BECK’S BOOK BUY – TUESDAY 13TH APRIL
Top 5 Paperback Chart
2. The Girl Who Played with Fire Stieg Larsson, Reg Keeland
3. 8th Confession James Patterson
4. The Best of Times Penny Vincenzi
5. Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel
This week’s book review is at number 6 in the paperback chart, whilst the remaining 2 books are at numbers 2 and 1. It’s the First in the Millennium anthology, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, which is now a major film. I know I say this a lot, but this really is one of the best book’s I’ve read in a while. Every thing about it is just fascinating, from the plot, to the writer. So let’s start with a little bit about Stieg Larsson: having not heard of this guy until the release of the film, I was amazed to discover he was the second best-selling author in the world in 2008. Karl Stig-Erland Larsson was a Swedish journalist and writer, best known for his Millennium Trilogy of crime novels, by last month his Millennium trilogy had sold 27 million copies in over 40 countries, and the novels were published posthumously.
Larsson died in Stockholm at the age of 50 of a massive heart attack. He never knew the success if his books, and his death posed as big a mystery as his books, with rumours that his death was in some way suspected of having been induced, because of death threats he received as editor of Expo, which have been denied.
The Millennium Trilogy is a series of three bestselling novels written by Stieg Larsson. The novels in the series, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, were first published from 2005, a year after Larsson’s death.
A fourth novel was planned by author Stieg Larsson, however his sudden death in November 2004 prevented him from finishing the book
So a bit about The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, just enough to whet your appetite:
Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder - and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the tattooed, truculent computer hacker Lisbeth Salander to investigate. When the pair link Harriet's disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history. But the Vangers are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves.
On the back cover of this book, writer Harlan Coben says this book is “so much more than a thriller..” and he is so right! The novel is based in Larson’s native Sweden, and supplies a genealogical table of five generations of a family named Vanger who our principle character Blomkvist has been brought in to investigate and solve a 30 year old murder. So that is the main element of the novel, an unsolved murder investigation. But also, so much more than that, there’s mystery, intrigue, love, lust, financial fraud and corporate trickery… before we even meet the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Salander, who is classed as mentally unstable, is dealing with a mysterious and seemingly violent past, and falls victim to her state appointed guardian who subjects her to horrific rape. There are so many facets to this novel, you would think it would all be too much and too distracting, but Larsson has written a tour de force with this book and weaves the sub-plots effortlessly together, keeping the reader hooked until the final page, and desperate for more!
I actually can’t recommend this book enough, and can’t wait to read the remaining books in the trilogy. This novel is an epic tale of serial murder, and actually it’s a bit of a slow burner. At first I struggled to get in to the book and found it a little slow. However, but about Chapter 3 I was hooked and racing to uncover the mysteries. What’s really engaging about this book is that whilst you may try to uncover the culprit, like with most who-dun-its, the resolution is far from predictable and does leave the reader guessing! It’s about murder, rape, greed and corruption, so naturally there are some very violent scenes, which are described in detail, and are quite disturbing, making this novel a definite adult read, and I’d rate it an absolute 18 plus only. But please don’t let that put you off, whilst it is violent in places, there is so much more to this book, there are so many facets that make it an absolute must read!
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is available in paper back priced £7.99, but as always do shop around, as I picked mine up for just £3.99. And to find out more you can visit the books official website: www.thegirlwiththedragontatto.co.uk