Evil....

I finished this book in early August but it has taken me this long to put my thoughts about this book on paper.  Let me start with the recap.

The book starts off introducing the main male character, Mikhail Blomkvist who is ending his trial for slander against a very powerful businessman. He loses the case and his reputation begins to dwindle as does his publication, Millennium.  He gets a strange phone call from the lawyer of an even more powerful businessman who has a job offer for him – to solve the 30 year mystery disappearance of his niece.  Mikhail accepts the offer, albeit reluctantly at first and begins his journey into the land of the Vanger family and corporation.  A parallel storyline introduces the real character, Lisbeth Salander. She is the girl with the dragon tattoo and that is as far as someone gets to knowing the real her. She is a loner (for good reason) and a sociopath. She doesn’t dwell on issues too much unless those issues are hurtful either physical or mental.  She doesn’t let anyone in easily but when she does she is quick to pull away. She over analyzes almost everything and for Mikhail, she becomes a great partner.  Oh and did I mention she is the brightest mind that anyone in the book has seen?

I am going to stop there with the recap only because if I keep going with it, I will give too much away and that is something I don’t want to do. I want everyone to read this book because it really is a can’t-put-down kind of novel and an edge of your seat thriller. You just have to get past the first 150 pages and then you are on a roller coaster ride for the rest of it. I know I was.

This book is the hardest for me to analyze and write something about. Maybe because I don’t have the whole Lisbeth and Mikhail story yet. Or it could be the story was darker than I have ever read before.  The whole book baffled me not because of the plot but because of the psychology of the characters and the ramifications of their tendencies and personalities towards each other. The author certainly knew how to keep people wanting to read more, again and not for the plot. They want to read more about Lisbeth and Mikhail and how their personalities are going to grow over the next book and beyond. That is the main reason why I want to read the next book, the plot and story line will just be an added bonus.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars and I can’t wait to keep reading about Lisbeth and Mikhail.