A publishing phenomenon that began the Millennium trilogy; the author, deceased before publication, had a life at least as exciting as any character in a crime novel. Mikael Blomkvist, a tough investigative journalist, is suspended after losing a libel case, when he’s invited to a remote Swedish island by a rich industrialist. He wants to know what happened to his granddaughter, who went missing as a teenager years before. The island was sealed off that day for a festival, so it must be someone in the extended family who killed Harriet, if she is dead. But who? Teaming up with brilliant hacker Lisbeth Salander (the girl of the title), Mikael delves into the dark secrets of the family.
You should read it because: it’s a brilliant reworking of the locked room or country house mystery; it has the original ‘strong female lead’; and it unflinchingly examines the nature of violence in crime fiction, especially against women (the original Swedish title was ‘Men who Hate Women’).
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