Lisbeth Salander 2 & 3 - Stieg Larsson

★★★★

I read the first book in the series years ago, and only just now returned for 2 and 3. In the intervening years, Stieg has lost none of his appeal.

I think we all know what an incredible character Lisbeth Salander is, and honestly Blomkvist is still about as appealing as an over the hill playboy ever is - so sometimes a lot, sometimes less so. The confusion I felt about her being hung up on him at the end of the first novel was reiterated once again at the beginning of the second. He proves incredibly loyal through books 2 and 3, and clever besides, and yet it never becomes at all clear why Lisbeth would fall in love with him.

I think the primary appeal of the novels lies neither in the plot nor the characters, but rather in Stieg Larsson's writing style. He is practically a documentarian, providing details continually throughout the entire novel that most authors wouldn't have provided to begin with. For example, he provides incredible detail about what people wear, what they eat, and the order in which they do small meticulous things. We know that Lisbeth loves Billy's Pan Pizzas, and that she and Blomkvist both smoke too much.

This level of detail is what allows us to believe the occasionally fantastic elements of Larsson's plots. Niederman, the entire government conspiracy, is rescued from complete sensationalism by the details with which Larsson grounds the plot.

Normally I'm not a fan of thriller or crime fiction, but these books are practically their own genre, and I can't think of anything that would have been better to read at the beach.

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