The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson last night.  My mother-in-law loaned the series to me and when she did, she said, "you're going to be thinking my mother-in-law told me to read this?"  I was half way through the book thinking I don't know what she's worried about, there's nothing in this book.  But did I ever find out.  Although I haven't read the other two yet - this series is not for the faint of heart.  It is definitely a psychological thriller, and in a pretty dark way.  I have a pretty vivid imagination, but I don't have an especially visual mind, so I don't always see images in my head when I hear or read something.  Which worked in my favor for this story - so I don't think I'll ever watch the movie, because I don't think I could handle it.  It took me until about a fourth of the way into the book before I was really hooked and then I read the rest of it in a day and a half.  It's pretty hard to put down, and very intense.  The story is about Mikael Blomkvist, a financial journalist and co-owner of the  magazine Millennium.  The story begins just as Blomkvist receives a guilty verdict in a case of libel against Wennerstrom, the owner of a large company of the same name.  But just when he Blomkvist thinks he's going to have to quit the magazine, sell everything and head off to prison, he is presented with an interesting offer to spend a year on the island of Hedeby and write the autobiography of Henrik Vangar - but more importantly solve the murder of his niece Harriet Vangar, which occurred more than 50 years ago.   With few other options, he accepts the 'job' thinking there is no hope of ever solving the case, but after only a few short months he discovers new evidence.  As he tries to get closer to an answer he realizes that he needs help and so he hires Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius who also happens to be the girl with the dragon tattoo.  And together they solve more than one mystery - resulting in resolution one way or another for the Vangar family, as well as for Blomkvist and Wennerstrom.

I got so wrapped up in the Vangar family mystery that I kind of forgot about the Wennerstrom part of the story.  So once the story was settled for the Vangars I was thinking why is there still nearly 100 pages left.  But I quickly got into it and the resolution for Millennium and Wennerstrom was extremely interesting and somehow rewarding after all the darkness involved with the Vangars.  All in all I enjoyed it, though I am going to read a few other books before I pick up The Girl Who Played with Fire.  Larsson writes an intense story and I need a little fluff in between.