The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

This was a kind of crazy book. I started to read it in December when I saw so many people talking about how great this series is. I couldn't finish reading it. I found it so boring. A month later I told myself I would check it out again and force myself to read it since so many people talk about how wonderful they are. I did read it, I wouldn't say it was terribly great or anything I would convince people to read, but it did turn out to be good. The next two books may make the series worth while so I will have to continue to read them at some point. I probably would not let younger children read these books since you have some slightly detailed rape scenes as well as murder and animal sacrafices. Yeah, if you are like me thinking that this is just a murder mystery book, you're in for a surprise. There is business scandals, sex, and murder that are all a big part of learning who the characters are and why they are the way they are.

Mikael is a journalist who is going to jail for libel but hired on to write the Vanger family story. His undercover story for Henrik Vanger is to really find out who murdered his neice 50 years ago. On the side we also have Lisbeth Salander who is a very troubled 25 year old with tattoos and piercings and is a ward of the state. (Just a side note, this does not take place in the US) She is raped by her guardian a couple times before taking matters into her own hands. She is a very resourceful girl. She works for Milton Security that pretty much does investigative work on individuals. So Lisbeth is hired on later by Mikael to help solve this mystery. They had no idea what they were getting into.

SPOILER: Seriously, how messed up is this book to have members of the Vanger family who kidnap, rape, and torture their victims before killing them and especially for a father to rape his own children and teach them how to do these things to eachother and others. It can be a slightly disturbing book. I think I may need a break and find some good, wholesome, fun, lighthearted, reading that does not leave you feeling horrible for the victims and even imagining what it would be like to go through a similar situation. Ugh.