WARNING! This book starts out really slow. Seriously. I almost considered giving up but all the hype behind The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo kept me going. The beginning is a conversation, in detail, about industrial espionage and corporate business drama that drags for bit. You just have to get yourself through it.

Why?

Once you do - the book becomes what everyone is buzzing about. TGwtDT is a great mystery novel and the set up for an engaging trilogy of books. Some of the cleverness in the writing comes from the fact that the author KNOWS the type of mystery he's writing (and even references it when discussing the fact that no one could have gotten off the island.)

Per the sage words of bumper stickers on soccer mom cars across America: "Character Matters!" The characters are vividly detailed and Lisbeth Salander is a mystery unto herself. As you slowly learn about the unusual brain trapped in this VERY unusual girl, you become attached to the story she is involved with. This narrative is as much about her struggles as it is a missing person mystery.

The book lives up to the hype and (if you haven't already) be sure to see it before the American film is made so you, too, can be "that guy" bitching about how the written version was better.