The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Stieg Larsson

I've been meaning to read this book for years, and finally, I put all other books away and made myself focus on this book. I'm glad I did, I think.

24 hours after finishing, and I'm still not sure how to feel about this book. Larsson is a fantastic writer, I think we can all agree. This was thrilling and riveting. I had to keep reading even though there were several points where I wanted to stop.

There was suspense, sure. I didn't know who was the "bad guy," and I wasn't sure what happened to Harriet. I had my suspicions, some of which turned out correct, but I was mostly left in the dark. That definitely kept me going, but the suspense wasn't the driving force for me. I kept reading because I enjoyed the writing, and I enjoyed the characters. I wanted more of the characters, more of their background, more of their dialogue, more of their action. The suspense was just a bonus.

Another reason I kept reading was because Larsson kept the two main characters separate for so long. They had minor crossovers, but it wasn't until about halfway through when they started working together. I knew they would make a good team, so I had to continue to see when they would become a team.

I also wanted to know (and still want to know) why Larsson chose to name the book after Salander. It doesn't seem like she's the main theme in the book, so it confused me a bit, and I kept reading to see if she would play a larger role in the book. I'm still curious, and I'm wondering if it's about the next books in the series.

This book handled some seriously dark topics, and that was rather difficult for me. This was why I wanted to stop. It was hard to read about the violence and the sexual abuse several characters faced. Larsson almost seemed to write about it lightly. Like it wasn't a big deal. I didn't want to keep going after some of those revelations or plot points. I still don't fully understand why Salander's character went through what she did. I'm guessing there's something in future books?

I'm usually excited when a book I read has a movie adaptation, and I can't wait to watch after reading. In this case, I really don't think I want to watch. There's too much horror that I do not want to see on screen. I think I'll leave this one just as a book and forget about the movie. I still haven't decided if I'll read the next two books. It was fantastic writing, but it gave me nightmares, left a pit in my stomach, made me afraid to leave the house, and made me horrible sad to know that while this is fiction, these things really occur in this sinful world.