Perhaps the raving reviews of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo were what ruined it for me. Everyone who heard I was reading it told me that I was going to love it. One particular friend told me that she was avoiding reading the last installment in Stieg Larsson's famed Millenium series just because she didnt want it to end.I was promised a twist so fantastic that I was anticipating the end of the book from the very beginning. It was bestowed the honour of being the first book I purchased on my Amazon Kindle, and I sat down to read it excited to be at the beginning of a book that had been on my 'to read' list for a long time. I waited eagerly for the excitement to start. And waited. And I waited. Even as I turned in to the epilogue I was certain there was still more to come. Surely my mind was about to be blown. This can't be it. Can it? It was.
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is, in theory, a fantastic story. A young girl has been missing for many years. Her uncle Henrik has never overcome her disappearance. Mikael Bloomvisk is a journalist shamed with a libel conviction. He is recruited to investigate the disappearance and promised information which will help him retribute those who have destroyed his career. On his way he meets Lisbeth Salandar, a disturbed, angry and talented young woman. Together they set out to solve a mystery which stumped even the most passionately involved policemen. The book is drenched with themes which enthral me - religion, crime and journalism. The charactes are kept associable through love affairs and sexual relationships. It is a story stitched together with historical facts and interesting statistics.
The book is slow paced and at times a difficult read. The core of the story is so interesting that I found myself bored by what appeared to be filler events. Many of the occurrences began with the promise of drama and then fall flat, and I found the idea that Mikael Blomkvisk, a man who is written as not particularly attractive, should have no fewer than three lovers throughout the course of a very busy year slightly unbelievable. Admittedly I haven't read the next instalment. There is every probability that Larsson not only ties up his loose ends, but explains what it is about this protagonist that makes these very different and beautiful women drop to their knees.
Had I not been told that this would be the best thing I would ever read I may not have been disappointed. I actively searched for the solutions to the problems written before me and more often than not I found them. I am not an avid reader of investigative novels and so am not well practised in guessing conclusions. I have an idea where the majority of the story lines are heading, but I don't know when I will read the rest of the series in order to discover them. I do not feel the desire I had imagined I would to carry on. I believe The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is a book best enjoyed when one has not had its spectacular reputation confirmed by their friends.
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