The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
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Book Reviews of The Girl Who Played with Fire
Book Review: Genius
Summary: 5 Stars
As much as I enjoyed The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I liked this even more. When the story begins, Mikael Blomkvist has regained his status as one of Sweden's foremost journalists, thanks to the continued success of Millennium and the popularity of his book about the Wennerstrom affair. But he hasn't seen Lisbeth Salander for nearly a year, despite stopping by her apartment on a regular basis hoping to catch her. Salander, who has also benefited from the Wennerstrom/Vanger affair, has decided to go on a bit of a vacation across Europe and the Caribbean, keeping tabs on things at home (including her ne'er do well "guardian" and Blomkvist) in her own special way. Both find themselves involved in an investigation of human trafficking, in quite different ways.
It's when Salander is accused of a series of brutal crimes that you realize what a genius character Larsson has created. Because despite how much you like Salander and want to root for her, you completely believe that she *could* have done it -- or at least I did. And it's a very long time before you discover the truth, with each scene without Salander in it making you wonder even more.
I can't recommend this trilogy enough. It has suspense, mystery, relationships, and a little bit of social commentary. However, if you can't handle cliffhangers, I would wait until the third book, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, is released (June 2010!). As soon as you finish this one, you'll be ready for it.
Book Review: 2nd in Trilogy - It just gets better!
Summary: 5 Stars
I just finished this book last night. Now I have to start the third book immediately! I was a bit lukewarm about the first one but this one really grabbed me. The suspense takes you right up to the last sentence. I picked up the third book sitting on my nightstand right after I finished this one to see if it picks up where this one left off. Whew! It does, because this book leaves a lot unresolved.
Like the first book, this one can get your head spinning with all the characters, who they are, what they do, where they live, etc. Add to that the Swedish names and places and it can bog you down if you try to absorb, remember and connect everything. But the story is excellent and Lisbeth Salander just gets more interesting and likable. Larsson definitely made up for whatever shortcomings the first book had.
The story is primarily independent from the first book but the main characters remain throughout the book (expected). A number of characters from the first book fade away and new characters emerge, some far more sinister than the previous book's characters. Larsson does a great job developing his characters. He takes you through the streets and country roads and through the seasons and immerses you in the character's lives. I believe he will satisfy all but the most detail oriented reader. (Think Ann Rice)
One problem with a book like this is it leaves you wanting more and there aren't that many books this good.
Book Review: super whodunit
Summary: 5 Stars
Swedish Millennium magazine publisher and reporter Mikael Blomkvist is considering an exposé of the extensive sex trafficking trade in Eastern Europe. He knows the article will cause a stink in Sweden when the elite are exposed as participants. However, just before the release of the damaging report, the lead journalists are murdered and the evidence including fingerprints on the weapon point to Lisbeth Salander.
With an outraged cry from the media and the government, some of whom headline the dead reporters' sex trafficking article, to hunt down this vicious killer, Salander knows she must put aside her beach reading of Fermat to uncover the real culprit. Blomkvist knows the tattooed Salander is innocent and using his investigative skills as a crusader he also begins making inquiries.
The second Blomkvist and Salander Swedish thriller is a super whodunit that brilliantly combines action-packed sequences with cerebral treatises. The story line is fast-paced from the opening salvo and never slows down even when the heroine discusses mathematical theories as Blomkvist and Salander independently and united investigate the homicides with neither expecting the trail to take them to her past though their previous combined inquiry (see THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO) should have warned them.
Harriet Klausner
Book Review: Addicting Characters (4.5 stars)
Summary: 5 Stars
What IS it about the characters in Stieg Larsson's books? I cannot put my finger on what makes them so compelling to me...but I simple couldn't (or didn't want to, at least) put "The Girl Who Played with Fire" down. I enjoyed this book so much that I kept finding my eyes trying to sneak ahead of me to see what would happen next.
In my reviews, I usually include several quotations from the book to make my points, but I don't have any for this book. Mostly because I didn't want to take that kind of time when I could be reading. (OK - I know I'm getting gushy, sorry.)
"The Girl" books are thrillers...but ones with real characters. Characters that the author didn't just pull off a shelf and start pulling the strings...but characters that are well drawn and compelling to read about. Characters that made me very interested to find out what would happen next. Characters that made me put the book down with 15 pages to go on a Sunday morning and spend the whole day wanting to pick it back up...but not wanting to finish the book.
And then upon finishing it that night, curse that the next book wouldn't be out for a while and be sad that the man who created these wonderful characters died. There will be one more book of his to savor...and that's all.
May "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" be out soon.
Book Review: WoW Wow Wow,
Summary: 5 Stars
I read the first in series The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo and couldn't wait to get the second The Girl who Played with Fire. Best to read the first as it makes the 'Fire' more meaningful and like you're visitng old friends. This felt like an epic and not just a typical thriller. In both books I felt that the building of the story was masterful. The development of characters was the best I've read for a long time, and the surprises more than once, had me laughing with excitement and surprise and complete awe of Stieg's intrinsic and yet simple way of leading you into the lives and feelings of his characters. I loved Salander and Blomkvist, both are multi faceted and believeable whether you agree with life styles are not.
I haven't enjoyed a week of non stop reading as much as this for years and years. I only wish that the third was available right now! and that Stieg Larsson was still around to give us even more. I would love to know if any of his other books are being translated.
I can't say enough good about his writing. It's not the typical thiller, murder mystery, or political thriller. It is in a world of its own and I'm glad I got to enter that world. It's hard to leave it, and I sat for a long time after I was finished between sad, elated, excited and wanting to go back into that world and be with them for a while longer.