The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
In May, I attended a meeting of independent booksellers in Indianapolis. At the beginning of the meeting we performed one of those annoying icebreaker exercises that are so common in both classrooms and boardrooms. Being booksellers, our icebreaker exercise was to introduce ourselves and then tell the group what book we were reading. Out of a group of fifteen, ten (including myself) were reading this month’s Top Shelf Pick, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. We couldn’t stop raving about it. We all knew this was a book our customers would love and couldn’t wait to start selling it.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo tells the story of Mikael Blomkvist, a financial journalist in Sweden recently convicted of libel after publishing a damaging story about a powerful businessman, Hans-Erik Wennerstrom. His reputation ruined, Blomkvist is forced to take a job in the hinterlands of Sweden writing the biography of Henrik Vanger, the retired CEO of the once-powerful Vanger Corporation. However, Vanger hires Blomkvist to do more than just write his biography. He wants Blomkvist to solve the disappearance and possible murder of his grandniece, Harriet, forty years earlier. Because of the timing of Harriet’s disappearance, the list of suspects is limited to members of the Vanger family who all live together on a small island. Thus begins Blomkvist’s attempt to solve the “locked-room mystery in island format.”
Blomkvist is not alone in his attempt to uncover the truth about Harriet Vanger’s disappearance. Along the way he enlists the help of Lisbeth Salander, a young private investigator and ward of the state. Salander is brilliant – she possesses a photographic memory and unbelievable computers skills – but she is sorely lacking in social graces. Although it is Blomkvist who is ostensibly the main character of the novel, it is Lisbeth Salander who steals the show. She has become one of my favorite characters of all time. She’s tough, independent, clever and vulnerable all at once, and you will love following her through the many twists and turns of this thrilling novel.
And the good news for Lisbeth Salander fans is that The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is the first novel in a trilogy of books that will feature this unique heroine. The news is bittersweet, however, since Stieg Larsson died unexpectedly in 2004 shortly after turning in the manuscript for the trilogy. We have two more Lisbeth Salander stories to look forward to but after that we will hear no more from this extremely talented new voice.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo has already taken Europe by storm. The trilogy has sold over 2.7 million copies in Sweden and outsold Harry Potter in France. I’m certain it will meet with the same success here, as it is an exceptional book with a compelling plot and even more compelling characters.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo will be released on September 16th. Ask a bookseller to reserve your copy of this amazing novel today.
Posted by elizabethjordan
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