Book 4: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

What an incredible book.

As you'll come to find I'm a big fan of fiction which teaches me something. Alan Moore's From Hell contains a 60 page tour of Victorian London's Masonic points of interest, and while many of the people I knew skipped it, that was the part that I read and re-read somewhat obsessively to capture all of the details in the art and to try to map the geography in relation to our main characters.

I read a lot of science based fiction because science is very entertaining. The more out there the science (cosmology is big fun) the more exciting it is for me to read. So I read a lot of science fiction. I read a lot more Michael Crichton than I like to admit because I enjoyed learning about whatever he was talking about.

I don't have an issue with non-fiction, per se, it's just not my preferred way to gain knowledge.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is great because it deals with the financial world, specific libel laws, Swedish modern history and it does so in an really entertaining matter.

Basically a middle-aged disgraced financial reporter is hired by a reclusive former titan of Swedish industry to track down what happened to a favorite family member whose disappearance 40 years previously was never solved. She disappeared from an island which had its one way on or off blocked that day by a horrific accident.

We're introduced to a wonderful character by the name of Salander, a product of broken homes, uncaring bureaucracy, violence against women (both physical and mental), and also seemingly possessing little to no standard social skills. I had originally typed that she was a "victim" rather than a "product" switching out one cliche' with another, but the truth of the matter is that she is not a "victim" because she never cows nor lets her circumstances dictate her self identity. There is also the matter of revenge where in she rather systematically regains control of various situations.

The issue with really discussing this book is trying to explain why you should read it but not telling you a thing about it so that you can approach it fresh and niave of what you're going to experience in the reading.

I will say there was one mind numbing cliche' which nearly made me give up reading the book because it is so ridiculous yet the strength of everything else (predominately the characters) made me overlook this portion of the book and read on to the end.

This is a very quick and satisfying read. It is also part of a trilogy, the second book was released in the UK but the US won't get it until July.