MADreads

All the evil

August 14th, 2009 Dennis - Central

The Girl who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson is the second volume to feature journalist Mikael Blomkvist and brilliant sociophobe (and computer hacker) Lisbeth Salander, the protagonists from Larsson’s debut novel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (read Mary K.’s review here).  The new work picks up shortly after the conclusion of the first novel (and you should probably read that first, just so you’ll have a better idea of the character’s background/backstory, including why Salander had a falling-out with Blomkvist).

The new volume begins with Salander on vacation in the Caribbean where she finds herself in the path of an oncoming storm, which she uses to hide her rescue of a battered wife staying at her hotel.  Back in Sweden, Mikael’s magazine decides to do a feature story on sex trafficking in Sweden, while simultaneously publishing a book written by a young author whose work is complimented by his fiancee’s dissertation along the same lines.  The plan is to name some of the men, including government officials and members of the police, who’ve had sex with the girls, many of whom were underage.  On another front, Nils Bjurman, Salander’s legal guardian, is trying to find a way out from under her threats to expose him as a rapist with an incriminating video to use as proof.

Things heat up when the young journalist and his fiancee are murdered in their apartment, on the same evening that Nils Bjurman was murdered with the same gun–a gun that has Salander’s fingerprints on it.  In the ensuing rush to judgment, aided in no small part by glory-seeking police inspectors, corrupt officers, and sensation-seeking journalists, Salander’s life is suddenly thrust into the spotlight, where her sanity, sexuality, and past violent tendencies are speculated upon.  Her only supporters are Blomkvist and his staff, her former employer at a private security firm, a woman friend and sometime lover, a former boxing champion, and her former legal guardian, now recovering from a stroke.  Arrayed against her are most of the country, as well as some of the people who had been contracted by Bjurman to kill her.

Like the first novel, the story zooms along at a breakneck pace, with revelations and plot twists that can leave you reeling from the enormity of the horror and injustice that has taken place.  I even found myself noting parallels between Salander and Hannibal Lecter, both equally brilliant, yet removed from the rest of humanity, and with a tortured past slowly being revealed to readers.

If you’re not already on the waiting list for this volume, sign up now.  And if you haven’t read the previous volume, do make a point of reading that first.

Also available in large print and as an audiobook.

Entry Filed under: Mystery, Thriller