The Girl Who Played With Fire

With this second story in the Millennium trilogy, Larsson truly enters the Hall of mystery-thriller writers. As Larsson was probably only beginning to whet our appetites in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", he now breaks through into a realm of murder mystery that offers basically everything the reader is looking for. There is no end to the suspense, violence and horror in this modern tale; plenty of fast action, great character development, and some unbelievable moments of truth await the reader who is prepared to open his or her mind to some new possibilities in literature. Here is my famous list of ten observations about the "The Girl Who Played with Fire" that might help any newcomers to Larrson get into this series:
A. Larrson is especially effective at creating realistically disturbing scenes that follow through to completion;
B. This particular story sets out to test the mettle of the main star, child prodigy Lisbeth Salander,in action. While she will have a supporting cast of journalists and private investigators ready to come to her defence, this particular battle with the forces of evil is hers to win with some minor twists. Be prepared for some disturbing and ironic features surfacing in her life as she becomes the target of a conspiracy to destroy her;
C. Larsson is a master at unexpectedly springing on his readers certain unsettling information that requires a lot of getting use to. I would hazard to say that this penchant for tolerating the unusual says a lot about the modern Swedish culture. After all, the multi-talented Lisbeth Salander is no ordinary woman when it comes to assaulting conventional sensibilities;
D. There is more to this story than a typical David-Goliath conflict. As usual, lots of interesting description and discussion of national issues such as sexual expression, the sex trade, right-wing politics and organized crime;
E. This novel grows in intensity as it seeks resolution to the many problems it has raised;
F. The novel allows the reader to sample a fine slice of Swedish culture with respect to dress, food, architecture, customs, and social values;
G. Even in translation, the prose in this book is smooth and enlightening;
H. While some of the scenes in the storyline may seem over the top, remember this is a well-crafted thriller that takes licence in offering up sensational descriptions at the expense of penetrating analysis. Many of the key moments in the story are so gripping as to draw the reader into the action;
I. Larrson has the knack to take his readers right to the edge of the abyss when it comes to excitement, disgust and fear;
J. In the end, survival becomes the only true redeeming factor in an otherwise bleary account of humanity.

"The Girl who Played with Fire" is the second book in the Millennium Trilogy by author Stieg Larsson. The book is 724 pages in length. Although not a direct continuation of book I, there are obvious connecting references.

*SPOILER*

A line from page 667 of this book sums up the theme for this book perfectly, I quote...

"Salander was a woman who hated men who hate women."

In this book we are reacquainted again with journalist Mikael Blomkvist and computer-hacker extraordinaire, Lisbeth Salander. Journalist friends of Blomkvist have been murdered and the suddenly missing Salander is the main suspect. A wild and expansive police hunt is begun in order to bring the 'fugitive' to justice.

*END SPOILER*

Comment:

The book reads like a summertime bestseller meant to be consumed at the beach while the kids are off making sand-castles. Although a fast and easy read, it is not particularly well written and I don't feel that this is something entirely related to the book being translated from Swedish to English. There is a degree of shock, sex, violence and doing things to inexplicably put oneself in harms way that smacks of amateurish bestseller-ism.

The police force seems at least as interested in its own sense of hierarchy as it is in solving the murder. Talk about a dysfunctional group with their own agendas! Clues are not followed up on correctly...some problems are solved (or not) by random luck or convenience.

Many characters in the novel missed important communications by leaving their cell phones turned off or lost contact because of low batteries. Just hard to believe in a murder investigation that has riveted the country.

And finally, the coffee reference (in my title)...don't think I've ever seen so many references to coffee either being made, brewed, sipped, drunk or refused in one book. No wonder the different groups in this book were incompetent...they were on a continual caffeine buzz.

Conclusion:

The actual story. i.e. the plot, was full of promise and hope...this could have been a great detective/murder novel. But the writing was poor and the plot from a believably point of view, was a real stretch, resulting in a over-rated best-seller. 2 Stars.

Coffee anyone...anyone?

Ray Nicholson

P.S.
I would be greatly indebted if someone could explain to me, the reason for the inclusion of mathematical references and formulas in the introduction areas of each major section of this book.

I LOVED THIS BOOK!

I thought the Dragon Tattoo was great, but it only sets this one up to be the best read ever. OK OK. I apologize.
Not best read Ever, but on the short list. How can anyone really say best ever without seeming young, naive and foolish. And none of the last describes Lisbet Salander as she works out her destiny one chunk at a time. And I am an old phart who has read over five thousand books so far over the last sixty odd years.

The book is complex, intelligent, captivating, simpatico, clever, with a compelling heroine dealing with seemingly overwhelming forces.

You are gonna thank me if you do as I say and buy this book.

And then you will buy other stuff I recommend.

Because I am a high volume reader of mostly low volume exceptional books.

I seek them out fearlessly, using my own money. Now I am putting my mouth there too. Cart. Horse. You know.

great suspense, I enjoyed very much the book. highly recommended to anyone. Too bad, the author died, I would love to read more from him.
ty.

This is an amazing book, even better than the first. Could not put it down.