The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

This is the sequel to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Stieg Larsson is a masterful storyteller. All the characters we met in the first book are again part of the story. He has a way of drawing out the suspense that made me want to jump to the end of the book just to find out what happens. I'm glad I didn't yield to the temptation though as the ending is surprising and the lead in to the final book of the series.

In this story, Lisbeth Salander is being sought as a suspect in a double, soon to be triple murder. Her friend Mikal Blomkvist is part of the investigation and one of the few people who believe she may be innocent of the charges. This story gives us much of Lisbeth's background and we slowly begin to understand what makes her tick.

Larsson has some unique techniques for creating suspense and drama. During part of the investigation when Lisbeth is missing, she is also missing from the story. Chapters are written about everyone else and their part in the investigation until you begin to wonder if she is going to show up in the story again. Finally she does and the action takes off again.

You don't need to read the first book before this one but I think it would help in the understanding the main characters. These are books that are worth all the hype about them. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to see the movie, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; typically movies based on books I love disappoint me. However, if you do see the movie without reading the book first; do yourself a favour and get the book, you'll be glad you did!