THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

by Stieg Larsson

This book is why we have mystery book clubs! This was the highest rated book that we have ever rated. About half and half 4 and 4 and a half stars. The only problem was, once the love fest was over it was hard to work up any divergent opinions.

It was clear that this book develops a great cast of characters. At first the book seems to be about an investigative journalist, Mikael Blomkvist. The book is interesting but hardly a barn burner. But then Lisbeth Salander enters the book and scene by scene starts stealing the book away from him. None of us had ever met such a character in all our reading. The author claims that her beginnings were from Pippie Longstockings but we were at a loss to see that connection. No, this 100 lb goth girl, tough as nails, is also somehow endearing and climbs into your heart. The story heats up with a family mystery that kept us all enthralled right to the end and most of us had already read or begun 'The Girl Who Played With Fire', the next in the series.

We were joined by a couple of members of the Woman's Book Club who wanted to discuss the book with us since their club hadn't chosen to read this book. One of the ladies brought up an interesting point: she was unable to get many of her friends into the book since it started a bit slow. We considered that European novels often have a different pace then American books. By starting out with a difficult subject, financial investigation, it was not as accessible to as many American readers, perhaps. In Sweden, there is a copy of this book for one of out of every three citizens! Had the journalist been a political investigator or maybe a private investigator, maybe the audience would be more easily grasped. What we do know is that those of us who persevered were given a wonderful gift and a great new heroine for our trouble.

4 1/2 STARS — and that's rounding down!