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

by Stieg Larsson

[ibeforem]

As much as I enjoyed The [b:Girl With the Dragon Tattoo|2429135|The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1)|Stieg Larsson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1275608878s/2429135.jpg|1708725], I liked this even more. When the story begins, Mikael Blomkvist has regained his status as one of Sweden’s foremost journalists, thanks to the continued success of Millennium and the popularity of his book about the Wennerstrom affair. But he hasn’t seen Lisbeth Salander for nearly a year, despite stopping by her apartment on a regular basis hoping to catch her. Salander, who has also benefited from the Wennerstrom/Vanger affair, has decided to go on a bit of a vacation across Europe and the Caribbean, keeping tabs on things at home (including her ne’er do well "guardian" and Blomkvist) in her own special way. Both find themselves involved in an investigation of human trafficking, in quite different ways.

It’s when Salander is accused of a series of brutal crimes that you realize what a genius character Larsson has created. Because despite how much you like Salander and want to root for her, you completely believe that she *could* have done it — or at least I did. And it’s a very long time before you discover the truth, with each scene without Salander in it making you wonder even more.

I can’t recommend this trilogy enough. It has suspense, mystery, relationships, and a little bit of social commentary. However, if you can’t handle cliffhangers, I would wait until the third book, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, is released (June 2010!). As soon as you finish this one, you’ll be ready for it.