The Girl Who Played with Fire (Vintage)

5 Responses to “The Girl Who Played with Fire (Vintage)”

1. K. M. says:

   September 2, 2010 at 5:22 am

   Review by K. M. for The Girl Who Played with Fire (Vintage)
   Rating:
   In THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE, the second volume in the late Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy, publisher Mikael Blomkvist and the police are conducting parallel investigations into three horrifying murders — and their initial evidence points straight at young computer genius and social misfit Lisbeth Salander. Kalle Bastard Blomkvist (as Salander has begun referring to him) hasn’t seen Salander in nearly two years, except for one night when he happened to witness a huge man attempting to kidnap her and both she and the attacker eluded him. He’s bewildered about why she cut him off cold, but had accepted her decision — until now. He doesn’t believe Salander killed these victims. Well, at least not two of them. He has to contact her, find out how she’s become embroiled in this, and help her. Salander, as usual, has her own ideas about who she’ll see and when….

   In THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, Larsson partnered Blomkvist and Salander as they unraveled a twisted tale of corporate greed, Fascist connections, and perverse sex and violence. FIRE highlights another subject on which Larsson wanted to shine light, namely the underbelly of the sex trade, a swill of human misery being forcibly imposed for money and simple loathing of women. Blomkvist’s magazine, Millennium, plans an issue devoted to the subject based on the interviews and reporting of a criminologist and a journalist, and there follows much in-house discussion of the lurid material and how it should be presented to the public. But the three murders turn the magazine and its people on their heads.

   Meanwhile, Salander travels, changes her appearance, and matures in the early chapters of the 569-page book that covers four months in total and is told in four parts. Among her pursuits: attempting to proof Fermat’s Last Theorem in a way Fermat himself might have done, furnishing her new abode, and keeping tabs on Bjurman (whom, recall, she memorably tattooed in DRAGON). Then, she disappears for quite a spell as the murder investigation gets cranking, and finally, she regains the spotlight as the book rushes headlong into a heart-stopping denouement.

   The last book in this series — tentatively entitled THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNETS’ NEST in its English translation — is not scheduled for release until 2010. However, the entire trilogy has already been published in Swedish (naturally), French, and German. Larsson reportedly had planned a ten-volume series. He had written part of the fourth book and had outlined volumes five, six, and seven. Sadly, due to his early death, only the trilogy is complete and will, according to his father, be published. After reading FIRE, the thought creeps in that perhaps the trilogy will not provide closure, and that the reader could be left dangling, unsatisfied. That would be a crying shame because Salander and Blomkvist — along with other continuing characters — do burrow themselves deeply into the reader’s (at least this reader’s) affections. Fortunately, reviewers who have read, in the other aforementioned languages, the entire story arc, including the final novel, seem generally very satisfied. Some claim that the last book, also the longest, is a grand finale that answers all outstanding questions. A few are less effusive, stating that the last book can’t meet the anticipatory heights set by the stunning, unusual first one.

   This last criticism can be applied to the second book as well. FIRE does not pack quite the punch of uniqueness that DRAGON did. One can perhaps think of the movie trilogy THE MATRIX, MATRIX RELOADED, and THE MATRIX REVOLUTION as an analogy. The smash introductory film awed with its mind-bending perspective. The second and third passes were very solid, even amazing, partners, but they only reiterated the cutting-edge magic so novel in The MATRIX, building on it, not inventing something mind-blowingly fresh. Familiarity takes a bit of the bloom off the rose, but it certainly doesn’t breed contempt in these instances. Larsson’s FIRE lags a little during the mid-section in which criminal investigation procedure grinds along and the author belabors certain points, seeming to believe his readers novices at crime mysteries. But overall, FIRE accelerates the enthralling story of Lisbeth and Mikael with panache. One can’t help thinking the world they inhabit is too slimy, too vicious, but Larsson was a man with many crusades and causes, and his trilogy vividly paints the harsh pictures of society that he hoped to reform. The Millennium Trilogy encompasses uncompromising social critique; prickling thrills; and curious, bittersweet romance. FIRE drew me like a moth, and I can’t wait to get my hands on HORNET. 4.4 stars.
   
2. Nicole Del Sesto says:

   September 2, 2010 at 5:39 am

   Review by Nicole Del Sesto for The Girl Who Played with Fire (Vintage)
   Rating:
   I found this book to be a solid sequel to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, in fact, I may have liked it ever better than the first.

   In this book we learn more about Salander. Skillfully exposed throughout the course of the novel, bits and pieces of her background appear until by the end a full picture has emerged. Some statisfying, some not so satisfying. A couple points easily guessed early on.

   She’s a fascinating character, and the parts about her were my favorite in the book, (even the parts that were seemingly plot irrelevant and never resolved). She’s a smart, strong, flawed underdog, and you can’t help rooting for her.

   This book tackles a lot of topics. Sex trade, the media, police corruption, authority abuse, on and on. I like it because it keeps it interesting, but sometimes it was all over the board. Especially interesting to me is learning more about Swedish culture throughout the course of the book.

   What’s best about the book is the pace. It kept me captivated throughout the 569 pages (in my copy), and I couldn’t go to bed until I finished. It’s a well-done thriller.

   Incidentally, I didn’t find that you needed to have read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo first, but certainly that would be preferable.

   Looking forward to the 3rd, and sad that it will be the last. This is a really interesting series.
3. Mark A. Cartier says:

   September 2, 2010 at 6:00 am

   Review by Mark A. Cartier for The Girl Who Played with Fire (Vintage)
   Rating:
   This is the second book in the Millenium series created by Stieg Larsson. The plot revolves around the human and sex trafficing industry in Sweden and the murder of three individuals with connections to the Lisbeth Salander character.

   I found this to be a pleasing (yet inferior) sequel to “Dragon”. While one does not need to read Dragon, I would recommend it. For my money it (Dragon) is the superior read.

   The Lisbeth Salander character is a very interesting protagonist. When Lisbeth is being written about in The Girl Who Played with Fire, the story seems to move – when she is not, the story drags.

   The Mikael Blomqvist, Erica Berger etc. characters and how Steig Larsson created and developed the characters seemed deeper, fresher and have more substance in the first novel. I thought the first book had a better focus, pace, fewer hanging threads, was more intricately plotted and had a better overall story.

   With that said, the sequel is a good, not exceptional, read. My recommendation is to read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo first, then this novel to fully appreciate the world that Steig Larsson created.
   
4. L. Blumenthal says:

   September 2, 2010 at 6:47 am

   Review by L. Blumenthal for The Girl Who Played with Fire (Vintage)
   Rating:
   This is the second in the late Steig Larsson’s “Millennium” trilogy. I was so hooked by the first in the series, “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” that I decided to send away to http://www.amazon.co.uk for this sequel, because I was not willing to wait until July for the U.S. release of an English-language version. These days, the pound has been kicked around as badly as the dollar, so I ended up paying largely what I’d pay in the U.S., and the shipping fee was minimal.
   
   I really couldn’t wait to crack the 700-page volume to revisit the characters: Mikael Blomqvist, the heroic investigative journalist; Lisbeth Salander, a petite powerhouse afflicted (or gifted) with Asperger’s syndrome; Erika Berger, the fearless editor and Blomqvist’s sometime bedmate; and the intrepid staff of the magazine, “Millennium.” Whereas “Dragon Tattoo” was largely about Blomqvist and his search for a presumed-dead heiress, this sequel focuses squarely on Salander and her difficult adjustment with society. At the end of the first book, she abruptly walks away from the faithless lover Blomqvist. She continues her aversion in “The Girl Who Played with Fire,” ignoring him, hanging up on his cell phone calls, tossing out letters, and otherwise pretending he doesn’t exist. He’s broken her heart and Lisbeth Salander is not one to forgive.
   
   However, she soon learns she needs friends–plenty of them–as an ever-tightening noose of danger tightens around her, made up of her evil legal guardian Nils Bjurman, a cadre of nasty social-service doctors and psychiatrists, some rogue cops, members of a Hells-Angels-like motorcycle gang, and a shadowy figure known only as Zala. When one of Blomqvist’s best reporters and his wife, are gunned down, police find Salander’s fingerprints on the gun and the hunt is on–with the entire police force, plus the host of the other bad guys after her.
   
   Larsson keeps the pace breathless throughout the story, which hinges on a seamy sex trafficking trade. Even when he stops to explain what is at stake and how “Millennium” will cover the story, he never slows the movement. You’d think that in a novel of this length there would be myriad subplots, but there really aren’t too many threads to follow. Salander’s sad past is deconstructed chapter by chapter, and Blomqvist gets to the bottom of police malfeasance and international espionage. But nothing takes the focus off the chase that Salander eludes so brilliantly.
   
   I’m sure there are things that a savvy editor could do to tighten Larsson’s prose. He adds a love affair too many and drags out the tense ending to a breaking point. Also, it may not seem odd to Swedes, but Larsson’s habit of using the last name for every character becomes extremely confusing, because everyone is an Andersson or an Ericsson or a Nilsson. The sameness becomes mind-boggling. It’s impossible to even know the gender of the character.
   
   I know about this problem personally, for my own grandfather changed his last name because there were too many Nilssons in the army. He chose a name that was a little more distinctive. Larsson could have learned a lesson there. Using a few first names now and then also would solve the problem nicely.
   
   But these are nitpicks. I’ll be waiting for any news that an English version of the final version of the “Millennium” trilogy is available. These books are just that good.
5. R. Bennett says:

   September 2, 2010 at 6:48 am

   Review by R. Bennett for The Girl Who Played with Fire (Vintage)
   Rating:
   This is the follow up to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I suggest you read that one first, though this novel is reasonably self-contained.

   This book opens with Lisbeth Salander enjoying her newly ripped of wealth lazing in a hotel in Granada. No one knows where she is (as usual), and back in Sweden, Millenium magazine are preparing a an expose of the sex slave business in Sweden. The journalist who is preparing the expose is murdered, along with his partner, and Salander’s legal guardian. Salander, now back in Sweden is the prime suspect, and the police hunt is on.

   To say things get complicated from this point is an understatement. There are multiple investigations (Salander’s of course, the police and Millenium’s), multiple suspects, more murders, red herrings galore, and just general mayhem. Dark as all this is, it is actually quite funny in places: the police have no idea at all what is going on, despite a well meaning and competant detective in charge.

   This is all tremendous fun for the reader. It is as anything remotely boring (and probably realism suffers) has been left out, yet despite the novels sheer page turning ability, (I read this too fast, I will need to read it again), it still has the power to inform.

   So buy it, read it once, and then read it again.