The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Since The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larson has been an international best seller for years, I got it from the library without knowing a single thing about the plot. All those people can't be wrong, right? This is the first in a series that only contains three books because Larson died well before his time. Just so you know, this is a mystery/crime thriller.

We meet Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist about to be sent to jail for libel, in Sweden. We also meet, in a roundabout way, Hans-Erik Wennerstrom, the mogul Blomkvist is supposed to have committed libel against (do you commit libel against someone? Anyway, he's the one Mikael wrote about without being able to divulge his source). There's Lisbeth Salander (the girl with the dragon tattoo) a curious hacker with a photographic memory who does private investigative work for a security firm and is pretty badass in general. And lastly (because there are too many others to keep straight), we meet Henrik Vanger, former head of the Vanger Corp. who has spent the last 30 years obsessing over the mysterious disappearance of his niece, Harriet Vanger. I'll just tell you now, there are a number of characters.

Now that you've met some of the characters as well, that's all I'll tell you. Here's why, during the first 75 pages of this, I almost gave up. Then, the plot got interesting. There was a lot of back story. A LOT! This little morsel of plot kept me going for another 75 pages and by then I was hooked! Could. Not. Put. It. Down. The way Larson intertwines all of the characters was riveting. If you're looking for something thrilling, stick with this one and you won't be disappointed. Keeps you guessing until the very end.