Review of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” by Stieg Larsson and Reg Keeland

I’ve long heard how great this trilogy of books is, and I couldn’t help but cheating by watching the Swedish trilogy of films first.  But I know books are usually better, and this one was no disappointment. 

The reader is introduced to the lead character, a veteran journalist of a controversial magazine that is ruined professionally and financially by losing a lawsuit.  During his time of loss, he is hired privately by a wealthy man of a large but obscure family to solve the disappearance of his sixteen-year-old girl missing since the 1960’s. 

Enter the title character, a girl that lives outside of a world of editing newspapers, company parties, wealthy people who is eccentric but extremely intelligent, and if nothing else, deliberate in everything she does.  For a woman victimized by society on one way or another her entire life, by no means is she a victim.

By the time the journalist and the title character meet, together they begin a complex journey to solve a series of atrocities committed against women for decades.   The story twists and turns enough to show that all is not what it seems; therefore, the ending to me is not the predictable “whodunit” template.

Afterwards, the girl with the dragon tattoo begins to grow within herself, realizing she can trust other people.  As she tries to change her life, it may be immediately as she planned, but she knows there’s good out there and she’s on the way to finding it.  All around, this is a mesmerizing read that’s entertaining, with an excellent backdrop for violence against women.  Five stars!