Setting

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is set in contemporary Sweden, primarily taking place in the early 2000s. The story unfolds against the backdrop of a modern Scandinavian society, with its reputation for progressive values and social welfare contrasted against darker undercurrents of corruption, misogyny, and lingering Nazi sympathies.

Much of the action centers around Hedeby Island, a fictional locale in northern Sweden. This remote setting, with its small community and harsh winter climate, provides an atmospheric and isolated environment for the mystery to unfold. Other key locations include Stockholm, where protagonist Mikael Blomkvist's magazine Millennium is based, and brief forays to other parts of Sweden and abroad.

The novel also explores the world of high finance and investigative journalism in Sweden. Corporate boardrooms, newsrooms, and hacker dens all feature prominently as settings that highlight the intersection of power, media, and technology in contemporary Swedish society.

Characters

• Mikael Blomkvist: Investigative journalist and publisher of Millennium magazine who is hired to solve a decades-old missing person case.
• Lisbeth Salander: Brilliant but troubled young hacker and researcher who assists Blomkvist in his investigation.
• Henrik Vanger: Elderly former CEO of Vanger Corporation who hires Blomkvist to investigate his niece's disappearance.
• Harriet Vanger: Henrik's great-niece who vanished mysteriously as a teenager 40 years earlier.
• Martin Vanger: Harriet's brother and current CEO of Vanger Corporation, hiding dark secrets.
Erika Berger: Editor-in-chief of Millennium and Blomkvist's longtime friend and occasional lover.
• Hans-Erik Wennerström: Corrupt billionaire financier who Blomkvist was convicted of libeling.
• Dragan Armanskij: CEO of Milton Security and Lisbeth's employer.
• Nils Bjurman: Lisbeth's abusive legal guardian appointed after her previous guardian's stroke.
• Holger Palmgren: Lisbeth's former guardian who treated her with kindness before suffering a stroke.

Quick facts

• The original Swedish title was “Män som hatar kvinnor", which translates to “Men Who Hate Women"
• Larsson died in 2004 before the book was published, never seeing its massive success
• It's the first book in the Millennium series, which was originally planned as a 10-book series
• The character Lisbeth Salander was partly inspired by Larsson's vision of an adult Pippi Longstocking
• Larsson based the Millennium magazine in the book on Expo, the anti-fascist magazine he worked for
• The book sold over 30 million copies worldwide by 2010
• It won Sweden's Glass Key Award in 2006 for best Nordic crime novel of the year
• Two film adaptations were made - a 2009 Swedish version and a 2011 English version directed by David Fincher
• Larsson's longtime partner Eva Gabrielsson claims to have the manuscript for an unpublished fourth book in the series
• The English translator Steven T. Murray used a pseudonym (Reg Keeland) due to disputes over edits made to his translation

About the author

Stieg Larsson was a Swedish journalist, writer and activist best known for authoring the internationally bestselling Millennium trilogy of crime novels. Born in 1954, Larsson spent much of his career as a journalist documenting and exposing right-wing extremist and racist organizations in Sweden. He served as editor-in-chief of the magazine Expo and was considered a leading expert on anti-democratic groups.

Larsson's experiences as an investigative journalist heavily influenced his fiction writing. The Millennium trilogy, featuring journalist Mikael Blomkvist and computer hacker Lisbeth Salander, explores themes of corruption, violence against women, and right-wing extremism in Sweden. Sadly, Larsson died suddenly of a heart attack in 2004 at age 50, shortly after delivering the manuscripts for the trilogy to his publisher.

The novels - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - were published posthumously starting in 2005. They became international sensations, with over 80 million copies sold worldwide. The books were adapted into successful Swedish films as well as an American film version of the first novel.

Larsson's life experiences profoundly shaped his writing. At age 15, he witnessed the gang rape of a young girl, which haunted him and influenced his portrayal of sexual violence in his novels. His political convictions and journalistic work investigating extremist groups provided rich material for his fiction. Though his life was cut tragically short, Larsson left an indelible mark on crime fiction and brought attention to important social issues through his writing.