The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Before Stieg Larsson’s death in 2004, he had written three mystery novels that are now known as the Millennium series.  Larsson’s first novel “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” was originally published in Swedish and has only recently been translated and published in English.  After being published in English, Larsson’s first novel has quickly become a bestseller, winning both the 2009 Anthony Award and 2009 Macavity Award.   This is one truly original novel that will hold your wandering attention from cover to cover.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has quickly become one of my favourites for 2009 and as of right now, I’m about three quarters of the way through Larsson’s sequel “The Girl Who Played with Fire” and so far it is just as good.  It should be noted that Larsson’s final Millennium novel  “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” will not be out until May, this year.  Larsson’s Girl with the Dragon Tattoo follows the tale of disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist and socially unstable genius Lisbeth Salander.  As Blomkvist enters a self imposed exile, he is contacted by one of the most powerful industrialists in Sweden to assist with solving a near 40 year old mystery that has haunted him up until the present.  82 year old industrialist Henrik Vanger suffered an unimaginable lost in 1966 that has gone unsolved and has plagued him throughout his later life and before he dies, he is desperate to achieve peace through the awareness of the truth.  After agreeing to assist Vanger, Blomkvist hires as his assistant Lisbeth Salander and the two attempt to make any kind of sense of this perplexing mystery.  This bad boy is definitely a great read that will keep you entertained for many a night.  Also, for you movie buffs out there, last year a 2 ½ hour movie adaption of “Tattoo” was made in Sweden (warning: it’s a foreign film with subtitles) and was nominated for two European Film Awards.