Click on image to buy from Amazon.Com

Arguably the funniest novel to emerge from Northern Europe since the Black Death

Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her beloved uncle is convinced it was murder and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) and the tattooed and troubled but resourceful computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) to investigate. When the pair link Harriet s disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from almost forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history. But the Vanger s are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves.

Editorial Review

Fans of Stieg Larsson’s Men Who Hate Women may have been concerned about how the Swedish author’s novel would translate to the screen, but they needn’t have worried. Significant changes to the source material have been made, but director Niels Arden Opley’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, as it’s now called, is mostly riveting. As the story begins, middle-aged investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) has just been convicted of a bogus charge of libel against a rich and corrupt corporate hotshot when he’s unexpectedly offered a most unusual gig. An aging captain of industry named Henrik Vanger (Sven-Bertil Taube) wants Blomkvist to figure out what happened to Vanger’s niece, who disappeared more than 40 years earlier; not only is the old man convinced that she was murdered, but he suspects that another member of his large and rather disagreeable family (which includes several former Nazis) is the culprit.

Blomkvist takes the job, which includes spending at least six months on Vanger’s isolated island in the middle of winter. But what he doesn’t know is that he’s being spied on by twentysomething Lisbeth Salander (brilliantly played by Noomi Rapace in a career-making performance), the titular Girl and the possessor of remarkable skills as a sleuth and computer hacker. With her gothlike piercings and all-black clothes, Lisbeth is a vivid character, to say the least. While we don’t exactly know the details of her dark past, it’s obviously still with her; indeed, she’s just been assigned a new “guardian” (like a parole officer) to look after her finances and other matters. We also know that she is not someone to mess with; when the guardian turns out to be a thoroughly vile monster, Lisbeth gets back at him in one of the more satisfying revenge sequences in recent memory.

That Lisbeth and Mikael should end up working together, and more, isn’t especially surprising. But the horrifying details and depths of depravity they uncover while working on the case (parallels to The Silence of the Lambs are facile but appropriate) definitely are, and Opley does a nice job of keeping it all straight. At more than two and a half hours, the film is long, with its share of grim, graphic, and scary moments, but The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a winner. –Sam Graham

Review

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is the first in the trilogy of crime novels written by Swedish journalist Stieg Larsson. Larsson wrote them during his spare time, as a form of amusement. However, the novels were not published until after Larsson’s untimely death in Nov 2004. The author never had the opportunity to enjoy the critical and the commercial success his books eventually earned. In 2008 Larssen became the second best selling author on the planet.

Now, on to the story:
Mikael Blomkvist is a journalist, convicted, unjustly he believes, of libel against a powerful industrialist. As Blomkvist awaits the commencement of his sentence, he is hired by a scion of a wealthy family to investigate the disappearance of the man’s bellowed niece 40 years earlier. Everyone, initially including Blomkvist, believes the case is hopeless. Unexpectedly though, help comes in form of “the girl with the dragon tattoo”, Lisbeth Salander. The mysterious woman clearly has a severe past: despite being 24 years old, her person and finances are being managed by a court appointed guardian. She does however, have a brilliant mind and, as we are about to learn, a powerful will… She quickly becomes the driving force of the investigation. We watch transfixed, as the past reaches into the presence, and touches the lives of Blomkvist, Salander, her guardian, the industrialist and the wealthy scion.

The story, as written by Larsson, is extremely brutal (consider that the original, and the very apt, Swedish title is “Men Who Hate Women”). However, I am inclined to believe the violence serves as another character in the story and as such is necessary. I am therefore glad that the filmmakers did not seek to tamper it, thus neutering the punch the story delivers. Though this Swedish adaptation is scripted and directed to the highest standard, the focus must be on the performance of the actress Noomi Rapace. Her portrayal of Lisbeth is shockingly faithful to the text and the actress manages to take over the film with her very appearance.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is one of the best adaptations I have seen, ever. I encourage you not to miss it; though do see it with friends, as you will afterwards feel strongly compelled to discuss the various explosive plot twists. I hope Hollywood never touches this gem. I am anxiously waiting for the next two installments to hit US screens.

PS: Keep in mind, this film is NOT for the underaged. – Shopper, Amazon Review

Lisbeth Salander is a wanted woman. A researcher and a Millennium journalist about to expose the truth about the sex trade in Sweden are brutally murdered, and Salander’s prints are on the weapon. Her history of unpredictable and violent behavior makes her an official danger to society. Mikael Bloomkvist, Salander’s friend and Millennium’s plublisher is alone in his belief of Salander’s innocence. Digging deeper Bloomkvist unearths evidence implicating highly placed members of Swedish Society-as well as shocking details about Salander’s past. He is desperate to get to her before she is cornered-but no one can find her anywhere.

Reviews

The toughest chick in Sweden returns to action in The Girl Who Played with Fire, the second film adaptation of the late author Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy novels. That would be Lisbeth Salander, once again played with quiet, feral intensity by Noomi Rapace. As Larsson’s readers and anyone who saw the first film (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, also released in 2010) knows, Lisbeth is small in stature but big trouble for any man who crosses her–after all, this is the woman who set her father on fire after he abused her mother and later, after being released from a mental institution, took extreme revenge on her legal guardian after he brutally assaulted her (those scenes are briefly revisited for the enlightenment of those who missed the earlier film). Also back is investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), Lisbeth’s erstwhile lover and partner in solving the Dragon Tattoo mystery.

When two of his young colleagues are killed while at work on a story about sex trafficking, followed shortly by the murder of the aforementioned guardian, Salander is the prime suspect. But Mikael is sure of her innocence; in fact, he’s convinced she’s the next victim, leading to a tangled tale in which Lisbeth learns more about her family and its very dark secrets than she ever wanted to know. The story is compelling, if a bit slow to take shape, and director Daniel Alfredson, taking over for Niels Arden Oplev, skillfully sustains the mystery and tension (there are also doses of nudity and violence, the latter much more graphic than the former). But Lisbeth isn’t on screen nearly as much this time, and her relationship with Blomkvist, so central to Dragon Tattoo, is almost an afterthought. Still, The Girl Who Played with Fire will certainly whet fans’ appetites for the next installment, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest; and considering the overall class and quality of these Swedish productions, one shudders to think how they’ll turn out in the inevitable American versions, the first of which is due in 2011, with Daniel Craig as Blomkvist. –Sam Graham

“The Girl Who Played with Fire” – I did not read this second book in the Millennium trilogy so the movie was all new to me. Lisbeth Salander (perfectly delineated by Noomi Rapace, a great fit for the part)has been absent from Sweden for a year since we last met her in “Tattoo” living a life of luxury in various countries. She buys an apartment in Stockholm, but no one knows about it. The sexually ambivalent Lisbeth wants to get her dossier from her sadistic guardian, Bjurman, and when he isn’t forthcoming, she warns him he may get another harsh dose of the previous punishment she doled out to him.

Meanwhile the movie follows a second track of narrative. Mikael Blomkvist (well-acted by Michael Nygvist), publisher of the muckraking magazine Millennium, has hired a free lancer to write an article about sex traffickers and the johns that are involved in the trade. He intends to out some of the prominent johns.

The two parallel stories are like procedural crime tales, and at a crucial stage, the two narratives intersect. There’s violence, sex, gore, fires, spies, car chases, torture scenes, and suspense as we follow the protagonists. Lisbeth always seems to be immersed in intrigue, and nasty stuff. There’s some computer wizardry in this one, but not as much as in the first film. She’s forced on the run from the law because she’s accused of three murders.
Lisbeth’s cruel father whom she has torched as a child comes blazing back in this sequel.

It ends in a cliffhanger that will entice viewers into seeing the third film in the series this fall.

The film is excellent, chilling, and absorbing, but I liked the first one better because it was more focused and involved more interaction between the two principals; it was more human and more touching than this one.

Lisbeth is as tough and wily as ever. There is superb acting and cinematography. The movie is in Swedish with English sub-titles which means it won’t be seen by a wide American audience although it deserves to be. I have an uneasy feeling that when the American versions are made, they won’t be nearly as good as these fine films partly because these two stars are perfect for their parts. It’s an intricately plotted, labyrinthine, tantalizing mystery. It can be a standalone thriller even if you haven’t read the novel. – John F. Rooney, Amazon Review

The girl with the dragon tattoo is back. Stieg Larsson’s seething heroine, Lisbeth Salander, once again finds herself paired with journalist Mikael Blomkvist on the trail of a sinister criminal enterprise. Only this time, Lisbeth must return to the darkness of her own past (more specifically, an event coldly known as “All the Evil”) if she is to stay one step ahead–and alive.

The Girl Who Played with Fire is a break-out-in-a-cold-sweat thriller that crackles with stunning twists and dismisses any talk of a sophomore slump. Fans of Larsson’s prior work will find even more to love here, and readers who do not find their hearts racing within the first five pages may want to confirm they still have a pulse.

Expect healthy doses of murder, betrayal, and deceit, as well as enough espresso drinks to fuel downtown Seattle for months. –Dave Callanan

As the finale to Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest is not content to merely match the adrenaline-charged pace that made international bestsellers out of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire.

Instead, it roars with an explosive storyline that blows the doors off the series and announces that the very best has been saved for last. A familiar evil lies in wait for Lisbeth Salander, but this time, she must do more than confront the miscreants of her past; she must destroy them. Much to her chagrin, survival requires her to place a great deal of faith in journalist Mikael Blomkvist and trust his judgment when the stakes are highest. To reveal more of the plot would be criminal, as Larsson’s mastery of the unexpected is why millions have fallen hard for his work.

But rest assured that the odds are again stacked, the challenges personal, and the action fraught with neck-snapping revelations in this snarling conclusion to a thrilling triad. This closing chapter to The Girl’s pursuit of justice is guaranteed to leave readers both satisfied and saddened once the final page has been turned. –Dave Callanan

Once you start The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, there’s no turning back. This debut thriller–the first in a trilogy from the late Stieg Larsson–is a serious page-turner rivaling the best of Charlie Huston and Michael Connelly.

Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch–and there’s always a catch–is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades.

With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues. Little is as it seems in Larsson’s novel, but there is at least one constant: you really don’t want to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo. –Dave Callanan

As the finale to Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest is not content to merely match the adrenaline-charged pace that made international bestsellers out of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire. Instead, it roars with an explosive storyline that blows the doors off the series and announces that the very best has been saved for last.

A familiar evil lies in wait for Lisbeth Salander, but this time, she must do more than confront the miscreants of her past; she must destroy them. Much to her chagrin, survival requires her to place a great deal of faith in journalist Mikael Blomkvist and trust his judgment when the stakes are highest. To reveal more of the plot would be criminal, as Larsson’s mastery of the unexpected is why millions have fallen hard for his work.

But rest assured that the odds are again stacked, the challenges personal, and the action fraught with neck-snapping revelations in this snarling conclusion to a thrilling triad. This closing chapter to The Girl’s pursuit of justice is guaranteed to leave readers both satisfied and saddened once the final page has been turned. –Dave Callanan