The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

The Girl Who Played with Fire (Millennium Trilogy, #2)

by Stieg Larsson

***********************

Listbeth Salander returns in the second novel in the bestselling series - 100 million copies of the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series sold worldwide.

"Even more gripping and astonishing than the first . . . This novel will leave readers on the edge of their seats" Joan Smith, Sunday Times

Lisbeth Salander is a wanted woman. Two Millennium journalists about to expose the truth about sex trafficking in Sweden are murdered, and Salander's prints are on the weapon. Her history of unpredictable and vengeful behaviour makes her an official danger to society - but no-one can find her.

Mikael Blomkvist, Millennium magazine's legendary star reporter, does not believe the police. Using all his magazine staff and resources to prove Salander's innocence, Blomkvist also uncovers her terrible past, spent in criminally corrupt institutions. Yet Salander is more avenging angel than helpless victim. She may be an expert at staying out of sight - but she has ways of tracking down her most elusive enemies.

Stieg Larsson's groundbreaking trilogy is continued in The Girl in the Spider's Web, The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye and The Girl Who Lived Twice by David Lagercrantz

Reviewed by goodnghtmoonx on

4 of 5 stars

Share
I took my time trying to figure out what to say about this book. From the start, all I knew was that I enjoyed it a lot more than Dragon Tattoo.

There are still plenty of details that would have been fine to miss, and some issues with the translation over from Swedish. (I'm assuming there were errors since I had some difficulty, but that might have just been me.) Over all, the story gripped me and held me in. I was kept wondering about what was going to happen with Salander, and who this mysterious Zala was. In both cases, I wasn't expecting either outcome that I received, but I wasn't disappointed in the outcome.

I have noticed people saying that these books can be read as solo pieces. I do believe that can be true from this one and Dragon Tattoo, as Larsson had given details to what had happened in the previous book. However, that may not be true with this and Hornet's Nest. With the way this ends, it almost seems necessary that you read the final installment. (And what I've read of Hornet's Nest so far, it appears you'll be better off reading this first so you know what's going on.)

Aside from the lengthy details and not complete translations that seemed to occur every now and again, I did enjoy the writing and the characters. There were a few times where things seemed to iffy with the characters, but part of me believes that it wasn't necessarily proof read thoroughly as the author died prior to publication.

Overall, without giving away too much of the story, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It was brilliantly put together (which is mostly true after you get used to the writing and set up, which is why I would recommend reading them straight through), and you can tell Larsson actually cares about the story rather than just writing it because he has to. And, honestly, I think this was a great introduction to crime fiction for me.

Last modified on

Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 29 July, 2013: Finished reading
  • 29 July, 2013: Reviewed