31 October 2009

Tired, tired, tired...

Last night I hated Stieg Larsson. Dan Conrad had warned me. Dan's name finally got to the top of the waiting list at the Minneapolis Public Library for The Girl Who Played with Fire. Dan warned me that it was better than The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Larsson's first book.

At 11:00pm last night I was falling asleep. But I couldn't stop reading The Girl Who Played with Fire.

The story-telling was superb. The huge cast of characters was fascinating. The mysteries were complex and compelling. I could see I was nearing the end of the book and there was no way I could put it down. Larsson is dead, but I still hated the way he was keeping me awake.

I kept reading.

Larsson manipulated the story telling -- making the later scenes shorter and full of action. He kept revealing plot details a very few at a time leading up to the climax.

The ending was full of action and danger and fear. And the climax came at the very last sentence of the book!

It was just after 1:00am. I was still awake and staying awake had been worth it. (It also seemed that it took a lot less than 2 hours to finish the book.)

Somewhere in the future there's one more mystery by Larsson. I'm looking forward to it, but it's hard to imagine it will be as good as The Girl Who Played with Fire.

If you haven't read either of Larsson's books yet, go find The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It's in the library and in paperback. By the time you've finished it, your chance of getting The Girl Who Played with Fire from the library will be much improved.

Then write and tell us what you thought of the book.








3 comments:

Ken Wedding said...

From Guardian (UK) The Girl in the £20m Inheritance Battle – partner of late novelist Stieg Larsson fights for share of fortune

"As the author of three dark and violent crime novels, Stieg Larsson was at home in a dysfunctional landscape of simmering resentments and rancourous family secrets. But the Swedish writer cannot have foreseen how, almost five years to the day after his death, the novels' success would lead to bitterness and paranoia in his own family..."

Sank said...

Hey Ken-
I got the Sony Reader BTW, and the first book I read on it was Brass Verdict. Sort of Harry Borsh, but more his lawyer friend. This one was more of a courtroom drama than a mystery. And, since the bad guy got off, well.. they had to do something. I'd give it 2.5 stars.

Ken Wedding said...

Reminds me I have another Harry Bosch mystery to write about. I listened to it in the car. Since I sent it back to the library, it's not sitting around to remind me.