The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo [Hardcover]

Starred Review. Cases rarely come much colder than the decades-old disappearance of teen heiress Harriet Vanger from her family's remote island retreat north of Stockholm, nor do fiction debuts hotter than this European bestseller by muckraking Swedish journalist Larsson. At once a strikingly original thriller and a vivisection of Sweden's dirty not-so-little secrets (as suggested by its original title, Men Who Hate Women), this first of a trilogy introduces a provocatively odd couple: disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist, freshly sentenced to jail for libeling a shady businessman, and the multipierced and tattooed Lisbeth Salander, a feral but vulnerable superhacker. Hired by octogenarian industrialist Henrik Vanger, who wants to find out what happened to his beloved great-niece before he dies, the duo gradually uncover a festering morass of familial corruption—at the same time, Larsson skillfully bares some of the similar horrors that have left Salander such a marked woman. Larsson died in 2004, shortly after handing in the manuscripts for what will be his legacy. 100,000 first printing. (Sept.)
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“Dazzling…. Marvelous characters and a wonderful story built around the most difficult of all plots, the locked room…. It has everything a reader could want and more…. Don’t miss it.” - The Globe and Mail

“An utterly fresh political and journalistic thriller that is also intimate and moral. In spite of its dark unearthings Stieg Larsson has written a feast of a book, with central characters you will not forget." - Michael Ondaatje

“An exceptional effort for a first-time crime novelist. In fact, a fine effort for any crime novelist…. This book is meticulously plotted, beautifully paced, and features a cast of two indelible sleuths and many juicy suspects." - Boston Globe

“Imagine the movies of Ingmar Bergman crossed with Thomas Harris’s novel The Silence of the Lambs. Larsson’s mesmerizing tale succeeds because, like P.D. James, he has written a why-dunit rather than a whodunit.” - USA Today

“The hottest book on the planet.” - Entertainment Weekly

“The ballyhoo is fully justified.… The novel scores on every front—character, story, atmosphere, translation.” - The Times (London)

“Already a blazing literary sensation internationally, Swedish journalist’s dark-hearted thriller … is now poised to burn up bestseller lists in America…. To the new breed of Watson and Holmes, skoal!” - Vanity Fair

“A striking novel, full of passion, an evocative sense of place and subtle insights into venal, corrupt minds.” - The Observer (UK)

“As vivid as bloodstains on snow—and a perfect one-volume introduction to the unique strengths of Scandinavian crime fiction.” - Lee Child

“Remarkable…. Like a blast of cold, fresh air to read…. It features at its center two unique and fascinating characters: a disgraced financial journalist and the absolutely marvelous 24-year-old Lisbeth Salander—a computer-hacking Pippi Longstocking with pierced eyebrows and a survival instinct that should scare anyone who gets in her way." - Chicago Tribune

“Larsson’s novels are a danger to public life. Parks become clogged with readers; the working world is paralyzed—all because no-one can let go of his books.” - Bams (Germany)

“What a cracking novel! I haven’t read such a stunning thriller debut for years. The way Larsson interweaves his two stories had me in thrall from beginning to end. Brilliantly written and totally gripping." - Minette Walters

“More than a book, a drug.” - Nouvel Observateur (France)

“Swedish crime fiction, like the country itself, has both class and a social conscience. It was only a matter of time before it produced its own War and Peace…. The plotting and pacing are masterful. No wonder Europe has gone wild over Blomkvist and his riveting sidekick.” - Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)

“Combine the chilly Swedish backdrop and moody psychodrama of a Bergman movie with the grisly pyrotechnics of a serial-killer thriller, then add an angry punk heroine and a down-on-his-luck investigative journalist, and you have the ingredients of Stieg Larsson’s first novel…. Larsson uses his reportorial eye for detail and an instinctive sense of mood to create a noirish picture of Stockholm and a small island community … showing us both the bright, shiny lives of young careerists and older aristos, and a seamy underworld where sexual and financial corruption flourish.” - The New York Times

“When a writer delivers such a complex and fascinating portrayal like that of Lisbeth Salander all we can do is bow down in gratitude. It doesn’t get much better than this.” - Gefle Dagblad (Sweden)

“So much more than a thriller, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a dazzling novel of big ideas. It tackles issues of power, corruption, justice, and innocence—all the while drawing you into the twists and turns of a frighteningly suspenseful mystery.” - Harlan Coben

“A fascinating mystery of family and business dynamics with a splendid cast of characters…. Sex, death, money, power, intrigue—this novel has them all.” - The Edmonton Journal

“Wildly suspenseful ... Variously a serial-killer saga, a search for a missing person and an informed glimpse into the worlds of journalism and business … Lisbeth is a punk Watson to Mikaels dapper Holmes, and she's the coolest crime-fighting sidekick to come along in many years.” - The Washington Post

“A big, intricately plotted, darkly humorous work, rich with ironies, quirky but believable characters and a literary playfulness that only a master of the genre and its history could bring off.” - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“A whip-smart heroine and a hunky guy who needs her help? This sexy, addictive thriller is everything you never knew you could get from a crime novel.” - Glamour

“Dark, labyrinthine, smart, sexy, utterly original, and completely captivating, Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo delights at every level. Nuanced, sympathetic characters, caught in a tangle of unusual and compelling relationships, grapple with a baffling family mystery and with their own demons in the unique literary environment of modern-day Sweden. This book is artful and grand entertainment. I couldn’t recommend it more highly.” - John Lescroart

“A fine, complex and rewarding novel.” - Dallas Morning News

“In nearly a half-century of reading mystery and crime fiction, I can remember no more captivating or original character than Lisbeth.”— - Otto Penzler, editor of The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps, owner of The Mysterious Bookshop

“A striking novel. Just when I was thinking there wasn’t anything new on the horizon, along comes Stieg Larsson with this wonderfully unique story. I was completely absorbed.” - Michael Connelly

“This novel is almost impossible to put down.” - Times-Colonist (Victoria, BC)

“The biggest Swedish phenom since ABBA.” - People

“With subplots tucked inside subplots like a set of nested Russian dolls, the book relies less on pulse-pounding action (though it has its moments) than on a meticulous exploration of both evidence and character, plus finely crafted revenge…. A summary only hints at the richness of this book.” - Houston Chronicle

“[Larsson] tells his crime story cleverly, but the zing in Dragon Tattoo is inked in its two central characters…. Lisbeth Salander has earned a spot in the sorority [of] my favorite gutsy females.” - The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)

“I doubt you will read a better book this year.” - Val McDermid

“Offers compelling chunks of investigative journalism, high-tech sleuthing, and psychosexual drama. What a shame that we only have three books in which to watch the charismatic Lisbeth Salander take on the world" - Booklist

“A compelling, well-woven tale that succeeds in transporting the reader to Sweden for a good crime story.” - Los Angeles Times

“Cases rarely come much colder than the decades-old disappearance of teen heiress Harriet Vanger from her family’s remote island retreat north of Stockholm, nor do fiction debuts hotter than this European bestseller…. At once a strikingly original thriller and a vivisection of Sweden’s dirty not-so-little secrets, this first of a trilogy introduces a provocatively odd couple.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A rip-roaring serial killer adventure.” - Mail on Sunday (UK)