The Girl Who Played with Fire (original 2006; edition 2009)

Fan.tas.tic! Loved this book so much more than [b:The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo|6620989|The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1)|Stieg Larsson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1249217009s/6620989.jpg|1708725]. Lisbeth is the one character that draws me in and keeps me wanting to know more. ( )

Originally posted at Novel Reveries

"She fantasized about a gasoline can and a match." (710)

Such intense suspense! The tables are turned and the search is on for Lisbeth Salander, wanted in a string of murders. With several groups looking for her, (The Millennium crew, The Milton Security firm, some thugs and of course, The Police,) her image is being dragged through filth as she is on the run to save herself. With a plot weaved in murder, sex trafficking, and conspiracy we get a more in depth view of Salander's life and how she got to where she's at. Is she guilty?

"Nobody was innocent. There were only varying degrees of responsibility." (583)

I really love how this book really got up and personal with everyone, explaining just about every person in the book's backstory and relationships. When Lisbeth Salander became the main focus, that's when the plot really took off. Although this book's plot is entirely different from the first book, I enjoyed the continuity of the characters. I enjoyed how it began with a seemingly complex mystery of murder and exposure before dwindling down to a simple person connecting everything, especially Salander. There were a lot of surprises and thrills that, especially since we get to know the characters so well, rocked my emotions. That ending is tortuous and makes me want to immediately pick up and read the next book of the series. If you loved The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, then you need to read this!

"Salander was the woman who hated men who hated women." (667)

First Line: "She lay on her back fastened by leather straps to a narrow bed with a steel frame." (3)
Last Line: "He put it on the floor, took out his mobile, and dialed the number for emergency services." (724)
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Quotes

"She felt that some fundamental change had taken place or was taking place in her life. ... Maybe it was the adult world which was belatedly pushing its way into her life. Maybe it was the realization that, with her mother's death, her childhood had come to an end." (120)

"Lisbeth was ready. She threw a milk carton she had filled with gasoline into the car. Then she threw in a burning match." (667) ( )

The author
Stieg Larsson (born August 15, 1954 in Skelleftehamn, Sweden as Karl Stig-Erland Larsson) was a Swedish journalist and writer who passed away in 2004.

As a journalist and editor of the magazine Expo, Larsson was active in documenting and exposing Swedish extreme right and racist organizations. When he died at the age of 50, Larsson left three unpublished thrillers and unfinished manuscripts for more. The first three books (Män som hatar kvinnor/The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Flickan Som Lekte Med Elden/The Girl Who Played With Fire, and Luftslottet som sprängdes/The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest) have since been printed as the Millenium series. These books are all bestsellers in Sweden and in several other countries, including the United States.

The synopsis
Mikael Blomkvist, crusading journalist and publisher of the magazine Millennium, has decided to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation between Eastern Europe and Sweden, implicating well-known and highly placed members of Swedish society, business, and government.

But he has no idea just how explosive the story will be until, on the eve of publication, the two investigating reporters are murdered. And even more shocking for Blomkvist: the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to Lisbeth Salander—the troubled, wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker who came to his aid in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and who now becomes the focus and fierce heart of The Girl Who Played with Fire.

As Blomkvist, alone in his belief in Salander’s innocence, plunges into an investigation of the slayings, Salander herself is drawn into a murderous hunt in which she is the prey, and which compels her to revisit her dark past in an effort to settle with it once and for all

The review
This book has less Cluedo than the other book. You get information from all the players in this book except for one and the story builds up till they all come together. This book reads more like an action movie where the first book was more suspense. Still a solid story with easy character engagement. You will cheer for the right people, hate the right people and will feel willing to kill some yourself it that saves the heroine. Am now going to move on to the third book hoping it is just as entertaining as the first two. ( )

The second book of the Millennium Trilogy—the book is set 2 years after the Wennerström affair and Lisbeth Salander is enjoying the benefits of her “acquisition” of wealth, traveling, purchasing an apartment and changing her appearance. She returns to Stockholm and soon becomes embroiled and framed in the murder of two writers working with Mikael Blomkvist (her former lover) and her guardian Nils Bjurman. The investigation leads Lisbeth to confront her violent childhood and the resulting tragedies. I enjoyed the fast paced action of this novel—though I enjoyed the first book more. The one thing that I didn’t like as well in this novel was the lack of real interaction between Bloomquist and Salander—which was one of my favorite parts of the first novel. A 4 out of 5 stars. ( )

The second in the series starts a totally new plot that takes place almost immediately after the events of the first book. The mistery component is still there, but it is solved with a couple of very predictibely twists at the end. However, there were good thrilling moments and overall the series keeps the reader interested. ( )