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)

Intriguing and Enjoyable

I have listened to this more than 5 times, i enjoy it every time I do.

Exceeded expectations

Would you consider the audio edition of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo to be better than the print version?

I drive a lot and like listening to books when I am driving. When the narrator is bad even the best book can be awful. The narrator was great, which is why I bought the other 2 as well.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Salandar is a great character! So complex, as each layer is peeled she becomes more and more interesting.

What does Simon Vance bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I like his voice and the way he changed it for the different characters. You can pretty much guess who is speaking by the change in his voice.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The rap seen was pretty disgusting, but I don't think itnwasnextraneous. You need to have it to explain her extreme reaction to it.

Any additional comments?

Generally when a book is as popular as this one I end up hating it ( for ex. The DaVinci code, Dan Brown's writing is so awful, I just don't get why people liked him soooo much. )This one ahockingly lived up to then hype.

phsycological mystery thriller.

Would you consider the audio edition of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo to be better than the print version?

much better than the swedish movie.starts a little slow but really picks up and keeps your attention thruout.

Who was your favorite character and why?

elizabeth salenger. bada*# feminest vigilante

Fantastic

Simon Vance did a great reading. This is a great cast of characters. Overall, the Millennium Trilogy is quite well written. It seems to get a bit long winded at the end of the first book, but you forgive the writer quickly enough.

Decent Book

Decent book. A little too much use of the F-word and most everything is about sex, sexual deviancy, and more sex. Decent plot with just enough twists to keep you entertained. Fairly good character development, although characters are not entirely believable at the extremes. Hilarious to hear all the various nationalities portrayed as having accents associated with Gaelic/English. Not an epic or necesarily a classic, but a fun enough suspense read. I'm enjoying the second book now.

Excellent

A great story with an excellent reader. The large number of characters were hard to keep track of, plus the names and locations were very Swedish, which made this even harder. The narrator does a good job providing additional personality to each of the characters. Well worth the listen.

Wow

A gripping story with sparkling detail. The performance is amazing. It is almost like being in the room with the characters.

Slow Start But Great Finish

What made the experience of listening to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo the most enjoyable?

The mystery, suspense, and shocking scenes.

What did you like best about this story?

Lisbeth Salander's intellect, tenacity, and survivor attitude.

What about Simon Vance’s performance did you like?

He has a kind and steady voice.

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

Don't expect her to just lie down and take it.....

Any additional comments?

Great series and good narration although the female voices probably weren't so great. Perhaps it's hard for males to do good female voices. The series starts slow and sounds complicated with a lot of large words but if you give it some time, it gets better and is worth it. You really get into it after a while.

Better listened to than read.

What did you love best about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo?

it was a great mystery

What about Simon Vance’s performance did you like?

I like his accent and the fact that I didn't have to pronounce the Swedish words - he did it.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No

Amazing mystery!

I'm not usually one for mysteries, but The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo instantly pulled me in. The mystery itself was very well conceived and executed, with just enough twists and turns to keep me on the edge of my seat the whole time I was listening. It was the characters, though, that truly grabbed my attention. Mikael and Lisbeth are now two of my all-time favorite characters. Even the secondary characters were well fleshed out and interesting. The narration was spot on. I eagerly look forward to the rest of the series!