The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Genre: Mystery; Suspense

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Series: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; The Girl Who Played with Fire; The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest 

How I acquired this book: I purchased it.

Book Blurb: A spellbinding amalgam of murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue. It's about the disappearance forty years ago of Harriet Vanger, a young scion of one of the wealthiest families in Sweden . . . and about her octogenarian uncle, determined to know the truth about what he believes was her murder.

It's about Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently at the wrong end of a libel case, hired to get to the bottom of Harriet's disappearance . . . and about Lisbeth Salander, a twenty-four-year-old pierced and tattooed genius hacker possessed of the hard-earned wisdom of someone twice her age--and a terrifying capacity for ruthlessness to go with it--who assists Blomkvist with the investigation. This unlikely team discovers a vein of nearly unfathomable iniquity running through the Vanger family, astonishing corruption in the highest echelons of Swedish industrialism--and an unexpected connection between themselves.

It's a contagiously exciting, stunningly intelligent novel about society at its most hidden, and about the intimate lives of a brilliantly realized cast of characters, all of them forced to face the darker aspects of their world and of their own lives.

My Review: I've had the feeling for a while now that everyone else in the world has read this book but me. And now I know why--I couldn't put the damned thing down! I stayed up the whole night to finish it.

It's not for the faint of heart; it's a mystery that deals with serial killings, financial shenanigans and sexual abuse. There are also some complicated romantic relationships and disturbing issues dealing with legal guardianship.

Sounds like a lot for one novel, huh? But Larsson is a deft storyteller; you don't even notice how much is going on until you're done!

Ok. Since everyone else in the world really has read this book, I know you have an opinion. Let me hear it . . .
On Kindle: Yes. Find it at Amazon here.