The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Absorbing but too long and moralistic. The mystery is built up slowly and with masterful control but there are few surprizes and the solution, without wanting to give anything away, says more about the authors politics than anything internal to the plotting. Larsson was a talented writer but his passion for espousing the cause of the opposite sex might be more laudable if it weren't at the cost of selling out his own by portraying every male as either predatory or rehabilitated. As for the *** mild spoiler *** stories development into a hunt for a 'seven' like serial killer with a penchant for biblical quotations I agree with those who think this doesn't really work but I think there's a reason why the author took this path and that is to expose the hollowness of sadism. Nonetheless in terms of quality - and provided you can tolerate the financial journalism based subplot - this is vastly better than most thrillers you're likely to encounter.

Absolutely brilliant - it has everything and more (0/0 people found this helpful)

I was recommended this author and started the book with an open mind but with some reservations. BUT it was brilliant - well written - not just a crime book, fascinating people and marvellous plot. I was really sold on this author only to find out that he only managed to write a few books before his untimely death - what a disappointment. The world was robbed of a truely good writer.....

A big juicy satisfying read (0/2 people found this helpful)

This a big, complex, entertaining read. There are three plots running in parallel which interlink with and complicate each other. This means the book has room for a classic detective story dealing with a decades old disappearance, and also strands delving into the complications in the lives of the two main characters - a financial journalist and the eponymous girl with the dragon tattoo.

I loved it, and am looking forward to publication of the second novel in the trilogy early next year. Recommended if you like a good mystery.

Formulaic... (3/7 people found this helpful)

This book has sold 5 million copies. What makes a book sell 5 million copies? Judging by this, the formula is: a fairly mainstream plot, some mild sex, a so-so conspiracy, and a style of writing that neither jars nor excites.

Let me first say that there is nothing actually wrong with this book. Aside from being much too long - common and acceptable in a first novel - there is nothing that will make you throw this book across a room. Nor, in my view, will you be riveted. It is like a three-part thriller on television, where you'll watch the final part if you happen to be in the room, but you wouldn't break a hot date to see it.

Larsson does a fair job of dissecting and explaining the `corporate fraud' part of the storyline, but the main problem is that this is simply a nebulous, almost victimless crime. He fails to bring it down to a human scale, and so robs it of any emotional value. Because of this, the story produces no drive or energy to push the other sub-plots forward. Thus, it sort of falls forward of its' own accord, without feeling like it has genuine momentum.

Some of the characters are clichés. The elderly patriarch, for example, has been done to death. The tattooed girl herself is actually the most interesting character, although less `enigmatic' than all the characters seem to believe. I did feel, though, that Larsson chickened out of making her genuinely dark, and she failed to impart a sense of foreboding that should have been there.

Is this a great thriller? No, it is not even close. It is a long, slightly rambling effort by an author who is finding his feet. On its' own merits, it is mediocre, and your money would be better spent on a dozen alternative authors. Thrillers about corporate fraud need to be brought down to a taut, human, emotional level, or they are simply exercises in writing essays. For me, Larsson fails to achieve the correct scale or emotional connection.

A flawed but compelling read (2/3 people found this helpful)

Stylistically quirky and even somewhat undisciplined, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is all over the place really. It's a thriller, a murder mystery, a serial killer investigation, an exposé on financial crime and journalism, a baroque family drama, a commentary on modern Swedish society and on the abuse of women, and it's a romantic drama. To be fair, Larsson does well to bring all these elements together into a fairly gripping drama, even if some of the developments go a little over-the-top, but the novel is over-long, sprawling and badly in need of editing, full of eccentric touches and veering off into irrelevant areas.

It's the creation and exploration of the two intriguing characters of Blomkvist and Salander that hold everything together, but other than that, there is little that is exceptional about the crime plot and its investigation, nothing certainly to justify the book's surprising popularity. The main revelations and exposés of both the murder and the financial investigations should be big set pieces, but they fall strangely flat. There are definite failings with the book and it doesn't live up to the reputation that precedes it, but The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo manages nonetheless to be a compelling read.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Stieg Larsson

Reader Reviews:

impressive but flawed (0/1 people found this helpful)

Absolutely brilliant - it has everything and more (0/0 people found this helpful)

A big juicy satisfying read (0/2 people found this helpful)

Formulaic... (3/7 people found this helpful)

A flawed but compelling read (2/3 people found this helpful)

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