Friday, March 22, 2013

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was another surprising treat. I have been having great luck with ready books that my friends recommend, but I know absolutely nothing about the story. Turns out that the story is murder mystery, but for a murder that had taken place forty years prior to the story. The story revolves around the main male lead, Mikael Blomkvist, being hired to look into the murder at the request of an old man whose one last request in life is find justice for his beloved grandniece, Harriet. The trail of break crumbs leads him all over the place, and it is not until he joins forces with the gifted researcher, Lisbeth Salander (who happens to be the main female lead as well as the girl with the dragon tattoo), does his adventure really gain traction.

What I liked best about this book, besides the unique take on a murder mystery, and exciting plot, was that all the characters were so believable. Each character was so flawed that they seemed so genuine. Mikael was somewhat of a womanizer, but also a guy who tried to do the right thing, with the limitations he knew he had, and Lisbeth had a troubled path, a history of mental illness, apparent trust issues, and at points seemed borderline schizophrenic. Together though, the characters play off one another, and are build up by each others strengths into an unstoppable duo. Also, a highly interesting aspect of this book, was that it was written in another language (then translated to English), and as such I was able to get insight into the mind of a whole new culture (the story took place in Sweden). I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a great (not so easy to figure out) mystery, and/or someone who loves amazing character development. I must warn you however, that some parts of the book were a little odd, for lack of a better word. Not exactly a deal breaker, but the scenes did help to make the characters a little more interesting as well, albeit deter me from wanting to see the film adaptation of the book.

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