I’ve got a one-month break from my book club. I’ve seen the covers of these books but didn’t know anything about them. Then I heard an interview yesterday on NPR with the editor (or publisher- I don’t remember). She said the character of Lisbeth was the result of the author (of blessed memory) imagining a grown-up Pippi Longstocking with Issues.
Anyone read these?
(BTW, NO ONE in my book club was crazy about Oscar Casares Amigoland that I inquired about in another thread (and that no one here had read- or would admit to reading). Carry on.
I haven’t read them yet but every person I know that has read them absolutely loved them.
IMHO a must-read. I was completely caught up in the story.
I got 3/4 of the way though the first one (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and hit a wall. The protagonist does a Scooby-Doo and throws me completely out of the story. I put it down and have not been tempted to pick it up again.
After finding the mutilated cat, and being shot at, he decides to NOT go to the Authorities because of how it will be made to sound in the local paper? Sheez…
Book 1: Awful for the first half then gets good.
Book 2: Mostly good throughout until it introduces James Bond villains
Book 3: Pretty awful so far but I’m only halfway through.
The movie version of Book 1 was pretty good though.
I am on book 3 and I can’t put it down.
Enjoyed the first very, very much… starting on the second this weekend.
Book one was great. First 3/4 were a gas and then it got tense. Very tense. Too tense. Really, it didn’t need to be that tense. Lisbeth is rather unbelievable, but what the hell. Bonus is that it’s not set in the US or England. I’m so tired of traipsing around after some quaint, clever chap in Something-shire, or watching Big Dick Noir bust chops in New York or L.A.
Read the first one and really liked it. A somewhat contrived plot but well written and paced. Characters that are interesting and different. I’d recommend it. I’ve ordered the next two, so can’t comment on them yet.
I read the first one. It started off more slowly than I would have liked, but by the time the two protagonists met I was riveted and remained so through the rest of the book.
I’m 270 pages into the second one, and I’m considering not finishing because of a major and unforgivable technical error. I won’t spoil anything if I reveal it.
At one point the female protagonist breaks into a bad guy’s office and finds a “Colt .45 Magnum,” in the drawer, along with other items. Okay. Knowing that Swedes aren’t the most handgun friendly culture in the world, I edited that with .45 WinMag in my head and just moved on, since there’s no such thing as a Colt .45 Magnum, but there is a custom round called the .45 Winchester Magnum that’s built on a 1911 (sometimes referred to as a Colt .45) design. I’ll often make little excuses like that, even when there’s absolutely no reason for an author to not do the research and make sure the firearms details are as accurate as the other essentials in the book.
Last night, however, the first (I assume there will be more) big murders took place. Apparently the gun discovered earlier was the murder weapon, although now it is described as a “revolver in .45 Magnum.” No such caliber has ever been commercially produced, nor a revolver to chamber it. The author then goes on, apparently for point of reference, to state this was the same caliber used in the assassination of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1986. In point of fact, Palme was shot with a .357.
The author of these books was a respected journalist and editor who delivered the manuscripts for this trilogy shortly before he died. Getting the caliber of the gun in the story wrong is very nearly unforgivable, particularly for a respected journalist.
To then take that error and apply it to a historical event, for which public records have long been available worldwide and particularly in the author’s home country just leaves such a bad taste in my mouth over the scope of his laziness that I’m seriously not sure I can go on with the book, particularly since I know the weapon and its non-existent caliber and historical connections are almost certain to come up again.
God yes. They are unputdownable.
I’m into the third one. For a trilogy that was basically a first draft submission AND the author’s first and last novels (actually one novel in three parts), after the submission of which he died, they’re excellent. There is more about the Swedish government than I would care to know, but it’s interesting. The main characters have depth, although keeping the names straight is a chore. Forget about figuring out the street and town name pronunciation: in my mind, I’m hearing “Uuferstoofensgaten” for everything, and they’re really irrelevant.