The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Stieg Larsson)

Part of the allure of Stieg Larsson's novel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which is the first in the trilogy, is the author himself and his untimely death in 2004.  He was only 50 years old.

The other part is that his writing is of the kind that makes you stay up late, really late, too late.  I read the first 100 pages in 2 days, and the final 490 pages in a single day.  The kind of book makes me want to read the second in the series: The Girl Who Played With Fire. For me, Stieg Larsson now ranks up there on my list with John Grisham--my other crime fiction-addiction.
 
In The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the story opens with a ruling against Mikael Blomkvist for libel. Blomkvist is an investigative journalist and part owner of Millennium, a little-to-the-right-wing financial magazine critical of corruption and shady transactions in the corporate world.  Only, Blomkvist's evidence against corporate giant Hans-Erik Weenerstrom falls short of proof, resulting in a court turning against him in favor of the obviously conniving, evil, financial giant.

We are soon introduced to Dragan Armansky, owner of Milton Security, which has a small section dedicated to personal investigation. His prize investigator is a tattoo'ed punk named Lisbeth Salander, 32 years  Dragan's junior.  Her superior investigative skills convince him she's worth his time and money, and worth disregarding her uncharacteristic style of dress and behavior. Her job, she is told, is to investigate Blomskvist, and in doing so, comes across the Weenerstrom case.

Before she gets too far, Dirch Frode, who had requested the investigation, calls it off, and solicits Blomkvist himself to visit Henrik Vanger--legendary for his financial prowess--for a special job. In addition to generous payment, Blomkvist will get the dirt on Weenerstrom at the end of the job, which is the hook-line-and-sinker for Blomkvist.

The story really starlts when Vanger details the mystery he wants Blomskvist to solve--the disappearance of Vanger's doted-upon granddaughter, Harriet Vanger years and years ago.  Vanger is desperate for Blomskvist to discover who has killed her, as he is sure she has been killed. Only, no body has ever been found.

Missing body. Revenge.  And sex.  There is plenty of "action" in this novel.  The available, and not-so-available women (a.k.a. Erika Berger, co-owner of the magazine), are all drawn to irresistible Blomkvist, who we find out from Salander's extensive research is quite enamored of women, all women.

The subplot that follows Salander's relationship with her guardian, Nils Bjurman, is difficult to read, as is the sordid family goings-on that unravel in Blomkvist's investigation of Harriet Vanger's family.  If you've heard someone say to you that they were not able to finish reading the book, then it is likely due to this dark, sadistic underbelly of the plot.

In any case, the release of the Swedish movie makes it difficult to resist. Official Trailer

Steig Larsson, the man behind Lisabeth Salander: http://www.stieglarsson.com/