The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

So far, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has enticed me and I wish I had time to sit and read the whole book now. I enjoyed the suspicion of the prologue and was a little disappointed that the following chapters did not continue the same story. After introduction and background of several other characters, it seems that the mysterious "Case of the Pressed Flowers" has returned in even more depth. Murder was not what I was expecting for the premise of the birthday flowers; however, I was pleasantly surprised.

Author Stieg Larsson seems to use the prologue to hook the reader, then he departs from the pressed flower mystery to introduce the other characters and eventually display how their lives and stories are intertwined. Each chapter is headed by the date and seems to focus on a different character. It takes a bit of concentration to follow the complex plot and recall the details from each character's history. At first, I was really thrown off by the political and business talk and I tended to skim over the sections that focused on these issues. After getting through the basics, now I can more easily follow the business details and understand the importance of business and politics to the plot line.

As the title suggests, the girl with the dragon tattoo, Lisbeth, is the most interesting character thus far. She has the ability to uncover the most secret details of any case she is given despite the fact that she did not finish school and has no professional training. Her character seems to have a lot of secrets itself, but the way she separates her personal life from her professional life keeps us from knowing much more than her physical characteristics. As I neared page 100, Vanger started to become a more interesting character also, or maybe that's just because he holds the details to the murder of Harriet....

I have heard many people rave about how great this and other Stieg Larsson novels are. So far the story is just beginning and is taking off a bit slow; however, I feel that I won't be able to put the book down pretty soon.