Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared off the secluded island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger family. There was no corpse, no witnesses, no evidence. But her uncle, Henrik, is convinced that she was murdered by someone in her own family - the deeply dysfunctional Vanger clan. Disgraced journalist Mikael Blomqvist is hired to investigate, but when he links Harriet's disappearance to a string of gruesome murders from forty years ago, he needs a competent assistant - and he gets one: computer hacker Lisbeth Salander - a tattoed, truculent, angry girl who rides a motorbike like a Hell's Angel and handles makeshift weapons with the skill born of remorseless rage. This unlikely pair form a fragile bond as they delve into the sinister past of this island-bound, tightly-knit family. But the Vangers are a secretive lot, and Mikael and Lisbeth are about to find out just how far they're prepared to go to protect themselves - and each other.
The recurring rape theme in this novel is absolutely horrendous to me. HOWEVER--I loved this trilogy, despite the language and sexual aspects of the novels. I wanted to read this book before the Americanized version of this film came out and I truthfully had a hard time finishing it. The second one, however, I couldn't put down, as well as the third. This trilogy is definitely not for everyone and the writing is oftentimes very stoic with unfortunate errors that sometimes distract from the novels themselves, but all in all, I truly enjoyed this story and look forward to the rest of the films.
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10 December, 2012:
Reviewed