The Girl Who Played with Fire (2006)

Now this book is second in the millennium trilogy and very good book indeed . In this book our hacker finds herself in trouble following after her father Alexander Zalachenko who is a ex Russian informant under something like witness protection living in Sweden.The story line begins with Lisbeth living in luxury in some tourist spot unnoticed, obviously in a different id. She gets involved in a shooting of two journalists, couples, who were about to expose a women trading mafia with her finger prints all over the murder weapon.
The novel is fast paced and is quite thrilling and
personally one of my favorites.In the end of the book she finds her father, a ruthless Russian and one of her brother who is working for him. Story ends in such a place where you would surely want to read the next one . A nice fast paced perfect fiction. ( )

This book also starts out slow with Mikael Blomkvist considering publishing an expose on sex trafficking. We also follow Lisbeth Salander as she travels around the world, she came into money at the end of the last book.

Shortly before the article is ready to go to print, the two people responsible for bringing the story to Blomkvist and doing the research on it are murdered and Salander is implicated.

Blomkvist is convinced Salander is innocent and starts his own investigation, he also continues working on the expose, convinced that this is the reason for the murders.

Everything that happens is tied to Salander's past, which is revealed to us in cryptic flash backs by Salander and then in a narrative from an old friend. Blomkvist and Salander both track down the guilty party through different means.

What I like about this book is it continues Salander's story, what happens that is connected to the previous book stays true to what happened. The characters stay true to themselves which gives continuity to the writing. ( )

Although The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo was riveting, I think I like this one even more. In particular, I have been so curious about the heroine's background that I was pleased to see that mystery slowly break open in this book. Suspenseful and exciting, with marvelous description that puts me right in the scenes. ( )

I know I'm probably the last on the band wagon, and I know that the author is dead, but how - HOW? - did these books become so popular? Simply because they were published posthumously? I skipped through The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo fairly quickly, intrigued enough by the mystery to overlook the slightly clichéd characters, but the follow-up is just so horrendously macho that I'm glad I didn't pay for the honour. And why is Larsson so obsessed with sexual perversion?

Lisbeth Salander is a male fantasy and a weak character. Childhood trauma? Check. Unconventional looks? Nose rings, tattoos, body of a fourteen year old. Check. Superhuman intelligence? Check. Kicks ass? Check. Bisexual? Well, of course! All very Hollywood, all very PC, but lacking any originality. She would have been better explained as a cyborg, along the lines of Cameron in The Sarah Connor Chronicles - at least then all her hacking talent/super deductive reasoning/incredible strength and survival skills - not to mention lack of emotion - would have made more sense (and made for a cooler, more sympathetic character!) Otherwise, she's just an odd combination of victim and golden princess, for men to either abuse or protect. I liked her friend Miriam Wu better. Author-insert Mikael Blomkvist is not much better - like James Bond, he's some sort of charismatic stud who always gets the girl, from Lisbeth to his married editor (whose husband is very accommodating, because you know, it's Blomkvist!)

The plot did keep me reading, but the dark sexual undertones - once again - did make me wonder about the author's predilections. Tying everything to Lisbeth, though - even though she is the 'girl' of the title - was a mistake, I fear. She doesn't hold up well to so much focus. Everybody loves her, she can do anything she puts her mind to, hasn't she had such a hard life, isn't she incredible! No. I preferred her better when she was being mysterious in the first novel.

I can sort of see why the 'Girl' trilogy hit cult status a while back - especially for guys, who read for action and not characterisation - but I haven't been brainwashed at all, and won't be reading the last in the set, not even for free! ( )

Excellent continuation of the trilogy. ( )