One More Murder - Better Than Ezra

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Millennium Trilogy, Book 1

Author: Stieg Larsson
Genre: mystery, thriller, political
Pages: 600

Brief Summary:
Investigative reporter Mikael Blomkvist wrote a piece revealing Wennerstrom, a big figure in the stock market,is to be corrupt, but loses a suit for libel when his source turns out to have been a plant. Facing jail time and a bit out of sorts, he accepts an offer he otherwise would not have considered: move to Hedeby Island and write a chronicle of the Vanger family (also part of a large financing business), while also secretly researching the mysterious disappearance of Harriet Vanger in 1966. Mikael is joined in his research by the private investigator extraordinaire Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo.

Review:
This series came to me recommended by many people whom I respect, so I was very excited to give it a try. Even so, it took me a while to get into the book: nearly three hundred pages. These pages detail Blomkvist's downfall, his research into the Vanger family and introduces Salander without making her role entirely clear. All of this was not awful, but it was definitely a bit boring at times.

A couple hundred pages in though, the story takes off, when the book switches focus to the mystery aspect of the novel. The researching here is exciting to read about. All of a sudden, I found myself devouring pages and eager to keep reading. The search for what happened to Harriet is incredibly absorbing and well done. The book did not end there though and I must admit that, while I was more invested in the characters at this point, the end was a let down from the middle section.

All that said, I still intend to read the full trilogy on the basis of the quality of this novel. Larsson may include more details than I am interested in at times, but the story itself is interesting. The characters are flawed and multifaceted. I recommend The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo to those willing to slog through a bit to get to the good stuff. If you need instant gratification, this may not be your book.