#1 Book Review - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is a psychological thriller novel by Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson, which was published in 2005 to become an international bestseller. It’s the first book of the Millennium series.

The novel begins as journalist Mikael Blomkvist attempts to exit through a crowd of eager reporters after his conviction for the libel and defamation of financier Hans Erik Wennerstorm. He anticipates three months in prison, but he worries more about the fate of his political magazine, Millennium. After thinking the matter over, he meets with Erika Berger, Millennium’s editor in chief and his lover, and announces his thought to leave the company. In the meantime, Lisbeth Salander, an unorthodox young woman with piercings and tattoos who work for Milton Security’s private investigation division, attends a meeting with her boss, Dragan Armansky, and the lawyer Dirch Frode. Frode wishes to hire Blomkkvist on behalf of Henrik Vanger, a wealthy businessman and head of Vanger companies. Salander has compiled a report on Blomkvist and Frode wants to know the findings. Satisfied, he encourages Salander to continue her search into the Wennerstrom affair and calls Blomkvist to offer him the job.

Salander continues her research as requested and purchases an electronic cuff that will allow her to monitor Wennerstrom’s computer while Blomkvist considers the job offer. Burdened by concern for Millennium and his own career, Blomkvist agrees to meet Henrik to hear the details. Henrik explains his family history and then at length, present the job offer. He wants Blomkvist to write a history of the Vanger family as a pretext for solving the murder of Henrik’s great-niece, Harriet. Despite his interest in the mystery, Blomkvist feels reluctant to take the job, however, Henrik promised Blomkvist to give devasting information about Wennerstorm after the work was completed. As Millennium continues to lose advertising revenue, Blomkvist finally decides to take the offer as a way to repair the damage to his career.

Blomkvist makes the best of his work in Hedeby, the small island where the Vanger family resides and attempts to decipher five mysterious names and numbers in Harriet’s diary. Meanwhile, Salander encounters a problem when her guardian, Holger Palmgren, becomes critically ill. The new guardian appointed for Salander, Nils Bjurman, threatens to control her finances, treats her with contempt. After tolerating him for long Salander threatens to publicize the recording of him harassing and abusing her. Ultimately, she extracts Bjurman’s promise that he will permit her access to her finances and work to have her declared legally competent. Later before leaving she tattoos a reminder of his perversion on his abdomen.

With the help of his daughter Pernilla, Blomkvist learns that the names and numbers in Harriet’s diary refer to Bible verses, not phone numbers. He and Salander eventually discover that the names and numbers in Harriet’s diary reference a series of gruesome serial killings. Blomkvist tries to track down the photographs of the Children’s Day parade from the day of Harriet’s disappearance. Blomkvist finally finds his smoking gun: a photograph of Martin Vanger, Harriet’s brother, from the Children’s Day parade in 1966.

Blomkvist goes to Martin’s cabin to confront him. Martin, who knew his arrival escorts him at gunpoint. He admits that both he and his father share responsibility for the killings and they tried to induct Harriet into the murderous tradition as well. Before Martin could kill Blomkvist Salander appears and save him. Even though Salander gives chase, Martin dies in a fiery car accident while trying to escape. Putting all the pieces of his findings together, he realizes that Harriet is alive. He contacts her and she shares her part of the story and reunites with Henrik.

After the case, Blomkvist learns that the evidence against Wennerstrom that Vanger promised him is useless. At that point, Salander offers up the information she collected about Wennerstrom’s corrupt finical dealings. As a result, Blomkvist writes an expose about the Wennerstrom affair that upends the financial world, restores his credibility and reestablishes Millennium’s security. Salander assumes a fake identity and drains several of Wennerstrom’s accounts in order to secure financial independence in the future. Salander goes to Blomkvist home, intending to declare her love for him and give him a Christmas present, but when she sees him with Erika Berger, his long- time lover and business partner, she throws the present into a skip bin and walks away.

Salander continues to monitor Wennerstrom and later informs a lawyer in Miami his whereabouts. Later, Wennerstrom resurfaces dead in a hotel room in Spain.  

It’s a book worth of reading. While slipping through the first few chapters we might feel tired and lagged but on going through the book mystery awaits us.