The Girl Who Played with Fire
by Stieg Larsson
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Book Reviews of The Girl Who Played with Fire
Book Review: We Finally Get To Learn Lisbeth's Backstory
Summary: 4 Stars
I felt pretty much the same about this book as I did about The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, although there were some things I liked better about this one, and some things I liked less.
Like The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, it is an usually intellectual book for the mystery genré, and highly original. There was less about complex business wheelings and dealings, which I liked. Again, there was also some advanced computer technology, much of which went over my head. But I'm not complaining, I like to be challenged by a book.
As for what I liked less about this one: I missed the complex family relationships and interactions - with occasional moments of affection - that were so important to the central mystery in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. There is also much about family in The Girl Who Played With Fire, but in this case the family is so dysfunctional and estranged from one another that they are virtually strangers. There is nothing complicated about their relationships, they just hate each other unequivocally.
What I liked better was finding out so much about Lisbeth's backstory. I was frustrated to know so little about her in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, but here Lisbeth's background is the whole story, and it comprises the central mystery in the novel. I really enjoyed finding out about the family Lisbeth came from and how she came to be declared mentally ill and incompetent to take care of herself even as an adult.
There were a couple of things that frustrated me in The Girl Who Played With Fire, but I expect that they may be cleared up in the third book of the series. One was that we learn nothing about Lisbeth's twin sister. The other was that the opening scene - and even Lisbeth's presence in the Caribbean - appears to have nothing to do with the rest of the book.
As in the previous novel, there is a great deal of violence. Lisbeth suffers so much damage in this one that I wonder how she can continue for a third book.
I'm looking forward to reading The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.
Book Review: A Skilled Sequel, But Why Write it Unless it Absolutely Had to be Written?
Summary: 3 Stars
The second installment in Larsson's "Girl" trilogy, PLAYED W FIRE is an adequate sequel and a strong novel, if not the tour-de-force that DRAGON TATTOO was.
Larsson's skills are again on display, the mystery is organic. Especially where he is working in the context of estalished characters, it doesn't feel as cooked and melodramatic as mysteries - especially franchises - often can.
Still, where watching Blomqvist set up housekeeping in the Arctic village in DRAGON was both a compelling introduction to the central cast and a driver of plot points crucial to the story, Larsson's dalliances with Salander as she splits time in the Carribean between ruminating on life and hatching a vigilante revenge killing feel philosophical and more forced.
Larsson also uses a crutch to get him through the restrictions imposed by carrying on with these characters. Salander is the same "girl," but - in many ways - not the same character. He telegraphs that. She has undergone a physical transformation.
And, her self-flagellation (both in a quasi-paedophiliac sexual tryst and in a bout of comodification as she sets up her Swedish home upon return) offers a very different perspective on the withdrawn and spartan character he established in the first book.
Larsson has the knack to make the work feel like something more than a murder mystery, but he still plays with all the stock parts: murderous criminal motorcycle gangs, a reporter who "knows too much," the mysterious afflicted Eastern European villain, and a superhuman henchman straight from Fleming.
I suppose it was not technically written as a sequel, and it isn't bad in the end, but it begs the question: does a sequel need to be written unless it ABSOLUTELY NEEDS to be written?
Lastly, for me Larsson nearly showed astonishing artistic integrity and storytelling cunning with a late plot twist as he unwinds the mystery. I was not expecting it and would not have even called for it. But, the way he back off of it was cheap and brought this down into the three range.
Book Review: The sins of the past come back to haunt the present (4.5 stars)
Summary: 4 Stars
Much like its predecessor, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Vintage), The Girl Who Played With Fire is a thriller deeply concerned with the crimes of the past and how they affect both the present and the characters of the book. However, while Tattoo was a little more distant from its past, the past in Fire is far more active - and more dangerous. Just as Tattoo took an old mystery staple (the locked-room murder) and took it in entirely new and different directions, Fire takes on the old plot where a character is connected to a series of murders and must prove their innocence. However, in one of many great reversals, one of the brilliant touches Larsson throws in is a deep sense of uncertainty of just how innocent Salander is of the crimes - something that really isn't resolved one way or the other until very near the end of the book, a fact that creates a magnificent sense of unease that permeates the book. It's just one of many decisions that makes Fire such a gripping read. Larsson takes his time in establishing his characters and constructing a great world for them to inhabit, and by the time the plot starts rolling, all of what happens seems genuinely character-driven and logical, and we're genuinely tense about the outcomes of dangerous situations - and genuinely shocked at points where things go differently than we expect (particularly one jaw-dropper near the end). But of course, no book review would be complete without mentioning Lisbeth Salander, whose past becomes the key mystery of Fire. Salander is one of the more interesting and compelling characters in thrillers as of late, and Fire gives us (and Larsson) the chance to really delve into this character and find out what makes her tick, creating even more depth and intrigue in an already fascinating creation. It's really a shame that Larsson died, because the idea of a 10-12 book series about these characters really sounds great. Unfortunately, we're limited to three, but as long as they're this good, it's hard to complain too much.Book Review: The Continuing Saga of Lisbeth Salander
Summary: 5 Stars
This book did not draw me in at first. Having just finished The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I wondered how someone who had not read Tattoo could feel any empathy for Lisbeth Salander, clearly the main character in Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who Played With Fire. As the book begins, Salander, 26, is filthy rich (literally, because she stole a fortune from a very dirty man), and she has an affair with a sixteen year old boy. Larsson bores us with details of her IKEA shopping spree and purchase of a luxury apartment. So, for the first hundred pages or so, I though of tossing the book. But it picked up. The last four hundred pages made it all worthwhile.
The book pivots off of Salander's involvement in a triple murder. Just how dirty is she? Strong evidence points to her guilt. The police think she is guilty and launch a massive hunt for her. The media spreads stories all over Sweden about her bizarre past.
But Salander has friends. There's the resourceful Mikael Blomkvist, star of Tattoo. There's a champion boxer who punches his way into the mix. There's a former guardian who grew to respect her. There's Miriam Wu, Salander's (part-time) lover.
Salander is one of the most intriguing fictional characters that I have encountered. She's a "waif," very short and thin. She's brilliant. She's fierce. She must have total revenge, and she is cold and tough enough to get it. And, at least according to the title, she plays with fire.
Other key characters include an evil Russian defector who is shielded by top Swedish officials and a malevolent "blond giant" who can feel no pain. A key plot element is the imminent publication of an exposé of sex-trafficking and the johns involved.
So, there's a lot going on. Lesser authors could not have drawn it all together. But Larsson does, in a skillful and exciting manner.
This book, combined with Tattoo, make it clear to me that the world lost a master wordsmith with Larsson's early death.
Book Review: Another excellent installment in the Millennium series
Summary: 4 Stars
Plot Summary: Lisbeth Salander has severed all contact with Mikael Blomkvist, and she's taken a year to travel the world on the stolen billions she took during the Wennerstrom affair. A year later, Lisbeth returns to Sweden and purchases an apartment fit for a queen. While she's been away, her corrupt guardian, Nils Bjurman, has been digging into her past until he finds an ally who wants her dead and has the means to carry it out. When three dead bodies are found, with Lisbeth's fingerprints on the murder weapon, the police, Mikael, and a group of thugs all start hunting for our elusive heroine.
The thrills and chills in this installment were just as compelling as the first novel, and there were some twists that I never saw coming. As far as the rating, I suppose I'm holding back because Blomkvist and Salander spend the entire book apart. They communicate a bit, but Lisbeth has cut Mikael out of her life and she only feeds him tips because he stands by her without question. The plot is electric, but I get the biggest charge when they work together, like some demented Holmes and Watson duo. I'm hoping that book three will have them back in action together.
Mikael Blomkvist was almost a secondary character this time around, and the whole book focused on Lisbeth. By the end of the book, all of her mysterious background is spread out and laid bare, and it's morbidly fascinating. There are a few `oh no' moments, when it looks like Lisbeth is about to eat it for good, but then the kitten flashes her claws and takes down some formidable foes.
There's not much more that I can say without dropping any spoilers, but once again Stieg Larsson has delivered a thriller that is unpredictable and highly entertaining. The third, and last installment in the Millennium series, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest will be released on June 8, 2010.