The
murder/ disappearance of Hariet Vanger has happened 30 years back. Her body of
course has not been found and the case is now closed- Not for her uncle though.
The aging and retired industrialist- Henrick Vanger has made it, his life’s
mission to find the culprit and make him pay. For this purpose he finds and
baits- Mikael Blomkvist, a financial journalist who is at a magnificently low
point in his life. Mikael has been convicted of libel against industrial magnet
Hennerstorm and thus is sentenced to serve 3 months in prison within a year.
The magazine- Millennium- that Mikael started with his best friend and
occasional lover- Erika Berger- is in a bad shape after the verdict against
Mikael. In short, he is extremely down and out!
Henrick
Vanger calls on Mikael and signs a contract of one year with him, as a result
of which Mikael is to find the killer! At the end of the year whether Mikael
succeeds or not, assuming he tried his best, Vanger is to give him substantial
evidence to nail Hennerstorm on account of whom Mikael is in the dumps as of
now!
Thus
begins the plot and it gets intriguing for there are plenty of characters. A supposed
murder has happened on the island thirty years back but no body has been found
and there are plenty of suspects. Each one bizarre and suspicious! As Mikael
goes around digging the already dug up tracks, never seen before skeletons begin
to stumble out. The truth gets gory and spine chilling. The question that
Mikael asks Henrick at one point sums it perfectly. He asks, “A year back when
you chose me to uncover the truth, you did not expect the truth to be painless
did you?”
Larrson
writes a very gripping narrative and i must say it is well translated by Reg Keeland. The reader is compelled to turn the page to
find out what follows. At times the novel gets too descriptive. There are times
when you begin to wonder why am I being told about this person? How is it
relevant to the story? But the beauty of Larrson’s writing is that it all comes
together. Of course many details are too elaborately laid out but that I believe
is his style!
I
however did have a few issues with the plot! Primarily a financial journalist
chosen to solve a murder mystery, I felt, was too contrived. Of course over the
course it is justified but why a resourceful industrialist who is obsessed with
a case for over 30 years will find and trust a financial journalist about whom
he knows as much as the Pvt. Investigator has reported is a fact I found hard
to digest! That is a major hiccup for me and hence I find it important to
mention it here. That apart it was a fairly thick book that did not seem that
thick. Will definitely read the second book of the Millennium Trilogy.
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