52 {Books} in 52: The Girl Who Played With Fire

Note: This is the one of the six book posts for today. For my thoughts on all the books I've read go here.


Stieg Larsson's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was a good book but there was so much going on that I didn't really understand what made the book so great. Did I miss something because my brain was so overworked with figuring everything out in the book? I expected the same thing out of The Girl Who Played With Fire but I still wanted to read it because the reviews on it where so good. I will come right out and say that this book was incredible and by far better than the first. All the questions you had at the end of the first book are answered in this book. You understand the connections in this book better and everything seems related; there is more of a six-degrees of separation thing going on in this book versus the fate-as-the-connector you saw in the first book. Every time something new came up or happened I found myself saying "Holy crap that's crazy!" and "Wow! Stieg Larsson is a genius!"

The novel is complex and fast paced and picks up the story about 18 months after the first novel ended. Lisbeth Salandar is accused of murder and Mikael Blomkvist is one of the only people who believes in her innocence. Again, you have two people on separate but parallel missions who, through their own set of special skills, reach the same endpoint. Even if you figure out one of the critical pieces of the puzzle like I did, it still doesn't make the revelation any less shocking. That's why I say Stieg Larsson is a genius; he leaves you clues throughout the book so you can figure things out but when he reveals the truth he introduces something that kicks your thoughts into overdrive. The theme is simply that nothing is as it seems and you need to dig deeper to get the real truth.

I liked this book so much more than The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. You don't necessarily need to read the first book to understand what's going on in this book but you should read it nonetheless because, without it, it would be hard to understand Mikael's loyalty to Lisbeth. My biggest complaint is that you need to read the third book, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest, to find out the outcome of the events of the second book. So you get closure of sorts when this book ends, but not the kind you were hoping for.

 

Here's what I've read for my 52 {Books} in 52 challenge:

1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
2. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
3. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
4. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
5. Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace by Ayelet Waldman
6. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
7. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
8.  Misery Loves Cabernet by Kim Gruenenfelder
9.  The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
10. Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler
11. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
12. Best Day of Someone Else's Life by Kerry Reichs
13. The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson