Tuesday, November 25, 2008

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (a review)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
3.5 out of 5: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a sprawling thriller that follows financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist as he tries to solve a decades-old murder while simultaneously attempting to resurrect his reputation after being convicted of libel. In the course of his research into the quirky family of a Swedish industrialist (the beloved uncle of the murder victim), Blomkvist uncovers several more plot lines and bumps into plenty of interesting characters, including a sidekick with a dragon tattoo.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is populated by a large cast of characters, many of which have only small roles. The principle characters are well-developed and sympathetic, but it can be difficult to keep track of the minor players. Parts of the story stall in long descriptions of Blomkvist’s research methodology, and the book is a bit longer than it needs to be. Despite these faults, this is an engaging page-turner sure to entertain fans of thrillers and mysteries.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is on my Christmas wish list. Maybe Santa will bring it to me!

Anonymous said...

This is going onto my wish list, too. I've read many positive reviews on it. Do you know if this is Larsson's first novel?

Reg / Steve said...

Yes, it was his first novel -- the following two are even better!