821 pages
English language
Published Jan. 6, 2009 by Random House Large Print.
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.
I liked this book a lot more than the first in the Millennium series. I'm a big math nerd so I appreciated Lisbeth's obsession with Fermat's Last theorem. In general, this book had a lot more action and suspense in it than the first book.
Here's the problem with Larsson's novels: they're terribly slow and boring for hundreds of pages. Then you get to the last 50 pages, and you find yourself on a fast-paced roller coaster right through to the final page. Later on, when you try to decide whether you're going to read his next book? You remember the fun ending (but not the torturous slog that got you there). I spent most of this book trying to decide whether I should just cut my losses and ask my wife how it ended, but then I got to the final chapters and found myself staying up until 3am because I just had to finish it.
Better than I had expected. Rather hamfisted, and the main character is totally a Mary Sue... but I found myself enjoying the story and the characters. Larsson had a strong sense of justice and moral outrage, and dammit it's just fun to watch some übercompetent good guys fight and win (spoiler alert: yeah, like there's ever any doubt) against bullies.
Couldn't put it down, shocking and thrilling, can't wait for number 3!
I enjoyed this very much. Very suspensesful. Plus cliff-hanger end.
Better than the first, but I was still very frustrated at the unnecessary amount of detail the author added. When reading crime books one tends to store every piece of information given, assuming that it's a richly-woven tapestry and everything is significant. The name of the lamp she buys for the kitchen at Ikea is, however, unrelated to anyfuckingthing. Why several pages needed to be devoted to this is beyond me. Is it humour, perverseness, poor editing? I can't tell.
Gripes aside, an action packed techno-political thriller with a broken anti-heroine at the core. You want to know about "all the evil" and you most certainly want Lisbeth to get her bloody justice.
(You don't want to know about the particular shade of her jacket. I'm just saying.)
Another superb book from Larsson. I don't know how he does it. Once again he's created an intricately detailed book with a superb plot, and he's continued to develop his key characters so that they become ever more fascinating. At the same time he leads his own readers down his own path of moral outrage in such a way that no one can disagree with his viewpoint.
I can't wait to read the next book.
Somewhat predictable but regardless still a great read. This is the sequel to The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo and it focuses again on Lisabeth Salander, who is somewhat of an anti-hero and Mikael Blomkvist publisher and journalist for Millenium. This time its a triple murder that Salander has been accused of committing and through a series of twists and turns Salander's past is revealed to us.
I didn't feel like this one was as good as The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, but it was still well written and obviously well researched, with plenty of insight into sex trafficking between russia and sweden.
Middle Book Syndrome. (ironic for a book that was supposed to be part of a series of ten.) It builds on the first book but sets up the plot for a final book, so in many ways it has a hard time standing on its own. On the other hand, I found this book a lot more satisfying than the first book. There was a lot less of Larsson's annoying habit of tedious exposition, and much more action, to the benefit of the pacing. Salander and Blomquist are much more interesting characters apart from each other -- although honestly I find Blomquist a pretty flat and boring protagonist altogether, so I was pleased that The Girl of the title was much more well drawn in this book. The big climactic scene was a tad hard to swallow, but the whole series is a big guilty pleasure, so I'll let it …
Middle Book Syndrome. (ironic for a book that was supposed to be part of a series of ten.) It builds on the first book but sets up the plot for a final book, so in many ways it has a hard time standing on its own. On the other hand, I found this book a lot more satisfying than the first book. There was a lot less of Larsson's annoying habit of tedious exposition, and much more action, to the benefit of the pacing. Salander and Blomquist are much more interesting characters apart from each other -- although honestly I find Blomquist a pretty flat and boring protagonist altogether, so I was pleased that The Girl of the title was much more well drawn in this book. The big climactic scene was a tad hard to swallow, but the whole series is a big guilty pleasure, so I'll let it pass.
Interesting to read the reviews here. Unlike many, I found this book to be a much stronger, more focused, more engaging book all around than the first in the series. In the second of the Millennium Trilogy (I always feel a little awkward saying that since it was not planned as a trilogy, but rather as a 10-book series), we switch between the perspectives of many characters but in every case they revolve around two: 'Kalle' Blomqvist and Lisbeth Salander. Salander has gone on a long trip around the world (covered in the first section of the book) and returns to Sweden to set up a carefully isolated life, supported by her extraordinary skills for subterfuge and a fortune that she acquired in the first book. She has cut off relations with Blomqvist, unwilling to be hurt by him, and instead resumes a low-stakes friendship with Mimmi, who helps her …
Interesting to read the reviews here. Unlike many, I found this book to be a much stronger, more focused, more engaging book all around than the first in the series. In the second of the Millennium Trilogy (I always feel a little awkward saying that since it was not planned as a trilogy, but rather as a 10-book series), we switch between the perspectives of many characters but in every case they revolve around two: 'Kalle' Blomqvist and Lisbeth Salander. Salander has gone on a long trip around the world (covered in the first section of the book) and returns to Sweden to set up a carefully isolated life, supported by her extraordinary skills for subterfuge and a fortune that she acquired in the first book. She has cut off relations with Blomqvist, unwilling to be hurt by him, and instead resumes a low-stakes friendship with Mimmi, who helps her concealment by living in her apartment and forwarding her mail. Millenium, the muckraking publication where Blomqvist works, is preparing a bombshell issue, to be followed by a book, on sex trafficking, naming many prominent politicians, businessmen, and even police as patrons of an organized industry that exploits women. When soon before publication the two principle authors are murdered and Salander's scumbag guardian is shot with the same gun, one with Salander's prints on it, she becomes the prime suspect. returnreturnThe sections where we see the story from Salander's perspective were the most compelling for me. Not only is she an interesting character (with admittedly larger-than-life characteristics), the story has more verve and energy when she's on the page. I was disappointed when she disappears from the story and the focus switches to the hunt for the supposedly insane and violent killer. But that, too, grew on me, particularly as the police involved begin to realize that the two pictures they have of their suspect - that she's an unbalanced, illiterate, and extremely violent psychotic who spent much of her childhood confined in a mental hospital versus a competent, principled, and brilliant professional - are incompatible and that they must be after the wrong person. returnreturnOne reason I thought this book was an improvement was the focus and pacing. With the exception of the introductory section (Salander's travels) the book drills down into one issue: who killed the journalists and the guardian, and how is Salander involved? The fist book seemed uncertain whether to present a locked room mystery, a financial thriller, or an all-out shocker; the parts of the plot seemed to be struggling to cohere, and the tone was wobbly. Second, the shocking reality behind the crimes in Fire, once exposed, is not as outlandish and overblown as in the first book; they're more believable, and therefore pack more punch. Finally, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo ended less with a bang and more in a dwindling away of energy. That's certainly not the case here. The auxiliary characters are better developed, and I found myself much more interested in and compelled by Salander in this book. She still has the super-woman characteristics that make her slightly cartoonish, but the backstory we learn in this book is much more believable, with less shock factor and more nuance. returnreturnFor me, she is becoming human, and that makes her far more interesting.
