This week, I decided to leave off reading the film book and begin a murder mystery. I chose one of the novels by Stieg Larsson that have become quite popular in recent years, The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo. Though it was slow going at first, after a couple of chapters I was quite involved. I'm pretty sure it was the appearance of the "girl" of the title that made my interest pick up. It was quite a good read, which is why I've already finished it, despite its length of 465 pages.
The Girl is a fairly standard murder mystery in that it presents the murder fairly early, with the detective trying out various possible theories and suspects until he homes in on the culprit who is brought to justice at the end. But the original crime isn't the only one being detected over the course of the novel; new plot threads are added as the narrative continues, and each one has to be "unknotted" by the time the novel ends.
The plot is no more complicated than the characters, however. Each of the major characters change over the course of the novel, growing in some ways but not in others. At the end, it seems fairly certain that readers will not be seeing the last of Blomqvist and Salander, not to mention some of the other characters who feature prominently in this story.
I spent most of the novel wondering why it was titled as it was. I still haven't figured that out yet, but maybe after the next one in this series I will know.
Some of you may know that the author, Stieg Larsson, died of a heart attack in 2004. At the time of his death, none of the books he is now famous for were published. During his life, he was a very controversial figure who was openly Communist but also an anti-Nazi activist who received many death threats. You can read a biography at Wikipedia: Stieg Larsson.
The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo was definitely an engrossing book. I recommend it highly!
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