THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, the first colume in the late Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy, was largely about Mikael Blomqvist publisher of Millenium magazine and his search for a presumed-dead heiress. This second volume focuses squarely on young computer genius and social misfit Lisbeth Salander and her difficult adjustment with society.

At the end of the first book, she abruptly walked away from her faithless lover Blomqvist. THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE opens with Salander enjoying her newly ripped-off wealth lazing in a hotel in Granada. No one knows where she is (as usual). She is avoiding Blomkvist - ignoring him, hanging up on his cell phone calls, tossing out letters, and otherwise pretending he doesn't exist. He's broken her heart and Lisbeth Salander is not one to forgive.

Back in Sweden, Blomkvist is preparing an expose of the sex slave business in Sweden. Then the journalist who is preparing the expose is murdered, along with his partner, and, in a seemingly unrelated case, so is Salander's legal guardian. Blomkvist and the police are conducting parallel investigations into the three horrifying murders - and their initial evidence points straight at Lisbeth Salander. Kalle Bastard Blomkvist (as Salander calls him) hasn't seen Salander in nearly two years, except for one night when he happened to witness a huge man attempting to kidnap her and both she and the attacker eluded him. He's bewildered about why she cut him off cold, but had accepted her decision - until now. He doesn't believe Salander killed these victims. Well, at least not two of them. He has to contact her, find out how she's become embroiled in this, and help her. Salander, as usual, has her own ideas about who she'll see and when.

To say things get complicated from this point is an understatement. There are multiple investigations, multiple suspects, more murders, red herrings galore, and just general mayhem. Dark as all this is, it is actually quite funny in places: the police have no idea at all what is going on, despite a well meaning and competent detective in charge.

In this book, we learn more about Salander. Skilfully exposed throughout the course of the novel, bits and pieces of her background appear until by the end a full picture has emerged. She's a fascinating character - a smart, strong, flawed, pint-sized underdog. She is every bit as gritty and clever as she was in the first book, and her stark determination to live by her own moral code drives the plot. But let's get one thing straight: even with the more humanising portrait, you would not want to meet her in a dark alley. Nor would you want to give her access to your computer.

The characters in this book are wonderfully drawn, the pace breathtaking and the plot intricate. There's a lot going on. Lesser authors could not have drawn it all together. But Larsson does, in a skilful and exciting manner. I can't wait to read the third book in the series. ( )

I couldn't put this book down, it was absolutely gripping. The heroine's fight for justice with the help of her journalist friend after being accused with triple murder was absolutely mind blowing. The author was able to put so much detail into such an exciting format that you don't want to put the book down until you are done! Fantastic storytelling!!! Stieg Larsson is a genius. ( )

Basically this is a comic book in prose. There are very few characters that are not extremes. The villains are super-villains, the hero a super-heroes. Everything is big, bold and brightly colored. When there is action it is swift and intense. When there is dialogue it’s pithy and snappy. Reality hardly enters into the equation and that’s what makes these so much fun to read. That and the convoluted plot which, however improbable, is engrossing. This book makes an even bigger statement than the first one I think. The central conspiracy is more personal since it revolves around Salander herself. Yes, she’s a Mary-Sue, but like a performer on a stage in front of thousands, he must make every gesture huge, every expression grotesque, every move exaggerated in order for it to come across to the poor slobs in the nosebleed seats. Larsson’s contempt and enmity for men who hate women is an extreme one and a light hand cannot convey what he feels.

I don’t know where he wanted to take this series ultimately since his life was cut short before he could finish, but it’s clear that this second book is only a rung on the ladder. The action ends abruptly and without resolution and I hope we get that in the next book. ( )

With 150 pages of this 550 page epic to go, I was ready to write a blistering put down of this second novel in the 'Girl Who' trilogy.
The characters were re-introduced a little too fulsomely and the soft porn concerning Salander's lesbian affair with Miriam Wu were tedious in the extreme. Zala was a poor man's Darth Vada and Ronald Niedermann, the man who could feel no pain, was an amalgam of two Bond baddies (Renard and Jaws); although slightly less realistically portrayed, if such be possible.
Solander has become a creature that makes Superman look ineffective; she beats multiple thugs twice her size, slips into police computer networks in seconds, has a photographic memory and a ridiculously convoluted childhood.
The book is nonsense: and yet, and yet, Larsson has something of the storyteller about him and I simply could not put the book down through the final hundred pages or so.
This work could do with some serious editing and I do wish that he were able to create realistic characters - only Blomkvist, the reporter whom, I assume, is an idealised version of Larsson, is anywhere near believable. The story skirts around an unconvincing plot but, after that last hundred pages, I would have to say, albeit in a disbelieving way, that I enjoyed the read! ( )

A great follow up to Verblendung - I can't wait to find out what happens in the last book. ( )