The Girl Who Played with Fire

The Girl Who Played with Fire
by Stieg Larsson

Mikael Blomkvist, crusading publisher of the magazine Millennium, has decided to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation. On the eve of its publication, the two reporters responsible for the article are murdered, and the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to his friend, the troubled genius hacker Lisbeth Salander. Blomkvist, convinced of Salander’s innocence, plunges into an investigation. Meanwhile, Salander herself is drawn into a murderous game of cat and mouse, which forces her to face her dark past.

--The Girl Who Played with Fire
by Stieg Larsson (translated by Reg Keeland)
Copyright © Stieg Larsson

My Review

The Girl Who Played with Fire finds Lisbeth Salander living nicely in a hotel in the Caribbean. After leaving Sweden, she’s spent the year traveling the world on the money she stole from Wennerström. But the arrival of an off-season hurricane convinces her it’s time to go home. Once back in Stockholm, she sets herself up in a new apartment, and wonders what she’ll do with her life now that things are so different. One thing she knows for certain, she won’t be getting in touch with Mikael Blomkvist, no matter how many times he calls her.

Blomkvist has just about given up on Salander ever getting in touch with him and besides, he has his own life to deal with. He’s looking at publishing a series of exposé articles on the sex trade along with a book that will go into much deeper detail when the author and his partner are killed. And Lisbeth Salander’s fingerprints are on the murder weapon.

Convinced of her innocence, he begins looking for a connection between the sex trade articles and Salander. At the same time, Lisbeth is forced to confront some of the demons of her past, dating back to the time when “all the evil” occurred and her life was torn apart. Can she survive—literally—long enough to put those demons to rest?

I give this story FOUR and a HALF STARS.