The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Book 1 in the Millenium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson
Apr 18, 2008 Julie Refnov Mortensen
The Plot
Mikael Blomkvist is a business journalist, who freelances for several big papers and magazines in Sweden. On the side he co-owns the controversial business magazine, Millinium, with his long-time married lover Erika Berger.
During a string of unfortunate events, Blomkvist finds himself outside a courthouse with a guilty verdict for wrongly accusing business mogul Hans-Erik Wennerström of fraud and slandering him in the Swedish business world. The sentence is three months in jail and a substantial monetary compensation. Blomkvist accepts the verdict because he did indeed write the article but believes he was framed.
As things are looking dark and Blomkvist is trying to figure out his next step, he receives an offer he can’t turn down. He is to spend a year living in the town of Hedeby on a small island. On the island the elderly business man Henrik Vanger and his family resides. Blomkvist takes the job as an opportunity to lay low for a while, during which time he can figure out how to clear his name.
Blomkvist is hired under the cover of researching and writing Henrik Vanger’s family history and biography. In reality, Henrik Vanger has hired Blomkvist to investigate the disappearance of his niece Harriet Vanger, who disappeared without a trace during a family business weekend 40 years ago. Every year since her disappearance Henrik Vanger has received a white dried and framed flower, which he interprets as a sick joke from Harriet’s killer, who he believes is to be found within the Vanger family. In return for his work, Blomkvist is promised a very generous salary plus enough information to bring down Wennerström.
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Every crime solver needs a sidekick and Blomkvist is no different. His sidekick arrives in the shape of 25-year-old Lisbeth Salander, who besides freelancing as a private investigator is also known as one of the best computer hackers in the world. Salander has no social skills and doesn’t allow anybody near her emotionally, until she meets Blomkvist that is. She dresses in leather outfits accompanied by numerous visible tattoos and piercings, which make her stand out like a sore thumb in the small Swedish community. At first Blomkvist doesn't know what to think about salander and her very unconventional work methods but he soon learns to appreciate her extraordinary talent for finding information.
During their investigation the odd partners digs into the Vanger family history where they find more skeletons than they know what to do with. They find a history of sadism, facism and incest. Almost every member of the Vanger family has something to hide and would rather see Blomkvist and Salander far, far away.
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is the first in a trilogy about the odd partnership between Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander from now deceased author Stieg Larsson, who past away in 2004 from a heart attack right after finishing the third book in the series. Larsson was 50-years-old.
Stieg Larsson. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Quercus 2008, ISBN-13 978-1-84724-349-2
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