Swede Stieg Larsson, a journalist and editor who died in 2004, wrote the internationally best-selling Millennium series: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ( ) was the first, and the third, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, will be published in America next year. The Girl Who Played with Fire, the second in the series, reprises Lisbeth Salander, hacker extraordinaire.
The Story: During an investigation of sex trafficking in Sweden, a husband-and-wife journalism team and a third man, an attorney, are murdered in Stockholm. Computer hacker Lisbeth Salander—either an eccentric genius or a scourge on society, depending on the reader’s perspective—has an unpleasant connection to one of the victims, and she becomes the prime suspect when evidence links her to the scene. Mikael Blomkvist, editor of Millennium magazine, which was to have run the reporters’ exposé, can’t believe that Lisbeth could have done such a thing. But as she reinvents herself, in part as a way of forgetting Blomkvist and their brief relationship, Lisbeth slowly reveals details of her own past that could further implicate her in the crimes.
Knopf. 503 pages. $25.95. ISBN: 9780307269980
San Francisco Chronicle
"I have to say that these books grabbed me and kept me reading with eyes wide open with the same force as the best of the series on the TV monitor. … The books are so good, in fact, that I have to keep reminding myself that they are genre novels, not mainstream fiction, so I shouldn’t think about Salander as if she were a figure out of fiction with a larger vision and grander heights." Alan Cheuse
Chicago Sun-Times
"If the thriller part of Larsson’s exceptional novel is the icing, more profound elements are the philosophical cake. … The way Larsson ends it screams for a sequel; while it ties up certain aspects of this singular contemporary saga, it leaves other juicy ones to be explored." Carlo Wolff
Dallas Morning News
"Given the enormous craft shown in the first two books, it’s not stretching it to say that Larsson will be remembered as one of the most revered writers of the early 21st century. He’s blessed with both depth and killer wit." Joy Tipping
Los Angeles Times
"While The Girl [w]ith the Dragon Tattoo read like a Nordic Silence of the Lambs, its dynamic, brawny sequel, The Girl Who Played [w]ith Fire, reanimates the tropes of the political thriller. … Formally, at least, [it] is a muscle car. But a European engine purrs beneath its hood." Daniel Mallory
Minneapolis Star Tribune
"In The Girl Who Played [w]ith Fire, Larsson at last gives readers a full accounting of how Lisbeth has been shaped by her tragic past. … With just a few exceptions, as when the action backtracks to show Lisbeth’s version of events or there’s yet another slip-up at the police station, Larsson steadily builds the tension until it’s nearly impossible to put this book down." Kathe Connair
New York Times
"Though this novel lacks the sexual and romantic tension that helped spark Dragon Tattoo—Salander and Blomkvist share few scenes here—it boasts an intricate, puzzlelike story line that attests to Mr. Larsson’s improved plotting abilities, a story line that simultaneously moves backward into Salander’s traumatic past, even as it accelerates toward its startling and violent conclusion. … As he did in Dragon Tattoo, Mr. Larsson … mixes precise, reportorial descriptions with lurid melodramatics lifted straight from the stock horror and thriller cupboard." Michiko Kakutani
Washington Post
"Here is a writer with two skills useful in entertaining readers royally: creating characters who are complex, believable and appealing even when they act against their own best interest; and parceling out information in a consistently enthralling way. The sharp-eyed may catch Larsson leaning on coincidence a bit too often in the new book, but overall his storytelling is so assured that he can get away with these peccadilloes." Dennis Drabelle
Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Larsson’s novels emphasize character as much as crime. But Fire plods where Dragon Tattoo built suspense. … Thankfully, the new story’s second half crescendos to a jaw-dropping, suspense-filled finale." Cody Corliss
Philadelphia Inquirer
"What Larsson has done is akin to enlisting two huge, enticing stars, then keeping them separated for much of the action, united only through e-mail. Consequently, Dragon Tattoo proves the more rewarding of the two books, even as its plot snowballs in the final chapters, growing improbably convoluted and more violent than necessary, a failing of many contemporary mysteries." Karen Heller
Critical Summary
By most accounts, the follow-up to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is as successful a second installment in a crime series as we’re likely to see. In The Girl Who Played with Fire, Larsson explored Lisbeth Salander, a swirl of contradictions and evasions, with a depth that eludes most crime writers. In fact, this is Lisbeth’s book (Mikael Blomkvist is still around, of course, though he plays second fiddle here to his erstwhile love interest), and Larsson has readers eating out of his hand with a plot that simmers before coming to a full boil. Only one critic cited an overly convoluted story line. It’s a shame that only one book remains to be published in America, though rumors continue to circulate regarding a fourth book in progress when the author died unexpectedly in 2004.