The Girl Who Played with Fire

Lisbeth Salander has changed since The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. After spending a year abroad, she is more confident and refined. But demons from her past still loom. In The Girl Who Played With Fire, Salander is suspected of murdering her legal guardian and a couple--a journalist and an academic--who are about to expose a violent group of human traffickers. Salander has an excellent motive for killing her guardian, but what is her connection to the couple, and why is everyone involved in the case afraid of a mysterious man named Zala? Blomkvist, Salander's partner from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, believes she is innocent and begins doing his own research. What he finds is shocking.

I could not put this book down. Larsson switches from character to character without losing narrative tension. And unlike most thrillers, this story is populated with richly developed characters. Even minor supporting characters are intersting and seem real. They do not exist merely to advance the plot from point A to point B; their personalities and backgrounds are unique and drive the story.

This is not a typical story of good versus evil. The good characters often fight back in morally objectionable--or at least questionable--ways. This moral ambiguity makes the book more thought-provoking than most thrillers.

As you read, be prepared to jump up every five minutes to convert Swedish kronor to American dollars. I was blown away--and extremely jealous!--when I realized how much Salander spent at IKEA.

My only complaint is that I was able to unravel much of the mystery before Larsson revealed the murderer's identity and the truth about Zala. But the book is so good, I still felt compelled to continue reading.

The Brentwood Library has three copies of this book, and we have ordered one copy of the audio book on CD. To place a copy on hold today, go to www.brentwood-tn.org/library. Search for catalog for The Girl Who Played with Fire. Click "Details," and then click "Place Hold." be sure to enter your library card number so we can contact you when the book is available.