Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1169 in Books
• Published on: 2009-06-22
• Released on: 2009-06-22
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 841 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Cases rarely come much colder than the decades-old disappearance of teen heiress Harriet Vanger from her family's remote island retreat north of Stockholm, nor do fiction debuts hotter than this European bestseller by muckraking Swedish journalist Larsson. At once a strikingly original thriller and a vivisection of Sweden's dirty not-so-little secrets (as suggested by its original title, Men Who Hate Women), this first of a trilogy introduces a provocatively odd couple: disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist, freshly sentenced to jail for libeling a shady businessman, and the multipierced and tattooed Lisbeth Salander, a feral but vulnerable superhacker. Hired by octogenarian industrialist Henrik Vanger, who wants to find out what happened to his beloved great-niece before he dies, the duo gradually uncover a festering morass of familial corruption—at the same time, Larsson skillfully bares some of the similar horrors that have left Salander such a marked woman. Larsson died in 2004, shortly after handing in the manuscripts for what will be his legacy. 100,000 first printing. (Sept.)
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Review
Cases rarely come much colder than the decades-old disappearance of teen heiress Harriet Vanger from her family's remote island retreat north of Stockholm, nor do fiction debuts hotter than this European bestseller by muckraking Swedish journalist Larsson. At once a strikingly original thriller and a vivisection of Sweden's dirty not-so-little secrets (as suggested by its original title, Men Who Hate Women), this first of a trilogy introduces a provocatively odd couple: disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist, freshly sentenced to jail for libeling a shady businessman, and the multipierced and tattooed Lisbeth Salander, a feral but vulnerable superhacker. Hired by octogenarian industrialist Henrik Vanger, who wants to find out what happened to his beloved great-niece before he dies, the duo gradually uncover a festering morass of familial corruption--at the same time, Larsson skillfully bares some of the similar horrors that have left Salander such a marked woman. Larsson died in 2004, shortly after handing in the manuscripts for what will be his legacy. --Publishers Weekly

"Crime fiction has seldom needed to salute and mourn such a stellar talent as Larsson's in the same breath." --Sunday Times

"A rip-roaring serial killer adventure." --Mail on Sunday

"This book is a sensation, and without a doubt likely to be one of the top thrillers of this--or any other--year! This is CLASSIC crime fiction." --Readings Book Review (Australia)

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an utterly fresh political and journalistic thriller that is also intimate and moral. In spite of its dark unearthings Stieg Larsson has written a feast of a book, with central characters you will not forget." --Michael Ondaatje

Sunday Times
"Crime fiction has seldom needed to salute and mourn such a stellar talent as Larsson's in the same breath."

Customer Reviews

85 94
Best is last!
By Dragonfly
I read this book in french. It is the first part of a trilogy. This is not your "usual" thriller. The characters are very important and the author takes his time to present each one of them with the location in the first 100 pages. So the reader must not be impatient. The first book has a story in itself. The second book has the same main characters but the plot is different and the third book starts exactly where the second ends.
I thought the second was better than the first and the third was the best of the three.
The sad news is the author died of a heart attack just after giving the manuscript to his editor. So there will not be a fourth book.
This is a page turner, I could not put it down and everyone who read it (on my recommendation) loved it.
A definite MUST.

9 11
I am definitely in the minority
By ZaZa
Mostly I am surprised that mediocre writing, X rated content and characters who are so unlikeable is being lapped up by the majority of readers. I have read the first two books and just never cared for any of the characters. The coffee drinking Swedish IKEA scharmy stuff made the books even more unlikeable to me. Swedish writer meet Hollywood with a far too heavy dose of icky sexual murder mystery twists. I will not be getting stung by a wasp from the Hornet's nest anytime soon. There is just too many other fine literary reads out there to waste time on this stuff.

27 31
A SWEDISH DRAGON's LAST THREE BREATHS OF FIRE
By NeuroSplicer
I was late in picking up the two first books of Stieg Larsson's trilogy and when I did I decided to leave them for the beach. I can now assure you that THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO is much more than a summer page-turner.

The story flows effortlessly yet is full of unexpected turns. Looking back one can only admit that, although he did not see it coming, the outcome was to be expected. No suspension of disbelief required here, the story could easily have been taken from news-reports. Larsson was a master of understanding human nature and life's minute nuisances.
What is more, this book reminded me of the good old classics that contained a healthy dose of moral lessons within their gripping story. Good literature should entertain as much as it make you think.

The only thing I regret is not being able to read Larsson in the original Swedish (always a handicap) but as far as I can tell the translation (by Steven T. Murray, under the nom-de-plume of Reg Keeland) is fluid and very well done. No awkward phrasing or translation artifacts that would gum up the experience. The book might as well have been written in English.

It is very unfortunate that Larsson died so young. He would have had a stellar carrier as a writer in front of him. Non the less, his Millennium Trilogy is what he will be remembered by.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!