The good news is that Larsson is a great new author, at least to us. The bad news is that he died in 2004 and only left this book and one more, a sequel, “The Girl Who Played with Fire,” which I plan to read next. Deservedly, Larsson has been on the best seller lists. Like “The Man From Beijing” by Mankell, Larsson writes in Swedish and is translated. In this story, Mickael Blomkvist is a journalist who investigates businesses, and he has written a highly critical article about a Swedish business giant, Wennerstrom. Wennerstrom then filed a libel lawsuit against Blomkvist and the magazine he writes for and has ownership in, Millennium. Although he is certain that he reported the facts accurately, Blomkvist lost the lawsuit and lands in prison for a short stay. Mysteriously, in the trial, Blomkvist never put up any sort of defense and the reasons are not revealed until the end of the story. Meanwhile, as a result of the publicity from the trial, the head of the Vanger family, a wealthy industrialist who has unfriendly ties to Wennerstrom, hires Blomkvist to both write the history of his family and solve the disappearance/murder of one of its members. Blomkvist reluctantly takes on the assignment since he has been officially sacked by his own magazine. To follow up Vanger’s request, he hires a bizarre looking but brilliant young researcher, Lisbeth Salander, the woman with the dragon tattoo. The characters from all of the subplots are skillfully intertwined. This story is a good combo of narrative and dialogue, and the plot flows quickly and reasonably. There are lots of characters, but they seem to unfold clearly and in a format this is not too complicated. I’m only disappointed that I have just one more Larsson to read.
West Coast Don
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