The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I happened upon The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo when I was in Marion, Indiana over Thanksgiving weekend. I went to the mall bookstore looking for something to read, and I asked one of the workers there for a recommendation. He mentioned that someone had just asked for this book. On a whim, I bought it. It took me a few pages to get into it, but once I did I was proverbially hooked. A stellar and unique mystery that is as much a triptik for untraveled parts of Sweden as it is a well-researched book on family secrets, journalism, and Swedish business. The premise is fresh; the characters brilliantly flawed and unlike any you have met before. The solving of the mystery is not the gem of this book, but it is satisfying, and leaves you asking for more. There is more as this is the first of a trilogy, but it is a posthumous trilogy in that the author is dead. Before his death, however, he delivered these three manuscripts. The author, Stieg Larsson, was a graphics editor for a Swedish magazine and died four years ago, and to my knowledge, these were his first books. What a shame that his death preceded the discovery of his literary talent. And I must say this has been quite a Scandanavian month for me. Ja!