The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

A Lisbeth Salander Novel

By: Stieg Larsson, Reg Keeland - translator

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 16 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The thrilling first book in the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series featuring Lisbeth Salander: “Combine the chilly Swedish backdrop and moody psychodrama of a Bergman movie with the grisly pyrotechnics of a serial-killer thriller, then add an angry punk heroine and a down-on-his-luck investigative journalist, and you have the ingredients of Stieg Larsson’s first novel” (The New York Times). • Also known as the Millennium series

Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.

Look for the latest book in the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series, The Girl in the Eagle's Talons, coming soon!

Listen to the rest of The Millennium Trilogy.

©2008 Stieg Larsson (P)2008 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

"Cases rarely come much colder than the decades-old disappearance of teen heiress Harriet Vanger from her family's remote island retreat north of Stockholm, nor do fiction debuts hotter than this European best seller...At once a strikingly original thriller and a vivisection of Sweden's dirty not-so-little secrets, this first of a trilogy introduces a provocatively odd couple." (Publishers Weekly)

"Combine the chilly Swedish backdrop and moody psychodrama of a Bergman movie with the grisly pyrotechnics of a serial-killer thriller, then add an angry punk heroine and a down-on-his-luck investigative journalist, and you have the ingredients of Stieg Larsson's first novel." (The New York Times)

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a striking novel. Just when I was thinking there wasn't anything new on the horizon, along comes Stieg Larsson with this wonderfully unique story. I was completely absorbed." (Michael Connelly)

Excellent Voice for an Excellent book.

What else is there to say? The narrator was phenomenal, and the story still holds up. Will definitely be listening to the sequels.

second time enjoying this book-

This is the first time listening to this book and the narrator did it wonderfully. Excellent book, can't wait to listen to the next one!

What a Trilogy

If you could sum up The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in three words, what would they be?

Unconventional Mystery Heroine

What other book might you compare The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo to and why?

If you are looking for female lead characters, Ladies Detective Agency is the closest I have read myself, and the LDA is not near as engrossing.

What about Simon Vance’s performance did you like?

Excellent presentation. Vance keeps the reader engaged thru his voice inflections and ability to help the reader maintain a grasp of the many character's names and their part in the 3 stories through his many characters vocal nuances.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

The 1st has already been released and was done very well, the scriptwriters and director kept very close to the novel. I can't wait to see the following movie/movies. Almost every of my friends and acquaintances that have seen the 1st movie had great things to say about the movie and story in general.

Any additional comments?

If you haven't already seen the movie, read/listen to the 1st book before you see it. (I suggest you read/listen to all 3 books before you see the movie). If you have already seen the 1st movie, read/listen to the 1st book anyway, you always get more out of a story vs. a movie. I only listen to books for pleasure instead of reading for pleasure so if your a reader, get the books and enjoy! If you are a listener, thanks Audible for bringing the books to us in such a timely manner!

Good Read

Maybe not for readers too young, due to some of the content. But it is a good read that'll keep you guessing.

HOOKED!

Man! This is a great book! I normally just listen to audible in the car, but I was so hooked on it that I found myself listening to it any chance I could get. In a year or so I will definitely listen to this again!

Couldn't put it down

I had read the book years ago. I enjoyed the audio even better! Highly recommend. time to start the next one

Definitely entertaining

I couldn’t tear myself away from this. The story is so enthralling and the characters are all interesting in their own way.

Wonderful

I had seen each movie, both the American and Swedish versions. The book was even more delicious than the movies. I am happy to know how true to the book each movie attempted to be. The book just gives you so much more insight into who both Mikael and Lisbeth are…it was truly fantastic…even after having already seen the movies. This is one of my all time favorite books.

Excellent Book in a Series of 3

I first saw the movies, all 3 made in Sweden, and I had to read the captions. I loved the movies. Then after I joined Amazon Audible, I found the books. I was so excited I bought all 3. They are well done, and hold your interest. You feel as if you are right there and involved in the story. OMG! to only have half the computer knowledge this girl has self learned.

The audible works well for me, as I am 70, and reading tires my eyes, and I am able to do other things as well as listen..

If you enjoyed the film, you will love the book

I was surprised how close the film stayed to the book, but with any adaptation there are changes. The biggest of which are a number of subplots that cover in great detail things just mentioned in the film. I also think it does a better job of not just brutally depicting violence against women, but makes you really think about it. It's supposed to make you uncomfortable, but ignoring this issue does it a greater disservice.

If you at all enjoyed any of the films, I think you'll very much appreciate the book. The story is more rich for the added detail and the writing is superb. If you've never seen the film, but enjoy a good mystery/thriller then its a great listen. I will say having seen the film helped me form mental pictures of the characters since there's quite a few but that's not a necessity and I always recommend avoiding spoilers.

The narration is also top notch. Simon Vance does a great job affecting the accents of the various characters. Never so much that it becomes obnoxious or distracting but enough to have a better understanding of whom is speaking which can otherwise be difficult with an Audiobook, particularly one with multiple protagonists and for a story told from the perspective of different characters.