The Girl Who Played With Fire {book review – Amanda} * * * *

The Girl Who Played with Fire – Stieg Larsson

- fiction, mystery -

reviewed by Amanda

bought from Amazon.com

Book Order

1. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (review from Redefinition Mission) * * * *
2. The Girl Who Played with Fire * * * *
3. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (May 25, 2010)

Links

Author’s Website : www.stieglarsson.se

Amazon : hardback / paperback / eBook

Add To Your GoodReads TBR list

This book in 6 words:

Second book of Larsson’s trilogy? Fabulous.

Why did I read this? And am I glad I did?

Many months ago, the book club Books with Bite read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for their monthly book.  I was unable to participate due to my schedule (story of my life), but I was intrigued by the book, and decided I had to read it anyway.  After reading it (and liking it) I had to read the next in the trilogy.  The second book is just as good as – if not better than – the first.  And I am now impatiently waiting for the release of the third book.

Brief Summary

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.

(via Amazon)

Plot/Pacing/Writing Style

Larsson knows how to tell a story.  Unlike his first novel, we didn’t have to wait long before being thrust into the story.  One thing that I like about Larsson’s style of writing, which aids in the pacing of his books, is that he gives out important pieces of the puzzle before you have the rest of the pieces.  So you get an incomplete picture of the story, and are forced to keep reading to understand how it fits into the mystery.  Larsson does take his sweet time explaining and setting up scenes in his books, but with that important puzzle piece firmly planted in the back of your mind, you can’t help but keep reading.  What I liked about this book was that it did not seem to be dependent on the previous book; one could read this book without reading the first, and not struggle too much with the plot – the motives of the characters might be a little unclear, however.  The only thing I didn’t like was the ending.  It left things up in the air, and if one is attached to the characters, will require reading the third and final book.

Characters

This was an amazing look into the life of Lisbeth Salander.  While we learned a lot about Mikael Blomkvist in The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, he played a lesser role here.  I really came to admire Salander in this book.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo only hinted at Salander’s past, and all that we really know is that it is not pretty.  There is more to be learned in The Girl Who Played with Fire.  Larsson develops his characters very well.  They have their own flaws and quirks, but in many ways, this makes them more believable and real.

Recommendations

If you read and liked The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, you will like this book also.  I actually like this whole series, but would only recommend it to people who a) are looking for an intellectually thrilling book (as opposed to an emotionally stimulating one) and b) are willing to wade through 200 pages of set-up in the first book to get to the heart of the story, and get hooked.

Going Deeper

“Files are one thing.  People are something else.”  This quote is, I think, central to much of this story, and of Lisbeth’s character.  But I would expand on this to say that we cannot judge a book by its cover, or a person by her “file.”  There may actually be reasonable explanations for actions which may, on first appearance, cast one in a negative light.  Moreover, this book briefly explores what it mean to be “mentally ill” and how it is not a very good blanket psychological term.  On a different note, I found that movies have been made based off this series.  They are all made by Swedish movie makers, and unfortunately, they are not available yet on Netflix, which is where I go searching for foreign films I want.  You can, however, see the imdb.com page of each movie here:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl Who Played with Fire
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest