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 • 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!

Listen to the rest of The Millennium Trilogy.

©2008 Stieg Larsson (P)2008 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME

"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)

Slow to start...so I had it read to me here.

Would you listen to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo again? Why?

Yes...What I thought was slow and boring at first, I eventually realized was just the formula needed to develop the character in the readers mind...once their shortly before their stories converge...the book just takes off, and I could not put down my iPod!!

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Most definitely. It was mysterious, and creepy, and just enough sexy to hold my interest. This is not usually my genre of books....but I knew if I saw the movie...I would never read or listen to the book....and the book is always better, as everyone knows.

Have you listened to any of Simon Vance’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I am not sure.

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

Deviance...on so many levels.

Any additional comments?

Only that I cannot wait to listen to the other 2 books in the series.

Couldn't put it down

This is a fantastic listen. Lisbeth Salander is one of those rare characters that are truly unique and that make you wonder how Larsson ever dreamed up such a person. Simon Vance does a superb job with the narration. Be forewarned: as others have mentioned, the book is rather dark and violent. It definitely caused a slightly awkward moment between me and the security guard at work when I was listening to it over my computer speakers one late night and he walked in during an especially explicit and nasty scene. Oops.

Very disappointed . . .

that this book ended. Fortunately, the story effectively continues in "The Girl Who Played with Fire." This is a police procedural novel except that detective is a magazine journalist. What makes it exceptional is the character Lisbeth Salinger who is simply the most remarkable, fascinating character I have ever encountered in fiction.

The reader is also perfect. He is totally into the rhythm and timing of the prose without being noticeable (compare Scott Brick, who is very good but one is always aware Brick is the reader.) He is very good with the female voices. This is one of the best audiobooks I have listened to. I can't wait for the third book in May of 2010.

Great fun

I avoided this series and both films for quite some time because I generally don't like extremely suspenseful and/or violent stories, but finally saw the second version of the film. I enjoyed the film a lot, and so decided to listen to the book. No surprise, of course, to find much more detail and a few unsuspected plot twists in the original. I actually found myself going to the gym more frequently just so I could listen to the next segment of the book! Overall, I found the extensive detail about how various things worked/happened to be quite interesting, and even though I knew the basic plot from the film, the narrative kept me engaged.

I wasn't crazy about the narrator's voicing of the female characters -- too much breathy little-girlishness in all of them. I suppose I can see where this kind of sound makes sense for Salander, but it just didn't work for me. It bothered me enough that I never quite stopped noticing it, but not enough to make me refrain from listening to the rest of the trilogy.

A Great Read

if you're looking for a great read this is a great choice. I was caught up and could not stop listening. Chapter after chapter. Book after book. After the third book. I was sad because book 4 couldn't be published for legal reasons. That was at least three years ago. Book four is out now.

Extraordinary

This is a complex and sophisticated novel with characters that are not at all simplistic. The plot reaches a bit too far at a couple of points, but like other reviewers, I couldn't stop listening. Readers should be forewarned that the book includes some rather graphic descriptions of sex crimes.

This is the first book in Steig Larsson's posthumously published "Millenium Trilogy". The English translation of the second book, "The Girl Who Played with Fire", was released in January, and I'm sorry to see that it isn't on Audible yet. There is an audio version -- probably abridged -- read by Martin Wenner.

The English translation of the third book "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" is expected sometime in the fall. Sadly, these are the only novels that we will have from Larsson.

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.