Past Tense Book Review – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Again I have failed to write a present tense book review, although this time it’s more because I didn’t really have anything to say until I got to the end (although my slothfulness played a part too). If you’re not already aware of this book, then you probably won’t be interested in it. If you like intelligent thrillers, then this is a good example of the genre, with interesting characters.

For all the complicated, deep characters, a book like this lives or dies on the plot, which is intricate and largely involving, although there are two holes that you could drive a Volvo through. Spoiler alert:
click to reveal spoiling plot holes.

Firstly, I never really bought into Harriet being murdered, rather than running away or being abducted. It seems far more likely that the pressed flowers received by Henrik Vanger would be from Harriet, rather than from a sadistic killer reminding him of her ‘murder’, particularly since they were sent on his birthday, rather than, say, the anniversary of her disappearance. And it hardly seems credible that Anita would be entirely unaware of Henrik’s obsession about Harriet and the flowers, even if she doesn’t have much contact. The second situation that’s hard to swallow is that Wennerstrom would be so dim to keep extensive records of all his crimes and misdeeds on his own computer. Particularly so after Blomkvist’s published his article and book.
But despite these cavils, it’s a fun journey, and I shall be tackling the second book of the trilogy anon.

Oh, and one final thing, all of the acronyms in the book were full-stopped, e.g. C.D. and P.C. rather than CD and PC, which grates on the eyes after a while.