How many times would you come across a set of books that became best sellers only after the authors died? Not many that we know of. What makes it more interesting is the fact that this book “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” is the first in a series of three books; another trilogy can be said; however, these sets were not published until they were found after the death of the author, Stieg Larsson, in 2004. Stieg was Swedish and therefore these three books of his were first published in his own language, but later were translated into other languages. The popularity of these books, which came to be known as the Millennium Trilogy, was so great that it became the world’s second best-seller in 2008. In total, they have sold more than 25 million copies in 40 countries to date. the date. !!
The success of a book translated from another language depends a lot on its translation; if it still remains to be a good read. I must say that the translation does not affect the way the flow of the story should have been intended! For someone who loves crime and fiction, I had to remove the bias I have for Agatha Christie or Enid Blyton, and then start reading it.
The novel starts in a bit of a tedious way that can make one ditch the book, but it is recommended to continue because then the pace picks up and the story becomes much more involving and intriguing. It is said that Stieg wrote this novel because he was disgusted at seeing a girl gang raped in his teens. The girl, who was raped in real life, becomes her protagonists in this novel, a detective who solves a serial murder mystery together with the other main character, a journalist (just like Stieg was in his real life). This was his way of redeeming her folly of not helping the girl when she really needed it. In fact, there is an underlying theme of loathing against sexual violence in this novel. The author has taken actual Swedish towns as the setting for his novel, which is a novel idea and for those who have never visited Sweden, there is ample description to prompt an internet search of those towns.
The novel offers a mix of all the emotions with interesting storytelling and a plethora of characters and twists and turns to keep you hooked. Being a detective mystery novel, it mixes intrigue with suspense, drama, disgust and some comic relief in portions. Therefore, reading the other books is… unavoidable! This is one of the very good fiction books I have come across.
