Book Review: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Title: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Author: Stieg Larsson

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Rating: 3/5

An old man who receives a flower every year.

A financial journalist, mired in scandal.

A slip of a girl, with a dragon tattoo.

What is the connection between these very different people? How do they connect in the story? A story within a story within a story, this certainly is an intriguing book.

About three-quarters of the book employs a slow, leisurely descriptive style.. almost reminiscent of Thomas Hardy. And then, just as soon as the explosive mystery is solved, the uproar dies down. A few, less climactic questions are answered later on, but the style changes from a detailed narration to a fast paced thriller quite abruptly.

For the first time in my life, I felt that the movie might be better than the book. (I’ve not seen the movie yet, but this is my hunch.) The writing seems to undergo a clear transformation; there is a clear “before” (the climax) and “after”.

All in all, this is worth reading at least once. But for me, it did not live up to the hype surrounding it.