Its a very interesting book that grips you from the first page. I read it cover to cover within two weeks. I came at this book having read the 2nd in the series first(it didn't matter, but it did explain a couple of references in the 2nd book). I shall have to read the third book soon ... will then be disappointed that there are no more.

Average Rating:

Rating: - More please ...
Its a very interesting book that grips you from the first page. I read it cover to cover within two weeks. I came at this book having read the 2nd in the series first(it didn't matter, but it did explain a couple of references in the 2nd book). I shall have to read the third book soon ... will then be disappointed that there are no more.

Rating: - Not awful, but not very good either
If this were a film (which I'm sure it will be soon) it would be a moderately entertaining, undemanding and ultimately forgettable thriller. While I might accept that in a film, I want more from a book. This novel however doesn't deliver anything more. It's entirely plot driven - I knew nothing more about the characters at the end of it than I did at the beginning. Salander, the titular girl, is simply a "super hero" who can assume virtually any role the plot requires to drive it forward (she has a photographic memory...she is an ace computer hacker...she is a mistress of disguise...etc)while Blomkvist, the investigative reporter, is so devoid of character that he might as well be invisible.

Parts of the book are incredibly badly written, and as other reviewers have pointed out, it is so much of an advert for Apple that I felt Steve Jobs should actually be paying for me to read it. I'm not sure if it's a Swedish thing but the author also seems obsessed with the square meterage of every property he describes.

That said, the mystery was intriguing enough to make me want to finish it and find out what happens, but not enough to make me want to read the other two books in the trilogy.

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Rating: - Slow start, but stick with it!
I really enjoyed this book. There were loads of surprising twists and turns, and the characters are really interesting, and different. It was a bit of a slow start, but you have to stick with it, its a different kind of crime story, not your usual investigation. I will be buying the others in the series, as i'm hooked on the characters!

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Rating: - Millenium trilogy part 1
This is the first part of a billiant trilogy of books written by Stieg Larsson. An absolutely brilliant read which constantly leaves you gasping with eagerness to turn the next page. Highly recommended.

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Rating: - A thriller that has it all!
As a thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has it all. There is an intricate plot based on nefarious financial deals, a big industrial family with secrets to hide, a left-wing magazine with sharks circling around it and sexual politics of power and exploitation. Mikael Blomkvist, an investigative writer, is asked by the head of the Vanger family to try to find out what happened to his grand-daughter some forty years earlier when she disappeared without trace.

There follows a long complex and exacting search. In his work he is aided by the eccentric and socially inept Lisbeth Salander, the girl of the title. Lisbeth's skills in research and computer hacking are a key to the solving of the case but Lisbeth herself remains largely a mystery. We are given only fleeting glimpses of her background and of damage done to her. But the narrative makes quite clear that she is not a girl to be messed with - and punishment will be meted out by her if and when she deems this necessary.

It is all brilliantly plotted - especially the way in which the two main characters come to be working together. Yes, it all gets a bit far-fetched in places but it is an exciting and intriguing read from beginning to end.

A cracking read. Can't wait to read more about Lisbeth Salander in the next two of the trilogy.

I am often very resistant to over-hyped bestsellers and I only bought the book following a glowing review in The Guardian!

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