The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a 2005 mystery thriller written by Stieg Larsson, published by Norstedts Förlag, and narrated by Simon Vance. This is the first of the Millennium series. Journalist Mikael Blomkvist has been hired by industrial tycoon Henrik Vanger to investigate the 40-year-old disappearance of Henrik’s niece Harriet. He teams up with the introverted and skilled computer hacker Lisbeth Salander.

Story

While reading this book (actually listening to the audiobook) I found the story to be incredibly interesting and the focus on the characters compelling. The story itself is simple yet the layers of complexity make it deep, while building tension. The story does balance out multiple stories that overlap but don’t necessarily bury each other. The main story follows this investigation into the Vanger family by both Mikael and Lisbeth. It’s interesting, and we get to see these two characters grow together. The first side pot follows Mikael’s destroyed reputation due to the Wennerstrom drama. And on the other side we see into the life of Lisbeth who’s dealing with her abusive social services guardian, Nils Bjurman, and work at Milton Security. The story does go at a good pace, there are interesting twists and turns, and ultimately, the conclusion comes to a satisfying end.

Loved learning about the characters and seeing how well-written they were. The story’s main leads are a journalist of the magazine Millennium, Mikael Blomkvist, and hacker Lisbeth Salander, and these are some of my favorite literary characters. Mikael is dealing with professional disgrace due to losing a libel case against a billionaire Swedish industrialist. Mikael is likable, he’s strong minded, has a sharp wit, and lives for Millennium and finding the truth. Lisbeth is a private investigator working for Milton Security dealing with the aftereffects of her troubled past. Lisbeth is withdrawn, doesn’t like people, and is gifted but troubled. They’re good guys but for different reasons, both are heavily flawed.

The side and supporting characters are likable and interesting. Erika Berger is the co-owner and editor-in-chief of Millennium. She is Mikael’s rock to ground him from the chaos that is journalism, and she is great, smart and resourceful. She has a very interesting relationship with Mikael, and I would love to read a book about her. But she’s not the only interesting side character. I liked Henrik Vanger as well as Harriet Vanger. Liked the relationship between her and Mikael, especially given her traumatic past and his lecherous tendencies. We have Dragan Armanskij, CEO and COO of Milton Security, and Lisbeth’s employer. We have villains in the story and they’re completely despicable. Overall, the story and characters worked really well. (5 out of 5)

Production

One of the best aspects to the audiobook is definitely Simon Vance who does a fantastic job of the voice performances and the overall reading. He’s very consistent when it comes to voicing the characters. His overall pacing made the story good and easy to follow. He does a good job differentiating most of the characters though when it comes to the more of the side characters, they tend to sound the same (but you can’t fault him for this as there are a lot of characters).

The author is Stieg Larsson who does a phenomenal job with writing. He was a former journalist and in a lot of the description and analysis it’s apparent. Larsson does focus a lot on sexual violence against women, which is apparent through Lisbeth’s storyline and what is ultimately revealed in the investigation. The fact he can talk about strong themes without coming off as preachy works to the book’s favor. The writing is smart and incorporates the themes with nuance.

I do like Larsson’s characterization of the main two leads, and I like how they complement each other in terms of their personalities and skill sets. I did have a little trouble with differentiating the side characters because there are a lot and the names do sound similar but maybe that’s because they’re Swedish. This read is definitely not for kids. There’s vulgar language, violence, sex. There are some pretty intense sequences involving sexual assault. Overall, the writing and production is really good and helps make the experience great and memorable. (5 out of 5)

The Verdict

In the end, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a phenomenal read. It ticks all the boxes for a memorable experience. The characters are interesting and well written, the story is deep and complex, the narration is strong, and the writing is engaging and thought provoking. It works as a good character study; it works as a good thriller. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo gets 5 out of 5.

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