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)

A little hard at first to get into but then it got

onec she started to talk and explain to her boss what was going on and how she could help I got more into the book. going to reread it. did not see the movie but my friend say the book and movie where pretty cloce. the geltman that read it was ok.

Expect to be a captive audience.

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

The narrator. Simon Vance is deft like a cat, keeping pace with the tempo of the story.

What did you like best about this story?

Salander and Bloomquist. Both are fractured, put-upon souls but they manage both personal chemistry and professional cohesiveness. You repeatedly hear the outward 'me versus you' from one side and 'I don't have time for this' from the other but you know through excellent character development deep down, both characters are inwardly thinking 'us versus them'.

What about Simon Vance’s performance did you like?

I'm not particularly sensitive to men narrating female characters or women narrating male characters, but the true joy comes with being so immersed in the dialog I don't realize there's only one person narrating.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I had a quiet moment of enraged solidarity with Salander when she got caught flat-footed holding a vintage sign. Every other challenge was handled in stride...or with meticulous vengeful planning.

Any additional comments?

If you're looking at the series as a quest, avoid the films and a poisoning of the mind. The Swedish films are better than the Hollywood products anyway. Without a lot of tagline fanfare, if you enjoy A. A clever, well-balanced crime thriller and B. Characters you can really get behind, this series is for you.

Dark & Fascinating Mystery - Manage Expectations

What I enjoyed:

-Interesting characters, Lisbeth Salander is one of the most fascinating characters I've ever read
-Brilliantly written with an intriguing story that kept me engaged
-Fresh ideas

What I didn't enjoy:

-First third was a bit of a slog, would have preferred faster pacing and slower pacing with second third
-Characters, like Blomkvist, didn't feel completely "human". He seemed almost too perfect, always knowing what to say, do, etc. I didn't feel as much emotion and weakness in him
-The book was somewhat of a victim of lofty expectations for me, it was a great book but I was going in looking to have my mind blown

Exciting and intriguing

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

Yes. The characters are interesting and the plot twists to hold one's interest.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The tattooed girl was my favorite character. She is strong, unique, and a real force to reckon with.

Which scene was your favorite?

The basement rescue

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The ending

A Great Referral from a Friend

A great listen. Characters were well flushed out and unpredictable. This book has a great twist at the end, was not expecting. Have a great listen and find out for yourself.

2nd Half Is Way Better; Hang in There!

This book is the reason I started an Audible account several years ago.  It was my first purchase.  I am now approaching 200 audiobooks and this is still among my favorites.  First off, Simon Vance could read me the phone book and keep me entertained for hours.  He is flat brilliant; one of the best.  He isn't wonderful at "sounding like a woman" - he goes up a bit in pitch and kind of whispery  -  but it works and isn't annoying.  Many male narrators trying for a woman's voice make me want to put my knitting needle through my ea r drum but Vance never does. And you really believe you are listening to the dialogue of multiple characters.  If you are contemplating a book and he is the narrator, it is totally worth a shot.

My co-worker convinced me to give The Girl books a try but I had a lot of knitting commissions at the time so audio was the solution. I've never regretted creating this addiction for one second.  I do love this book and I listen to it at least once a year.  It didn't really pull me in immediately as financial intrigue bores me stiff but my friend Cody convinced me to hang in there and hopefully I can convince you to as well.  This story of a disgraced journalist hiding in a small town to write a book about a powerful family, as well as try to find clues to the mystery of a young woman of that family who went missing 40 years before really didn't grip my interest until half way through the book.  Until then, I basically tolerated the parts about him whole focusing on the (for me) vastly more interesting character of Lisbeth Salandar.  They don't even meet till past the halfway mark and that is when the book really takes off.  Salandar is a fascinating, complex, "real" character who doesn't always make what most readers will consider the right decision.  At one point I was mentally screaming at her, "Why the ×#¤€¡%¢ would you do that?!"  As far as Blomquist, I didn't particularly like his character even though he was written in a much more sympathetic tone.  Maybe that's just me.  But I loved that many of the people in this book felt real.  No stereotypes, no totally good guys, although there are a couple of thoroughly bad ones. 
Bottom line, this book is worth a listen even if for no other reason than to "meet" characters that aren't always predictable and because the rest of the series is even better then the first book.
There are some fairly graphic violence scenes including rape.  I always appreciated a heads up about that because it's not something I like seeing in a book usually.  That's why it took a good deal of talking for Cody to convince me to read this.  But I'm really glad he did.

Couldn't stop listening!

People must have thought I was crazy...walking around plugged into my Ipod! But it was almost impossible to stop listening. Great narrator...great author! Unto my next Stieg Larsson book!

Engaging Listen

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

I don't often reread/ re-listen to fiction,
I plan on listening to other books by this author.

Good detective story with an Swedish twist.

Interesting story of a disappearing girl that has a few twists and turns. As a Swedish author, Stieg Larson crafts and tale that is all the more interesting being told from a different cultural standpoint. Simon Vance does a top notch job of narration with well voiced (but not over the top) characters that are easily identifiable. The book alone is 4+ stars, but the excellent narration pushes it to 5 and the Author/Narrator combo has me downloading the next in the series as I type.

The series that replaced Harry Potter

The Steig Larsson series kept me amused after the Harry Potter Sagas came to an end. I loved the intrigue and I admire both main characters very much.