The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
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Book Reviews of The Girl Who Played with Fire
Book Review: Lisbeth Salander enters your bloodstream like the strongest of narcotics!
Summary: 5 Stars
A year has passed, and the Wennerstrom affair has finally calmed down. Mikael Blomkvist is no longer being hounded by the media, but he can't forget the young woman who saved his life: Lisbeth Salander. But Salander has seemingly vanished off the face of the earth, ignoring each and every attempt Blomkvist has made to contact her.
Things haven't remained quiet at Millennium magazine however. Journalist Dag Svensson and his girlfriend, Mia Johansson, have been researching the multi-billion kronor sex-trafficking industry in Sweden, and Millennium is going to run the expose and publish Svensson's book. Before all the facts have been double-checked, Svensson and Johansson are found brutally murdered in their apartment. The prime suspect? Lisbeth Salander. It's up to Blomkvist and the handful of other people who believe in this strange young woman to prove her innocence. As far as Salander is concerned, there's only one person she can rely on to do this: herself.
The first book in this series, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, was one of my Top Ten books last year. I had high hopes for this second book, and I wasn't disappointed. The police investigation into the double murder was stymied at every turn. The "expert witnesses" whose opinions are to be trusted, told the investigators what a menace to society Salander was. However, when they asked the same questions of the people who knew and worked with her, they got an entirely different picture of the woman. It took them valuable time to decide which people they should trust.
Once again, the person at the center of it all-- Lisbeth Salander-- is the most fascinating. As a young girl locked away in a psychiatric hospital, she was asked "Why won't you talk to the doctors?" To which Salander replied "Because they don't listen to what I say." If you don't listen to what this young woman says, she's not going to bother with you. At all. You won't even be a blip on her radar. When I turned the page to see "Part IV: Terminator Mode", I didn't bother to hide my grin. This could only mean that Salander was kicking into high gear. I loved seeing how Larsson tied the expose of the sex-trafficking industry and the double murder into Salander's own background, for this book does give insight into what makes Salander tick.
If you want to get to know one of the most fascinating characters in modern fiction, read Larsson's books. Lisbeth Salander will enter your bloodstream like the strongest of narcotics.
Book Review: Powerful and Engrossing!
Summary: 5 Stars
I found this second book, even better than the first which says a lot as I described the first book as spellbinding. The Girl who Played with Fire held my interest from start to finish as it was such a powerful and engrossing story. I find these books very hard to review so bear with me as I don't want to give away the storyline or any spoilers. To me, this is the kind of series that you need to dive into and not know what comes ahead.
My favorite storyline and character from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was Lisbeth a twenty-something pierced and tattooed young woman with a horrible past full of secrets. She is intriguing and mysterious and her mind works at a genius level including her computer hacking abilities. In this book, Lisbeth is the focus and the heart of the story as you finally learn much more about her childhood, her family and what her life was like growing up. Her story is haunting and it's amazing that one can survive through such trauma in one lifetime. Mikael a political and financial journalist who runs and co-owns a magazine called Millenium is now tracking a story that exposes the sex trade industry in Sweden. He discovers ties to members of Swedish society, business and even government. When he is closer to exposing this, murder and mystery ensue. Lisbeth is linked to the murders and Mikael is the only one who believes in her innocence. Lisbeth is drawn into this through her own curiosity and hacking skills once again and she is finally forced to confront details from her past.
There are definitely disturbing parts to this book as in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo that are graphic and violent in nature so be forewarned if this is something that bothers you. The storyline was so amazing and intelligent that these dark aspects didn't destroy my opinion of the book. As in the first book, there was a lot of violence towards women and it seems excessive. The author tends to focus on human interest stories in which women are dealt with in underhanded and evil ways. I believe that his intent was to bring attention to this issue of the sex trade/trafficking issue as it is a global one.
The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is the third and final book in the Millenium trilogy. It is to be released in paperback in the U.S. at the end of October but it is unclear as to its availability. I am very anxious to read this final book in the trilogy even though I hate to see it end.
Book Review: A New Classic Heroine for Our Era
Summary: 5 Stars
The Girl Who Played with Fire features the return of the characters that inhabited Stieg Larsson's first novel, with the distinct emergence of Lisbeth Salander to the forefront of the book. The first book in this trilogy, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was a fantastic, albeit flawed page-turner that established the pairing of Blomkvist, the insatiable, altruistic middle-aged journalist and Salander the young, anti-social and dangerous genius. In the latest installment, we are exposed to what makes Salander tick. She is a fantastically layered and sophisticated character that enables Larsson to focus more intently on his themes of pervasive violence against women in a supposedly just modern society.
Without giving too much of the plot away, the murders of three characters connected to Blomkvist and Salander are at the center of the novel. The illegal sex trade, violence against women, psychological manipulation, and revenge feature prominently. The systemic mistreatment of women at the hands of men who treat them at times as objects, children, or pawns is a topic that Larsson returns too here. In many ways though, this book feels more focused than the first book that at times seemed to meander between various plots of family murder and corporate intrigue.
For readers who have not read the first book, Larsson includes some exposition to tell you what you have missed. However, this book is a clear continuation of relationships and events created in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and your experience will be richer for having read that book first. Blomkvist who is clearly the protagonist of Tattoo takes more of a secondary role to Salander here. Even when Salander is missing and may either be the victim or perpetrator of the crimes at the center of the novel, she dominates the thoughts and actions of the other characters.
Larsson's style is engaging, clear, and direct. At times I find his prose too tidy. The violence and confusion in these books does not seem to be reflected in the style. Yet, where the book fails in literary prowess it compensates with the velocity of its storytelling and the force of its action. I found this book difficult to put down and when I finished it my greatest disappointment was that I will have to wait another year or so to continue with these characters in the third book.
Book Review: The Girl's got Soul
Summary: 5 Stars
The Girl's got Soul
This is book 2 of the Lisbeth Salander trilogy by Stieg Larsson. Although very good, it falls a little short of his tour de force The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. At 500 pages it is a rather long read with the first 300 pages written to set the stage for the climatic 200 page explosive finish. During the first half of the book I found my mind wandering at times as Mr. Larsson over wrote his setup for the intense conclusion. The Swedish names can also be a bit confusing, so the reader needs to pay attention to keep the many characters in focus. Lisbeth Salander, the protagonist, is an extremely complex, multi-faceted character that continually surprises the reader with her incredible insights and intuition. She is a delight to be savored through the entire book. The antagonist(s) are many and add to the interesting nature of Mr. Larsson's complex work. After the initial literary table setting, the story picks up speed and roars to several dramatic conclusions. I do NOT want to spoil any of the reading fun, so I won't reveal anymore of this mystery thriller except to warn the reader that all is not as it seems(?). So keep focused and keep reading, trusted me it will all be worth it!
BTW, you do not have to have read Mr. Larsson's first book of the trilogy, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but it sure would help in certain areas of this book to understand certain nuances.
Character development was excellent if not overwhelming. As a continuation of the trilogy, Mr. Larsson does a good workman like job of keeping the reader involved of critical events from book #1 that play out in this book. It will be very interesting where Mr. Larsson goes with book #3.
No gratuitous sex, some language and many graphic scenes of violence. All germane to story development. Still be warned on the violence as it can be very graphic and might be troubling to some readers. Strong recommend even at today's hefty hardback prices. Look for discounts or get it at your local library. Much too good to wait for the paperback. Wonderful for that long get-away vacation. I am anxiously looking forward to the concluding book in this trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. It is too bad that Mr. Larsson passed away after writing the 3rd book. He is a terrific writer and will be sorely missed.
Book Review: Exciting to the end
Summary: 5 Stars
I finished this book by Stieg Larsson several days ago and it was exciting to the end, unlike the first book in the series which was not so exciting in the last few chapters after the main mystery had been unraveled, but was still extremely interesting. There are a number of riddles in the second book that get solved as the end is approached. You are kept in suspense, especially about what will happen to the main character, Lisbeth Salander, right up to the last page. Her closing words made me laugh and then made me wonder what will come next. For that I'll have to wait for the third and final book in the series.
One way to describe this book is as an interaction of extreme personalities with a society that is both baffled and corrupt. The extreme personalities are three. First, the girl, Lisbeth Salander is a complete genius who has been terribly mistreated but retains high moral principles in spite of her bizarre behavior. Second, there is an enormous hulk, called the blond giant, who deals out extreme punishment to those who are disapproved of by his master. Third, there is the master himself, a twisted but brilliant schemer who controls an underground of murderous thugs and is not seen until near the end of the book.
The good guy is again Mikael Blomkvist who works tirelessly to solve the riddles and help Lisbeth even though for awhile he's not sure of her innocence. Perhaps the author in real life gave Mikael his own personality and that is why he had the unfortunate heart attack at the age of 50 from overwork.
Then there is the rest of the society, the magazine where Mikael works whose beautiful publisher is having an ongoing affair with him, the security agency with its thoughtful director who Lisbeth has done jobs for, the police department, ever confused about how to interpret what's happening, with its good guys and bad guys, the subculture of the sex trade which has its tentacles into mainstream society. Yes, it's a complex mix of personalities and culture showing the nasty and hypocritical underbelly of that seemly well ordered Swedish society. But most of all it's an exciting detective story that keeps you in suspense through to the very last page!