The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson

I don't remember where I first heard of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Several people have recommended it to me, but I only recently realized that my local library has it. Of course, I promptly checked it out.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a mystery book about Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist who has just been convicted of libel; an old man, Henrik Vanger, who wants Blomkvist to investigate the disappearance of his young niece many years ago; and Lisbeth Salander, a young, asocial hacker who helps Mikael solve the mystery. I thought this book dragged on a bit at the beginning--the exposition lasted quite a while, and I wasn't entirely sure where the book was going sometimes (this is not necessarily good or bad in my opinion, but it was something I observed). I also found that since none of the characters were connected at first and because I knew they were going to be connected later, I kept wondering who the heck all these people were and how they had anything to do with each other rather than being completely absorbed in the book.

However, once the characters started coming together and it became clear what the main plot was going to be, the rest of the 480 pages zipped right by. The story was captivating, breathtaking, suspenseful, and horrifying, and Blomkvist's discovery (which I will NOT reveal, thank you) was quite unexpected. The ending was quite cathartic, and I will most definitely go on to read the rest of the millenium trilogy. Unfortunately, I am still waiting for the second book to come in (I have it on hold), and my library does not have the third--I feel another interlibrary loan coming on!