The Girl Who Played With Fire

Summary (from the publisher): Part blistering espionage thriller, part riveting police procedural, and part piercing exposé on social injustice, The Girl Who Played with Fire is a masterful, endlessly satisfying novel.

Mikael Blomkvist, crusading publisher of the magazine Millennium, has decided to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation. On the eve of its publication, the two reporters responsible for the article are murdered, and the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to his friend, the troubled genius hacker Lisbeth Salander. Blomkvist, convinced of Salander’s innocence, plunges into an investigation. Meanwhile, Salander herself is drawn into a murderous game of cat and mouse, which forces her to face her dark past. 

Review: This is the second novel in the best selling Millennium triology. I really enjoyed this novel, almost against my wishes. I enjoyed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo only to a moderate degree and was expecting this novel to elicite the same reaction from me. But this novel's high paced, action and intrigue-filled plot really reeled me in.

I enjoyed the second novel more for a couple reasons. First, it was more action packed. The first novel is based more on research into a decades old mystery so it was a bit drier and less suspenseful. But this novel is all present tense and moves at a fast pace from beginning to end. It seemed like someone was getting knocked out, shot, or tazed in the balls every other page. It reminded me a bit of a female version of the Jason Bourne movies. Second, I enjoyed getting to know Lisbeth Salandar more in this book. Lisbeth's past is explored in this book and her character is really fleshed out. She's a highly intriguing heroine and I like how different and complicated she is. Third, I felt like the translation was smoother in this book.

It took me a while in the first book to adjust to Larsson's writing style which is highly descriptive and very visual. I'm used to novels with more introspection but I like the change of pace. I can see where his writing lends itself perfectly to movie adaptations.

My only criticism is with some plot/character developments concerning Salandar's past that seemed a little less than believable. However, I won't reveal them here in the interest of not including spoilers. Overall a great and very suspenseful read!

Stars: 4