book that was excellently plotted, filled with memorable characters and an intriguing mystery? Apparently, by changing up the formula, filling out the already great characters with even more character and spinning a mystery that's more devilish, more immediate and more character-driven than before. In The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson created an excellent book that marked the beginning of a great author whose life was cut tragically short. The Girl Who Played with Fire cements his status as a premiere thriller writer. For those who haven't read the first book, beware because this review will obviously discuss the first book.
At the end of Tattoo, our two characters Blomkvist and Salander have had a falling out and haven't spoken to each other. Meanwhile, Bjurman, the evil sadist who was a minor yet insidious character in Tattoo, is still fuming over Salander's way of getting back at him by branding him as the sadist he is and holding onto a tape documenting his evilness. The Girl Who Played with Fire starts out with a few different story strands like Tattoo. Also, like Tattoo these apparently divergent stories end up colliding in shocking ways. You have Salander's mysterious story, Bjurman's attempt to get rid of Salander on one hand. On the other, there's the Millennium paper side of things that is going to publish a book on sex trafficing that will expose a variety of members in Swedish culture as being a part of it. The stories converge in a shocking sequence of violence that propels the rest of the story forward.
Unlike Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire's story is much more immediate and character driven. It delves more into Salander's character and answers many questions fans will have had when they finished the first book. It's also much better paced and written. One of the complaints I had about the first novel was that a lot of paragraphs had poor transitions into each other, making some sections feel more like vignettes than an interconnected story. Fire plays out much better and the transitions were much smoother. One area that tended to break my connection to the story were sometimes stupid characters. At times, characters do thinks that seem to be more for the sake of moving the plot forward than for anything realistic. Sometimes obvious clues are missed and other times the characters (particularly the police) seem completely ill suited for their jobs. That said, character development for Salander is front and center, this time, and her story is one with quite a few little twists and turns. Unlike Tattoo, where I figured out the central mystery pretty quickly into it, Fire surprised me multiple times in the direction it took. My recommendation is to know as little about the story as possible and just let it take you along its tumultuous journey.
I was really surprised with The Girl Who Played with Fire. It upped the ante in terms of storytelling and pacing and presented some shocking situations that really sold me on Larsson's ability as an author. I also really enjoyed Larsson's framing of the story as an algebraic equation. Much like his use of statistics for the previous novel, Larsson uses an algebraic equation to introduce the sections and while it's not as obvious a connection as the stats, it becomes an ingenious framing device that sells the ending. Like Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire deals, once again, with Men Who Hate Women (as the Swedish original title indicates), but it tackles it in a larger purview. An excellent read and a startling critique on Swedish society, it is a powerful thriller and one I'd recommend without a single reservation.
Book Review: The Revenge of Pippi Longstocking
Summary: 5 Stars
OK, if you read Stieg Larsson's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" jolt-fest, there is no way to skip this year's blistering "The Girl Who Played with Fire." But then you've got to wade through about 140 pages of "Dragon Tattoo" recap and kinky sex history of the cast - yeah, Stieg, we get it - Sweden is sexually liberated - before hunkering down to the really good stuff. But trust me, this is a small price to pay as the prelude to the remaining 340 pages of over-the-top thrills and suspense, a rockin' and rolling mystery that would make the Vikings proud, a smorgasbord a violence and head games wrapped around the most interesting protagonist to hit the pages since, well, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."
That would be Lisbet Salander, the damaged genius created by the late Stieg Larsson for stopped too soon at a trilogy - the pierced and tattooed misfit with an extreme distaste for misogynists, a healthy disrespect for authority honed by years of institutional abuse, and a deliciously bad attitude. In this installment, the author metes out in frustratingly small doses the brutal baggage that created the flawed brilliance of Salander, a cleverly - if improbably rendered- female combination of Kevin Mitnick, Bruce Lee, and Ozzie Osbourne. Following the Blomkvist-Salander team that broke the decades-old Vanger mystery of "Tattoo" and Salander's subsequent heist of corrupt industrialist Hans-Erik Wennerstrom which has left her financially independent, Blomkvist and his "Millennium" magazine take on a freelance journalist and his expose of a Eastern Europe-to-Sweden prostitution ring that catches a lot of pols and cops in high places with their pants around their ankles. But when the researchers end up with bullets in their heads, fired from a gun with Salander's prints all over it, a frenzied media and biased prosecution team have all of Sweden looking for a slandered Salanader as the obvious perp. But an eventually skeptical cop and the faithful Blomkvist stand by their maverick, setting up an over-the-top, sometimes poignant, mostly unbelievable, but always entertaining shock-lit romp through Europe's frozen playground of the north, never pausing long enough to note the irony in the tyranny of Sweden's social utopia theory against an all too real backdrop of heavy-handed state control which put poor Salander in her predicament in the first place. Larsson zigs and zags through a number of unexpected twists and turns, through lots of stops in 7-11 (is Swedish cuisine so bad that 7-11 is really a preferred dining spot?) leading to the most white-knuckled climax since Josh Bazell's Dr. Peter Brown pulls a fibula in the frenzied "Beat the Reaper".
Paradoxically, Larsson does not read like stoic fatalism of Scandinavian kin Irdridason, Fosset, or Nesbo, but rather more like the raucous, unapologetic, and graphically violent prose of Charlie Huston, Duane Swierczynski, or Adrian McKinty - high praise from this reviewer. Yet Larsson has some axes to grind - violence against women, corruption, social injustice - but does so tastefully without beating the reader into submission with misguided indignities. He wraps his thriller around a clever mathematical theme, adding to the depth and intelligence of a well-crafted novel that entertains on the surface with raw adrenaline, while satisfying less visceral emotions at a deeper level. It is a shame that Stieg Larsson is no longer around to continue this refreshing and creative series, but I'll anxiously await the English release of the final chapter in "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest."