LITERAL REMAINS

In 1966, sixteen year old Harriet Vanger goes missing from Hedeby Island, just a bridge over from the town of Hedestad.  Harriet is a member of the prominent Swedish industrialist Vanger family.  The day she disappeared, the Vangers were meeting for a family business council; she wanted to tell her Uncle Henrik, whom she lived with, something, but he had to put off their little meeting.  Not only was family business needing attending to, but a tanker wrecked on the bridge, closing Hedeby off from the mainland.  It wasn’t until the excitement had mellowed that any of the family noticed the following day that Harriet was missing.

Harriet is never found.  What little clues there are, lead nowhere.  The case goes cold.  Henrik obsesses over his niece’s disappearance, formulating his own ideas about what happened.  He believes someone in the family murdered Harriet.  It’s the only thing that makes sense.  And whoever did it torments him for the next forty years by sending him framed, pressed, flowers on his birthday every year.

After journalist Mikael Blomkvist is found guilty of libel, Henrik sees an opportunity.  He hires Blomkvist to not only write a family history, but to bring fresh eyes to Harriet’s murder case.  Blomkvist ultimately agrees, and soon finds himself teaming with Lisbeth Salander, whom Henrik had hired to investigate Blomkvist.

The back cover of the late Stieg Larsson’s book will tell you that this is a “murder mystery, family saga, love story, and tale of financial intrigue….”  That’s true.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is captivating from the first page, and only loses a little steam at the end.  It’s whopper of a novel, but devoting time to it is rewarding.

The plot is intricate, but it’s also a character driven.  Larsson created real people, and fleshes them out warts and all.  Bringing all this cast together is also some of its drawback, making the mystery at the heart of it almost a subplot to the players.  Despite that, this is a book that grabs hold and doesn’t let go.  Larsson makes it all work:  murder, family secrets, financial intrigue and all.  This is one is definitely going on the list of one of the best books I’ve read this year.

4.5 out of 5
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