Happy Reading

Toni's bookshelf: read

The Godfather of Kathmandu (Sonchai Jitpleecheep, #4)
Ape House
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
Operation Napoleon
Walking Dead
The Sentimentalists
The Heretic Queen
The Midnight House
Cross Fire
Peony in Love
Absurdistan
Nefertiti
Finding Nouf: A Novel
City of Veils: A Novel
First Daughter
A Place of Hiding
Amagansett
Peter Pan


Toni Osborne's favorite books »
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Thursday, October 28, 2010

"The Girl Who Played with Fire", by Stieg Larsson


Book 2 in the "Millennium" trilogy

The heroes of the past are back in this second story which is even more eccentric than the first one. A tale that is violent, complex, outrageous , barely believable and filled with strange characters but one that is highly captivating and totally engrossing, a great sequel to " The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo".

Lisbeth Salander , is one of the most original and memorable characters to surface in a long time. Playing an even more central role this time as she is the prime suspect in a triple murder. Hunted both by the police and enemies from her past she goes into hiding. Blomkvist, is one of the few who believes in her innocence and makes it his mission to find her and uncover the real culprit.

Mr Larsson writing is colourful and suspense filled. The storyline is intricate, a real puzzle, it is packed with incidents, thrills and details, it juggles many stories in parallel while it moves back and forth in the life of Lisbeth and ultimately has a surprisingly violent ending. He has Criminal Inspector Bublanski and his team tracking down Lisbeth and on another level he has Blomkvist and private investigator Armansky on a quest to exonerate her. In another twist he has Lisbeth, herself on a crusade to revenge her past and come to terms with the horrors she has suffered. Many secondary characters, good guys and villains are added into the mix, a bit mind bending to keep tabs of but very entertaining.

The end is a cliff-hanger leaving some loose ends, the perfect recipe to follow up with a subsequent instalment. I am looking forward to it.

2 comments:

Stephen said...

Far better than Book 1, it was okay to read, which means that I will not feel that reading Book 3 later this year will be a chore!

Toni Osborne said...

Good Stephen I yet to read the 3rd book but looking forward to doing so.