The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo is a psychological thriller and a family saga with an enthralling murder mystery at its core. It is the first book in the Millenium series by author Stieg Larsson, published posthumously in 2005.

The three key actors in this story are: The Vanger family, Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander.

The Vangers are a prominent industrial family in Hedestead, an industrial town along the Norrland coast. Harriet Vanger disappeared forty years ago without a trace. Her uncle Henrik Vanger is convinced that she has been murdered by someone in the family. After forty years of trying to solve the mystery in vain, he finally hires Blomkvist to do it for him.

Mikael Blomkvist is a journalist and founder of the Millennium magazine. He has recently been convicted of aggravated libel of a renowned industrialist.

Lisbeth Salander is an investigator and a genius hacker. She has an extraordinary knack for finding things out but she does not work conventionally. When fatefully their paths cross, Blomkvist hires Salander to assist him with the Vanger case.

When together they dig deep into the Vanger family, following a trail of clues, they uncover horrifying family secrets. They realize pretty quickly that there are numerous shrouded faces in this story and unveiling them could be a matter of life and death.

How did it make me feel?

After hearing so many good things about The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, it did not disappoint at all. Talk about a good thriller! Once it captures your attention, which happened to me when I was about 15% into the book, it was hard to put it down!

The best thing for me was the character portrayal. Even with a minimal description, of not only the main characters but also the peripheral ones, each and every character has its own mysterious element to it but at the same time, you feel like you know them well. There were enough components that helped me visualize them, yet I knew that was not all there is to them. It was brilliant!

I did wish, however, that Lisbeth’s character came out more strongly than it has. I am hoping it will happen with the next two books!

Absolutely loved this one and highly recommend it. You can buy The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo on Amazon. If you use my link to buy, I may get a small commission at NO additional cost to you! It will help me keep my blog running! 🙂 Thank you for your support!

If you’ve already read it let me know how you liked it! I will get to the second and third books in the series soon! Have you read those?