A Little Bit in Love

In case I haven't mentioned it lately, I really dig these books. A lot.

I wasn't expecting to, in fact I had never even heard of the trilogy until Josh and I went to New York and found ourselves stuck in JFK for the day and I needed some new reading material. Josh bought me the first book and said he had heard it was good, never even having read it himself.

Dragon Tattoo starts out a little slow and I was skeptical at first, but what else did I have to do at the airport all afternoon? I'm so glad I stuck with it and although it takes a while to get going, it's worth every minute. The author spends alot of time introducing and describing each character (and there are many) including their background, general disposition, physical characteristics and often what they ate for breakfast that morning. This attention to detail holds true throughout the whole series and although it can be a bit tedious at times, Larsson's elaborate descriptions are a necessary part of his storytelling, giving you the good grasp you will need on each character in his unbelievably tangled web.
Dragon Tattoo tells the story of two unlikely heros and eventual friends, Mikael Blomkvist, a middle aged do-gooder journalist and the incomprehensible Lisbeth Salander, a young, tattooed social outcast with gift for computer hacking. The two find themselves in the middle of a real life murder mystery, not unlike a modern day game of Clue where they must uncover a secret murderer amongst the family members of the wealthy and respected Vanger family. The story takes an unexpectedly dark turn when the duo begins to uncover, in addition to murder, that a series of vicious sexual crimes and violations against women have taken place as well.
The Girl who Played with Fire picks up where Tattoo leaves off and although Tattoo felt like a fully realized novel the continuation of the story introduces a whole new bevy of criminal wrong doings on a much more macro level. Fire and The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest feel more like a single story broken down into two books, one is not viable without reading the other. I could not put Fire down after which I nearly drove myself insane waiting for the copy of Hornet's Nest I had reserved to come into the library. The two final books of the series delve deeper into Lisbeth's own troubled past and reveal that she too has been the victim of egregious criminal acts and scandalous goverment cover-ups.
To put it quite simply, I loved these books.
I appreciate the author's feminist attitude and his attempt to bring about more dicussion on the topic of women's rights, equality and morality through these entertaining and engrossing books. I suggest you run out right this moment and get started reading.

By the way, hollywood already has the trilogy in the works: David Fincher directing, Daniel Craig starring, Trent Reznor doing the score.  Holy Moly. I am so there.