Several weeks ago, as I browsed the library's “new books” shelves, an older man whispered to me, “Psst. Want to read something good?” I nodded, and he handed me Stieg Larsson’s “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” (572 pages, $14.95 Vintage Paperback). I thanked him and checked the book out. I only wish I got more recommendations like that one!
Mikael Blomkvist, a Swedish financial journalist and owner of the magazine Millennium, has just been convicted of libeling financier Hans-Erik Wennerstrom. Blomkvist, who offers no defense at the trial, is sentenced to three months in jail. He and Erika Berger, his long time lover and co-publisher, agree that the best way to cool the fire and restore their magazine’s credibility is for Blomkvist to take a year-long sabbatical.
Blomkvist, at an understandable low point in his life, is summoned to the small town of Hedestad on the Norrland coast of Sweden by Henrik Vanger, a wealthy industrialist and rival of Wennerstrom. Vanger offers Blomkvist a job – find out what happened to his sixteen year old niece Harriet, who disappeared before a family meeting in the 1970s. To entice him, Vanger offers an extraordinary salary. More importantly, he promises Blomkvist that he has dirt on Wennerstrom that he will turn over at the end of one year or when Blomkvist solves the mystery of Harriet Vanger.
The mystery is a classic locked room problem, although in this instance, it is a locked island – the island of Hedeby island, linked to Hedestad by a single bridge. On the day of the disappearance, the bridge was closed for several hours at the time Harriet disappeared. Despite extensive searches, Harriet’s body was never located. Even more mysteriously, every year on his birthday, Vanger receives a framed pressed flower; taunting from her murderer.
Blomkvist enlists the help of Lisbeth Salander, she of the Dragon Tattoo. Salandar is a slip of a woman with a record of mental illness, a photographic memory, genius computer skills and a history of abuse. Her story is interspersed throughout the primary story line, as she plays a critical role in the investigation. Together, they use the cover of researching the Vanger family for a biography of Henrik, the two search for clues in a decades old mystery.
For an American reader, with little exposure to Swedish way of life, this book provides some fascinating insight. The book opens the window on Sweden’s legal system, its government and financial systems, along with its handling of mental illness. Even better, it capitalizes on Larsson’s own passions, exposing the racist, Nazi past of the Vanger family (and Sweden) and his efforts to raise awareness about violence against women. Starting at a slow pace, it moves leisurely until the second half, when the pace picks up as the pieces begin coming together. The book and its primary characters, Blomkvist and Salandar, will hold you in thrall.
Larsson was a Swedish journalist who devoted his life to opposing racism and fascism. He completed three novels, The Millenium Series, all written after his day job. At the age of fifty, he died from a massive heart attack before his novels were published. The second in the series, The Girl Who Played With Fire, has just been published in an English translation. Look for a review here later this summer.
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