Wednesday, December 14, 2011

The girl with a dragon tattoo by Stieg Larsson


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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