This book follows on from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist again have a mystery to solve but this time the mystery hits a lot closer to home.
It all begins when Millennium magazine is approached by a young journalist who is trying to get his book published. The book is about the sex trafficking trade in Sweden and it names several prominent government officials as players. Of course, this is just the kind of story that Blomkvist lives for so he jumps on board, agreeing to publish this book in return for exclusive coverage of the issue.
Meanwhile, Lisbeth Salander has disappeared. For no apparent reason she has cut Blomkvist out of her life. That isn't to say she isn't keeping tabs on him, she is, through his computer. Salander is a talented hacker and can get past any security system. This is how she finds out about the story that Blomkvist is working on. A story involving a man she had hoped was out of her life forever. A man who destroyed her mother, her family and was responsible for her being institutionalized, abused and declared incompetent.
In an effort to find out what exactly Blomkvist is trying to do, Salander pays a visit to the journalist responsible for this story. Not long after she arrives, gunshots are heard and the journalist and his wife are found dead. With the murder weapon found at the scene and Salander's fingerprints on it, the police come to the conclusion that she is the person they are after. But she is nowhere to be found. So begins the manhunt for Lisbeth Salander. Refusing to believe she is capable of murder, Blomkvist and friends race again time to find Salander before the police do... or worse... the bad guys!
Wow! Another great book from Stieg Larsson! Like the first novel in this trilogy, The Girl who Played with Fire is action packed, full of drama and has a mystery that keeps you guessing.
Larsson wasn't afraid to tackle sensitive issues with much discussion on sex trafficking, prostitution, child abuse, the corruption within the government and big business, the complexity of human beings, the abuse of power and the question of taking the law into your own hands.
Larsson wasn't afraid to tackle sensitive issues with much discussion on sex trafficking, prostitution, child abuse, the corruption within the government and big business, the complexity of human beings, the abuse of power and the question of taking the law into your own hands.
Like in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Larsson looks at a society where men continually exploit women for their own gain, but in this case, his heroine is a woman who will fight back. Salander stands against the violence and oppression of those who abuse their power, to fight for all those women who are powerless.
The character of Salander is explored closely in this novel, we get to see her personality and values mapped out in great detail and her past is revealed which helps us understand why she is how she is.
I don't want to go into this much more, because I am always overly conscious of ruining a part of a book for anyone.. but let's just say, despite her faults (and she has many), Salander is a very different, yet very interesting heroine. I really like her and can not wait to read the third book in this trilogy!!
These books are highly addictive and I recommend them to anyone who loves a good mystery or crime fiction novel!
These books are highly addictive and I recommend them to anyone who loves a good mystery or crime fiction novel!
Rating 5/5
4 comments:
Wow a 5/5! That's amazing, might have to read this after all :)
@Stacey I gave the first one a 5/5 too! :)
Ahhh, this is another book I want to read. Your review only makes me want to read it more...
Question: did it take as long to get into this book as it did with the first?
@ Amanda No, I felt this book was a lot easier to get into compared to the first one. But I guess the main characters were already fleshed out so there was less setting up to do!
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