The crime novel, ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ by Stieg Larsson has been in circulation for a couple of years now but never tempted me until it was recommended recently by a friend.  The intro to the story sounded intriguing but was then followed by a detailed analysis of high finance which I felt took some concentration to get through.  I persevered to find myself totally immersed in the story and taking a shine to the two leading characters, Mikael and Lisbeth (The Girl).

The story of a young girl’s mysterious disappearance alone is not a sufficiently interesting plot but when sub-plots are interwoven into the tale it becomes a gripping suspense story.  An unlikely alliance is formed when discredited freelance journalist, Mikael Blomkwist finds himself teamed up with a young, self-employed Private Investigator, Lisbeth Salander.

Murder, sex, violence and moral dilemmas abound in this story where I only had two criticisms; too much detail in certain areas and an excessive list of characters, further complicated by their tongue twisting Swedish names.  I understand that to create a good mystery a reasonable cast is required but I do believe in this case it could have been trimmed and still worked well.

Criticisms aside, it’s a well told tale with a surprising conclusion.  Having now read this, the first of the Millenium Trilogy I now look forward to reading the other two.  Due to my other current projects I’m planning to leave the next Millenium story until the end of March.  My main competition piece (Hawk), will be out of my hands by then.

I’ve added another poem, ‘Mutual Satisfaction’ to my list at Starlite Cafe today which carries the tag of ‘mild adult concepts’.  To be enjoyed by anyone who enjoys their poetry with a hint of titillation.