Review: The Girl Who Played With Fire

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Expose
Millennium publisher Mikael Blomkvist has made his reputation exposing corrupt establishment figures. So when a young journalist approaches him with an investigation into sex trafficking, Blomkvist cannot resist waging war on the powerful figures who control this lucrative industry.

The Murder
When a young couple are found dead in their Stockholm apartment, it's a straightforward job for Inspector Bublanski and his team. The killer left the weapon at the scene - and the fingerprints on the gun point to only one direction.

The Girl Who Played with Fire
Ex-security analyst Lisbeth Salander is wanted for murder. Her history of unpredictable and vengeful behavior makes her an official danger to society - but no-one can find her. The only way Salander can be reached is by computer. But she can break into almost any network she chooses... 

It took me a little longer to finish this book than normal (because I've been writing like crazy), but WOW. This book was so good! I think I like THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE better than the GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO. We definitely find out more about Lisbeth Salander (and she plays a more central role in this one, while Blomkvist takes a back seat), and the plot was super tense and full of shocks. The ending however did feel a bit abrupt--as in I wondered whether my copy was missing the last chapter. Apparently not.

Definitely 5 stars though.

The thing that jumped out at me as I read was just how prominent Lisbeth Salander is as a narrating character in this book compared to the first. I know that book one was renamed THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by the publisher (prior to publication, I think Larsson had named it 'Men Who Hate Women') and so the new title emphasised Lisbeth even though Blomkvist was definitely the most prominent character in the first book. Now, I wonder whether Larsson wrote Lisbeth as a more central character for the subsequent books of the trilogy, after book one was published with a title indicating Lisbeth's importance. Does anyone know?

I've just ordered the third Millennium book and can't wait for it to arrive!

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