The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

By: Stieg Larsson

Narrated by: Saul Reichlin

Length: 18 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder - and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family.

He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the tattooed, truculent computer hacker Lisbeth Salander to investigate. When the pair link Harriet's disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from 40 years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history.

But the Vangers are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves.

©2005, 2008 Norstedts Agency, Reg Keeland (P)2009 WF Howes Ltd

Critic reviews

"I doubt you will read a better book this year." (Val McDermid)

"Intelligent, complex, with a gripping plot and deeply intriguing characters. The author's early death is a great loss." (Philip Pullman)

"What a cracking novel! I haven't read such a stunning thriller debut for years. Brilliantly written and totally gripping." (Minette Walters)

Too Violent and Graphic

I couldn't even finish it. I hear it has a great plot and gets quicker towards the end (it's slow in the beginning) but I couldn't get that far with all the sexually explict assaults etc.

Not my kind of book

It could be that it's just not my "kind" of book, but I did not enjoy this story. The 'twist' was fairly obvious, I thought, from early on, as was the 'who'. I found the way that the narrator pronounced place names and character names distracting, and it took me out of the story regularly. I didn't think much of Bloomkvist and had trouble empathising with him. I often found myself starting to let daydreams get in the way as I listened and was constantly rewinding so I could hear what I'd missed. The book is well written and although I can't quite understand the cult status of this book, the characters certainly are well presented and fully thought out. They all felt very 'real'. I guess "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" just wasn't my cup of tea.

A decent story

I like it, but I don’t love it. There’s something a little off about the characters and the way it’s written that doesn’t quite let me fully embrace the story. The actual story is quite good

not bad

I enjoyed it but I am not sure what all the fanfare is about. maybe the next one will be better.

Did this ever go to an editor ??

This is an enjoyable read, and the narrator is fantastic.
The book is charmingly Scandinavian - lots of snow, endless coffee, and liberal socialist attitudes - but boy could it do with some decent editorial input! The pointless back stories about completely irrelevant characters, the family trees tediously detailed... there would have been a lot of skimming in hard copy.

It's the details that make the difference....

While it was a very good story and nicely narrated it was unfortunate that the split of the 3 parts where not given much consideration. I found it disturbing that the split was in a middle of a chapter and at the end of the last part there was a voice telling me "please turn the tape over". If these small but important details would be taken care of I would have given it a 5.

Regards
Henrik

What the f

Listened to 6 hours of this . Kept hoping it would lead somewhere. Was supposed to be a thriller of some sort. Unbelievably dull. Save yourself the time. Couldn’t bare to listen to another minute.

Enjoyed it

Had to read it because my friends at work would not stop talking about it!!!

It was 'fun'.

What was all the fuss about? Average at best

Would you try another book from Stieg Larsson and/or Saul Reichlin?

No

Which character – as performed by Saul Reichlin – was your favorite?

Which was least bad? Probably Mikael. Most of the characters were dodgy as, and there were several passages of 2 person conversation where I lost track of who was saying what.

Could you see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

It has been, hasn't it? I won't be making any effort to see it

Any additional comments?

I am completely at a loss as to why this book has been so successful. Parts of the story are quite reasonable, but most of it is tedious - the section of email conversation where we are read out 'encrypted email from [e-mail] to [e-mail]' giving the full email address of both parties Every one of what must have been a dozen times back to back was almost enough to stop me listening before I got to the end.Even as a bit of a geek I really don't care what CPU Lisbeth's new MacBook has - OTT detail throughout makes me wonder if Steig Larsson was slightly Asbergers.The dialogue was frequently ropey, unless Swedish people universally say

Not for the Car

I listen to audio-books while making a long trek to work, and this one is a real snoozer (I had to stop listening to it in the car), until I hit about 9 hours in. I finished it because two avid readers told me how great it was, so I kept hoping.... I won't be listening to (or reading) the rest of the series.