** spoiler alert ** I have so many negative thoughts about this book. So here's a list of complaints:

a.) Either this was very poorly translated or very poorly written. I've heard arguments for both. Tons of unnecessary details (all the coffee stops!), repetition of things we already know, paragraphs about nothing just petering out. Even at times when I was enjoying the plot, I felt as though I had to fight my way through dull writing.

b.) For as dull as it is in most parts, this book is waaaay too over the top in others. Butt plugs?! What is my reaction to that even supposed to be? (For the curious: it was a big old WTF face.)

While I think there is a place for graphic rape and torture scenes (more in film than in books, because it's not as hard to convey intent in a multi-dimensional visual format), I didn't see the need for them here. Salander being the survivor of rape and perpetrator of revenge did not make me root for her here -- as it might have in a film -- because it was only a tangential and forgotten part of the story, rather than being necessary to it. We don't see her dealing with the aftereffects of her abuse at all; she's not fundamentally changed because of it, aside from taking her revenge. Which leads me to:

c.) Salander's supposed to be this amazingly kickass character that I'll just automatically love, right? Umm, no. Aside from knowing that she's a good investigator, sexual but detached, has Asperger's and is kind of ruthless, I felt like she could have been anyone. Really. I looked for some piece of insight or indication that she is a dynamic character that would make me like her, but it never happened. Dressing her up like a punk in a sea of suits is not enough characterization. Perhaps in further books and with time, I'd feel attached to her like I've felt to other mystery series characters, but I'm not really tempted to read on.

d.) The only reason I was invested in the mystery of Harriet Vanger's disappearance is because I thought she'd been murdered. When it turned out she was still alive and had skipped town, I wanted to throw the damn book at a wall.

e.) How freaking over the top was it for the murderer to have a Hostel-style torture chamber right in his house? Does anyone find this seriously scary, instead of laughably stupid? Moreover, does this sort of thing exist outside the world of comic book super villains? Better make sure THAT room's locked when company comes over.

I enjoyed this book so little that after the solution to the Harriet mystery wrapped up, I just skimmed to the end. I have no idea what happened with the Wennerstrom affair, nor do I particularly care. I'm assuming that Blomqvist got some scandalous scoop and super busted him, because that's what happens in utterly predictable books like this one.