The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - Review

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, # 1)

By: Stieg Larsson

Published: first published March 1st 2001

465 pages

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Adult

Source: Personal Library

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository | Booksamillion.com )

*Note: The above links to Amazon, Book Depository, and Booksamillion.com are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch—and there's always a catch—is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues. Little is as it seems in Larsson's novel, but there is at least one constant: you really don't want to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo.

I finally finished. The beginning of this book was challenging to say the least. After digging further into the story, I understood the necessity of the information presented in the first 200 pages. However, initially pushing through those pages wasn't always easy.

This book was a bit out of my typical genre, but I'm glad I branched out. The story was multi-layered and all of the pieces fit together so nicely. There were definitely disturbing scenes that I wasn't expecting at all. Even though this book is fiction it just goes to show you that there are truly some disturbed, mentally sick people out there. And you don't always know who they are.

I really enjoyed how the story built and built the further you got into it. It didn't wait until the last 100 pages to climax and resolve. It grew in intensity even from the tough beginning. In the same way, I really enjoyed the ending. I'm sure alot of readers will be disappointed with the very end, but I enjoyed that it left me wanting more. That just makes me curious about the next book. I already know that Salander is in both of the other books, but I really hope to see a reappearance of Mikael in the future books as well. We will see.

4 Stars.

*Updated: September 6, 2013