The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
|
List Price: Our Price: $12.49 You Save: $14.46 (54%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $3.68 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Girl Who Played with Fire
Book Review: A thinking man's thriller
Summary: 5 Stars
I did not particularly like "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. After the first 100 pages of "The Girl Who Played with Fire" I thought not again, this is boring. Trivial details on what furniture Lisbeth furnishes her apartment with, food she buys. Then something happened, the book took off, and kept on going. I could not put it down. I could not understand what Lisbeth saw in Blomkvist, as he was written very one dimensional in "Dragon-Tattoo. This time out you can almost feel the intensity as he sifts though a mountain of leads to get to the truth. Lisbeth was also very one dimensional to me, which could not have been further from the truth. A lean mean fighting machine, she will go the distance with anybody who abuses woman. I also liked the secondary characters on the police force. Bublanski and his female partner Modig complemented each other and the storyline. I guess I still do not see Lisbeth and Blomkvist as the the romantic couple some reviewers have made them out to be. Difficult to get to know, a women of few words/willing to share very little, probably on the autistic spectrum, Lisbeth still touched the lives of many around her. Blomkvist, Armansky, Paolo Roberto, in the midst of overwhelming evidence against her, trusted their instincts and had "Lisbeth's back". That to me was the essence of the story. This book is highly recommended.Book Review: Don't get on Lisbeth's list
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the second novel in the three novel series by the late Stieg Larsson (translated from the original Swedish). To some extent, it builds on characters from the first novel, so the novels should be read in order. We have elite computer hacker Lisbeth Salander, aka "Wasp" (the "girl" of the title), who is keeping a list of "people she should look into" - she can do bad things to people who have offended her, and takes a special interest in men who have abused women. There is also a continuation of the second main character from the previous novel, investigative reporter Mikael Blumkvist.
Lisbeth has her own ideas of justice. She does not trust the police, and can become a dangerous loose cannon, so don't get in her way. She is 4 feet 11 inches tall and weighs 90 pounds, so it is easy to underestimate her. Don't treat her like a child (a very big mistake). If you try to treat her rough, a Taser in the groin may be the least of your problems.
There is an underlying story of an evil prostitution business using girls and younger women from Eastern Europe. That is what involves Mikael. But there is a lot more to the story as things evolve. The ending, perhaps, does not completely wrap everything up, but there is the third novel in the series.
Book Review: One of the best crime novels in years
Summary: 5 Stars
Having just finished reading "The Girl Who Played With Fire" for the second time, I am more convinced than ever that it is one of the best crime novels in years, and one of the best novels I have read in a long time. The second in a trilogy by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson, it again features Lisbeth Salander -- one of the strongest and most fascinating female characters I have encountered in fiction -- and journalist Mikael Blomqvist in a long, convoluted tale of murder and intrigue that is not only believable, but impossible to put down. If you haven't yet read it, buy a copy and read it...twice. The second read was at least as good as the first, and I discovered important clues that I had missed the first time. This book, like the first one "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", is sure to get a 3rd read some time in the next few months.
The third volume in the trilogy, "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest", will be released in the U.S. in Spring 2010. I can hardly wait. If it's half as good as the first two, it will join them as international bestsellers. A sad biographical note about author Stieg Larsson is that he died of a heart attack, at age 50, a few days after delivering the manuscripts of the trilogy to his agent.
A 5-Star + read
Book Review: The Return of Lisbeth - worth the wait
Summary: 5 Stars
After reading "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," I wondered whether crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist or misanthrope hacker Lisbeth Salander was his Millennium trilogy's chief protagonist. After reading "The Girl Who Played With Fire," it's clear that it's the Salander narrative that is driving the train. This book - every bit the equal of Larsson's first volume (no matter what you may read or hear) - is thrilling from Page One. It's a delicious treat for those of us who fell head over heels for Larsson's detailed and knowledgeable writing on corruption, scandal, hackerdom, journalism and politics.
I had ordered 'Fire' months in advance of the US release from Amazon UK. As I write this review on August 16, 2009, I note that Part 3 (tragically, the last volume due to Larsson's untimely early death) is already available for pre-order there. "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" will be released in hardcover in the UK on October 1st of this year. It's exciting but - at the same time - bittersweet to know that I'll be reading the next part of the saga prior to year-end.
Notice that I said 'next' and not 'final.' Larsson had sketched out a ten-book series. That means Part 3 will probably leave many things unsorted.
Book Review: Fast-Paced Spellbinder
Summary: 5 Stars
This book can stand alone, but why let it? It will read much better if you've read its precursor, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo". That will give you a better flavor of the major players.
If you have read "Dragon Tattoo", comparisons are inevitable. This book is a much faster-paced mystery with one major theme ("Tattoo" had a few mystery plots going). The theme in "Fire" is all centered around the girl - Lisbeth - who is a wonderfully complex character. Of course, Larsson can not keep things simple. Although the mystery surrounds three murders, it is layered with sub-plots surrounding Lisbeth's long sordid past.
It is common to say that a book's characters are "not cardboard cut-outs". Larsson's characters are even far deeper. Every character, no matter how minor or tangential is given a real personality, for good of for bad and the book has many characters. He does this so well though, that it adds to the book rather than burdening it.
A rare mystery can hold a reader spellbound for 503 pages, but this one does. The layers unpeel like an onion and twists and turns never stop as Lisbeth, Mickeal, the police and others all are seeking the truth - and each other. Very highly recommended.