Okay, I may have officially become one of “those” people.  Don’t snarl your nose up at me, every single one of us becomes one of “those” people one day.  My day has come.  I guess you could say I’ve jumped on a bandwagon.  I have become somewhat trendy.  I am a Stieg Larsson fan.  I have been for over a year now.  I think, though, that I have crossed over into die-hard fandom.  Okay, maybe I’m not a die-hard case, but you don’t have to be a genius to realize Lisbeth Salander rocks it better than brand new socks.  And I love brand new socks.

The Girl Who Played With Fire is the second book in the Millennium Trilogy by late author Stieg Larsson.  Fire finds Lisbeth living in exile, and luxury, in the Caribbean, estranged from everyone she knows while journalist Mikael Blomkvist  is riding high on the success of his book about the Wennerström affair, the ordeal that caused him to serve time in prison.  It’s that success that leads Blomkvist into an entirely new mystery, and that mystery brings Lisbeth back into his life.

Young freelance journalist Dag Svensson, aided by his girlfriend Mia Johansson, is working on a story about sex trafficking.  He wants to publish an article in Millennium, and he wants Millennium to publish his book on the subject.  It’s an explosive story that isn’t afraid to name the names of judges, police officers, and politicians who pay for sex.  It’s the sort of high profile story that Millennium does best.  Blomkvist, seeing Dag as a younger version of himself, wholeheartedly agrees to publish it.

Then, just as Dag is doing some fact checking and securing his sources, he and Mia are found murdered, gunned down in their own apartment.  The Millennium team is devastated, and Blomkvist is convinced that it has something to do with Dag’s story and his investigation into the true identity of an almost mythical underworld criminal known only as Zala.  When Lisbeth Salander’s fingerprints are lifted off the murder weapon and a nationwide search commences for her, Blomkvist begins his own investigation into the triple homicide:  Lisbeth’s corrupt and abusive guardian is found murdered, too.


The police and the press paint Lisbeth as a psychotic, plastering details (and lies) of her personal life and her past across newspapers and television programs.  Even Blomkvist and Lisbeth’s friend, Miriam Wu, learn some of the truth of Lisbeth’s childhood, and it’s enough to make them, momentarily, question Lisbeth’s guilt.  It is uncovered that a lot of occurences in Lisbeth’s life didn’t happen by chance, and it seems a lot of people want Lisbeth Salander out of the picture for good because her existence could very well be a threat to national security.

I think the best thing to say about this book is to let it speak for itself.   To quote from it:  “When he was at his best he was brilliant, and when he was not at his best he was still far better than the average.”  That line is in reference to Blomkvist, but I think it aptly describes Stieg Larsson.   I liked The Girl Who Played With Fire better than The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.  The first book seemed to drag in places, taking some detours in the story, but I have to admit that my appreciation for it has deepened having read this one; things that I thought were kind of unnecessary in Dragon were there to help set up the story of Fire.   Fire, though, seemed to only get better as it went along.  Even when it came close to venturing into far-fetched territory, it was still better than the average and more believable and thrilling.

It’s easy to see why people love Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist.  They don’t grow on you, they are instantly likeable.  They have their flaws, true, but they have a determination to set wrongs right and to see justice served in an unjust world, moving to the beat of a different drum.  They are the people we’ve all been striving to be.

5 out of 5
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