The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Rating: 5 stars
Read from December 23-December 27th

Let me start off by saying, this is an excellent book.

I was slightly skeptical, because with the last few books that I've read which had major buzz surrounding them I've been slightly-greatly disappointed. (The Help being only slightly, Water For Elephants being the one I was greatly disappointed in.)

The only real disappointment in this book for me was the fact that it starts out so dryly. I'm a reader who loves those books that grab you right from the very first line, and I have to say that this book didn't do that at all. It stays a little dry for about the first 75-100 pages. Some people might want to give up before then, but I have to say, if you pick this up and want to do that, please don't. Stick with it. It gets a  lot better.

There are so many people in this book that at times it's hard to keep track of them all. The mystery surrounding Harriet is, in my opinion, the main storyline of the book. Stieg Larsson really knew how to keep his readers on their toes, because I would think I had begun to sort it out and something else would be added to the web of puzzles to keep you guessing and thinking.

As a bit of a warning there is some intense subject matter in this book, so be forewarned if you are squeamish about sexual subjects. I'm not all that squeamish but I have to admit there were parts that had me saying out loud to myself, "This is just sick."


The characters have a lot of interesting relationships between each other. The most interesting to me is Lisbeth and Mikael. Lisbeth is so closed off with everyone else that it's a bit unusual to see her open up and be so comfortable with Mikael. I felt for Lisbeth's character a great deal, and when I got to the ending I was really rooting for her but was a bit disappointed when she was let down by the last scene. I won't spoil it, but I said to myself when I got to the end "Really? It had to end like that?"

I relate to Lisbeth a great deal though I'm not rebellious at all like she is. I probably relate to her because some of her qualities are the ones I wish I had. I'm very interested to see what happens with her character though I'm taking a slight break from the series. Not because I want to, but because I only have the second book and I was told that it's best to only start the second book when I have the 3rd in hand because I will apparently want to start that immediately afterward. I will most likely be going to pick this up sometime next week.

Up Next on the Review List: Ruthless, by Sara Shepard