The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson

When staying with the in-laws, I picked up this book, and read it after my wife. It is pretty much what you'd expect for a multi-million selling thriller thing.

My initial impression was rather odd. If anything, it felt like a non-sci-fi Neuromancer. There's a down-on-his-luck investigator, an emotionally defensive and borderline psychopathic girl, and a rich industrialist to set them on a mission. Oh, and there's hacking.

At this point I wondered why the book hadn't been slated for using such a stereotype as the hard-nosed hacker girl? I guess it doesn't count as a stereotype if the book isn't sci-fi, or something.

Anyway, the book gets darker, the crimes more twisted, and there's a show-down with a pantomime baddy. Hey ho. That's about 100 pages from the end, at which point it winds down and doesn't obviously set itself up for the sequel it has, which surprised me.

I should say it's good page-turner material, and a well-constructed yarn. There were places where it felt like The Author Had Done His Research And Must Let Everyone Know, pretty much up to Ian McEwan levels. This was particularly painful in the techie areas. Some of the translation was, well, clunky. In the end, though, I've got to admit it kept me reading.

Posted 2014-06-12.