The Girl Who Played With Fire - Stieg Larsson

I read the first in this trilogy The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo a few months back and really enjoyed it. I had never read any Swedish fiction before and I was really happy when the second book was released. This book is not yet available in North America (my friend ordered it from England) so I was lucky to get a chance to read it early.

Amazon.co.uk review says "The highly intelligent computer hacker Lisbeth Salander, is a confrontational young woman, whose Goth accoutrements sometimes alienate those around her (except the individuals she opts to have sexual relations with – strictly, that is, according to the rules she lays down). In the second book in the Millennium sequence, The Girl Who Played with Fire (as in its its predecessor), Lisbeth's closest ally is the older journalist Mikael Blomqvist, even though she has abruptly ended her emotional relationship with him. Lisbeth has left all she knows behinds her and has begun a relationship with a gauche young lover. But after a grim revenge run-in with a man who has abused her, she becomes a suspect in three murders, and is the subject of a nationwide search. Blomqvist, however, is convinced of her innocence (he has just been responsible for a blistering report on the sex trafficking industry in Sweden), and is determined to help her – whether she wants his help or not."

This book was really large and a little intimidating at first because of its size. But when you start into it you realize how fast paced it is and you are through a hundred pages in no time! I loved how different this book was from regular North America murder mysteries. It had more of a European flavour to it. I totally understand why Stieg Larsson is considered a brilliant author in Europe (and now North America!!)

The characters are great. Salander is so interesting and I am really happy that this book explored more about her character. In The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo we were given only little bits of info and left hanging when it came to her character. She is such an interesting woman. I love books with really interesting characters who are not perfect.

I guess I will have to wait a while for the third book to be translated to English. It made me sad to find out that this author had died. He was such a great writer and I would have enjoyed reading more of his books.

Rating - 4