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The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (Find this book in our catalog)

In recent years, publishers have been importing more books in translation than in the past, and it’s about time. There are some mighty good authors out there whose works, while not likely to win the Nobel Peace prize, are well-written, chock-full of memorable characters, and endowed with riveting plots. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Swedish author Stieg Larsson (who died shortly after submitting this book for publication), is just such a gem.

The story follows the travails of Mikael Blomqvist, a brilliant journalist and publisher who delights in unearthing the slimy doings of Sweden’s corporate elites. In fact, until he is convicted of slander for an exposé of a shady industrialist, he is considered tops in his field. Once out of jail, however, he finds it necessary to take an extended leave of absence from his magazine and leave operations in the capable hands of its publisher, who also happens to be his sometime lover and close friend. He is not at loose ends for long, however. An elderly captain of industry, former head of a once-respected manufacturing giant, hires him to write a biography of his rather quirky family, while surreptitiously delving into the mysterious disappearance of his niece decades earlier, a subject that has obsessed the industrialist for many years. What Blomqvist finds is a family closet full of warped skeletons, the inside world of power politics, and some singular love interests. The most important of these lovers is a remarkable character, Lisbeth Salander, who is the girl with the dragon tattoo. Young, attractive, brilliant, paranoid, and troubled, Ms. Salander both helps Blomqvist in his investigations and navigates through her own seemingly insurmountable troubles using techniques that will at times shock readers, but keep them on the edge of their seats at the same time.

This is a novel that pushes all the right buttons: writing style, characters, plot, and themes. At the same time, readers will learn some things about a modern industrialized nation that is virtually unknown to American readers.

Labels: disappearances, Girl With the Dragon tattoo, Serial killers, Steig larrson, Sweden-fiction, Sweden-mysteries