The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1)

L'inizio della saga in cui vengono tracciate le tappe del giornalismo d'inchiesta, il tempo e le ricerche - non sempre con giusta etica. L'intreccio con sindrome/hacker forse troppo usata, con un personaggio con cui si può non andare d'accordo ma é una sfaccettatura di come il mondo può ridurre un essere umano. Mikael ricorda Morck della saga di Adler-Olsen con l'aggiunta della libertà nella vita privata, devo dire ne sono rimasta stupita anche se, personalmente, non trovo particolare interesse nella parte sessuale molto vasta. Anche questo primo caso ricorda La donna in gabbia (Adler-Olsen) senza essere un punto a sfavore tanto quanto Lisbeth con Rose.

This book has its own deliberate pace. We don't get to the "meat" of the mystery until the end of chapter 4 (page 92). Until then, we've got character development.

I felt a degree of sympathy for Mikael Blomkvist, and somewhat more for Lisbeth Salander, who both found themselves in situations beyond their control. None of the other characters (and, this being a mystery, there were lots) were especially compelling or sympathetic.

The book depicted several violent, disturbing episodes. One of the Amazon reviewers used the phrase "chillingly ugly," which is wholly appropriate.

Despite the length of the book, I was able to finish it in just a few days. Maybe I was reading quickly to get past the ugliness.

The writing was not particularly striking. I found it jarring when an 82-year old man described a relative as someone who "partied incessantly." Although, I don't know, maybe 82-year-old Swedes do talk that way.

The paperback version includes the first few pages of Larsson's sequel, The Girl who Played with Fire. It's more violence, and I'm not interested.