My Thoughts: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, is a best – seller novel in Europe written by the late Swedish Author and Social conscience Journalist This book is a first of the "Millennium Trilogy" which was written by Stieg Larsson before he passed away, unfortunately he didn’t live long enough to see the success of his novels.

The novel starts of introducing us to one of the main characters - who are too many, yet you will find no difficulty following up with the many names- Mikael Blomkvist: a middle aged journalist who is a shareholder of a financial magazine in Stockholm that he edits, Blomkvist is the honest kind hard working journalist, that you will find yourself falling in love with easily while reading this book, which explains why you will hate his partner in the Magazine Erika Berger.

Another main character that I am sure you will also love is Lisbeth Salander, who is by the way, the girl with the too many tattoos including the dragon tattoo. She seems violent and antisocial, but she only has some issues that many of us have. I loved this girl all the way through this novel, and she was the reason, I hated the ending.

I don’t know is it just me or is it written in a novels-writing manual that good books, must always have an ending that literally sucks and makes you want to go over to the author and slap him on the face! Of course in this case, he's too dead to be slapped!

Anyway, if you haven't read the links I provided earlier with reviews on this book, then you must know that this fiction is basically a murder mystery. Blomkvist is hired by Henrik Vanger, the aged former CEO of the family run-ed Vanger Corporation, to unfold the 40 years old mystery of Harriet Vanger, who was 16 years old when she disappeared, assumedly murdered. Blomkvist only accepts this ridiculous and crazy assignment –that’s what he thought- only because Vanger promised to help him in what was his main problem at that time, proving a case of International Financial Fraud.

Working on this very strange case, Blomkvist delves into family secrets that even Henrik didn’t know. A serial rapist and murder was part of the mystery: and as Blomkvist, with the help of Lisbeth Salander, get closer and closer to finding out the hidden truth, which YOU will never guess, the hunter becomes the hunted, and their lives are endangered.

By the end of the novel, the mystery is solved, the reader will still be utterly flabbergasted by what happens, but the novel, bizarrely, still goes on. I know there are still more things that needed to be done, explained and taken care of, but for me as a reader, after I've been fully surprised and satisfied by the answer to the Harriet enigma, I didn’t feel like reading more; but I had to anyway, and you wont feel disappointed reading through the 40-something pages left of the novel, as it can be as exciting as the mystery itself.

After solving Harriet's puzzle, Blomkvist now dedicates his time and energy to solve his own problems, and this time, Salander helps him in getting all the information he needs to write a special edition of the Magazine about this certain huge Swedish corporation that is also a huge financial fraud and "gangster".

The reader will be satisfied with the ending this way as everyone is happy, Harriet mystery solved, Blomkvist reaches his goal, but; it is not a happy ending to Salander, and since we love her, thus it is not to us as well!

What is very special about this book is that it hits a very sensitive social chord, Women and Gender Equality. It highlights disturbing issues such as Murder, rap, assualts and all shapes of abuse towards woman not only in sweden but we all know, happens all around the world.

It is without a doubt a wonderful amazing book that I completely recommend you to get it right now and start reading it.

Part II of the trilogy is "The Girl who Played with Fire"; who is by the way, our very own beloved Salander. I can't wait to get my hands on that book!

If you do read "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", please feed me back with your opinions as well.