The book opens with Mikael Blomkvist having just lost his highly publicised libel case against the very wealthy and corrupt Wennestrom and what could be the end of his journalistic career and the magazine he co-owns with his part time lover, Erika Berger (Millennium). But there's hope on the horizon. The industrialist billionaire Vanger.
Vanger lost his niece, Cecilia forty year ago, disappearing off of the island (Hedeby), the family own and live on, never to be seen again, and her disappearance, which he strongly believes was murder - has become an obsession; but time is running out, Vanger hasn't long, he's old and, thinking that one of his own family is responsible he needs to try one more time to get to the truth.
Then there's Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo; a computer hacker, sorry, 'investigative researcher' and before employing Blomkvist, Vanger has had her look into his background, which leads to her and Blomkvist working together later in the book.
With Blomkvist going through the archives on Hedeby island, speaking to family, piecing things together, Salander begins investigating further afield, all whilst dealing with her new legal guardian (her previous guardian having died), who rapes her repeatedly before she exacts a very explicit revenge, and it is here, in the thick of the book where the writing becomes exceptional.
Chapters fly by as clues are unearthed, twists follow turns, secrets are revealed, lives are threatened and lost and as the book bounces between characters, it unearths the darkest secrets of a family Nazi and his legacy and, when Blomkvist is captures and tortured - by the serial killer Vanger suspected was in his family all along - and when Salander taps Cecilia's sister's phone in England, the truth of what happened to Cecilia all those years ago is unearthed.
This is not a short book but it's a page turner, feeding you just enough to keep you guessing. I liked the characters, too - although there did seem to be a rather high proportion of weirdo's to non mentally challenged people in this book - and when it gets violent it gets seriously X rated violent, so it's definitely not a book for the faint hearted/easily offended - you have been warned.
Four and a half stars for the first book in the Millennium trilogy then and highly recommended to all who like books with grit, mystery, multiple characters and with a good dose of back-story.
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