Week 33, 2012
Joensuu, Finland

Book: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Author: Stieg Larsoon
Theme: Crime
Thesis:  Solving a mystery that took place 36 years ago.

This is the first book of a trilogy writen by Larsoon that I read. I bought the trilogy last year when I was living in Bristol, UK, with no time to read them, but I have heard several comments about them, then I got the books when the opportunity showed up.  One day I will catch up, is always my hope 🙂 .At this moment, I am overload of things to do, which freezes me, then I decide to read the book as my escape and possibility to relax.

The reading for this particular book started last Sunday’s evening.  The book begins slow and it did not immerse me. It was boring. I pushed me to read it because I saw a movie trailer that convinced me to continue reading.

At the beginning two stories are described, which later converge. The one of a journalist, Blomkvist, who is hired to solve a crime which took place 36 years ago with the excuse to write the family memoirs. At this moment he is living in a turmoil of events.  The other story is with a girl in her early twenties which work as a private investigator, Salander. She has problems adapting into society, we do not know much of her past except an event that let us know that she has had a difficult life, and she was qualified as doomed and the state should take care of her.  She faces sexual abuse and learned to defend herself, loosing any trust on the police. She has photographic memory and it is very good with computers. She is a personality that one is discovering across the book.

When Henrik Vanger, who wanted to solve a crime in his family, starts to describe his family’s past the book turns interesting for me. As Salander said: everybody has secrets. It is when Blomkvist starts to decipher new clues of the old mystery and joins efforts with Salander when the book turns intense and addictive, at least for me. Then, all Thursday and Friday after work I could not stop reading until I finish it.

I got the impression that the book pays attention to different details, from the second war, to sado-masoquit mentality, to the psychological damage that children faced when they live in dysfunctional families independently if the family has money or not.

Summarizing, the book starts slow and boring,  but later it triggers a wide set of emotions such as intrigue, suspense, disgust, impotence, sadness, surprise and even some laughs.

First book from the trilogy