I’M FOREVER searching for an unbeatable crime novel. I have a penchant for Scandinavian things, so call me bias but I guess this book struck all the right chords.
It’s author Stieg Larsson has won overwhelming posthumous acclaim, mostly thanks to its Hollywood display.
Aside from lakeside chalets and snow soaked hills, the novel reveals a society saturated with multifaceted sexual abuse of women. Having read books on the subject before, I was far from enthralled and thoroughly bored. However, in this case, I was quite interested.
If you’ve watched the Hollywood adaptation, you’ll have seen the graphic rape of Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara in the film). This in itself shows the mentality of manipulation that the authority figure, in this case the man, holds. The book is equally as graphic as the movie.
Hollywood omitted far too much, though. They opted for several minutes of the not so believable wiring of funds from one account to another when this only takes up a page or two in the book.
Instead, a somewhat more believable technology fuelled trip to Australia fulfils the goal of Mikael Blomkvist’s business on the fictional Hedeby Island.
The reliable good ‘ol, corporate fraud plays a dominant part with the activities of several firm from somewhat troubled magazine, Millenium, to shady security firm for whom Lisbeth “sorts post”, Milton Security.
The book was a slow start though. After about 150 pages, I was killed by the curiosity cat and couldn’t sleep until I finished it, which I duly did.
I was tired of the same old rehashed Dean Koontz-esque plots and predictable endings, so the breath of fresh air I wanted was given to me.
So if I were to give it 5 stars it would merely be so because it is Swedish. That does not mean you should not read this book. If the curiosity of Nazism, casual sex, violence against women and sexual sadism appeals, you should definitely read.
James Roulston Mooney 
Robyn O'Hanlon 
Cian Dalton