Stieg Larsson, The Girl Who Played With Fire

Absolutely fantastic. On the edge of my seat all the time. Could not wait to turn the page to see / experience what was going to happen. This was my first introduction into crime thrillers and now I am completely hooked.

Become a fan of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo film on Facebook for your chance to win screening tickets or a trip to Sweden, and find out more about the film - in cinemas on March 12th!

Following on from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo comes The Girl Who Played with Fire. Again Stieg Larsson has masterfully written a crime novel packed with intrigue and action in this story that is focused on the hunt for Lisbeth Salander, accused of murder. The only person to believe her innocence is Mikael Blomkist and for the main part the book is the three pronged investigation by Millenium, the Police and Milton Security and uncovering the truth behind Lisbeth's background and the event when "All the Evil" happened.

The character of Lisbeth is more developed in this book and different aspects to her characters are revealed. This is a strong sequel and I look forward to reading the final part to the trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest.

Swedish Millennium magazine publisher and reporter Mikael Blomkvist is considering an expos of the extensive sex trafficking trade in Eastern Europe. He knows the article will cause a stink in Sweden when the elite are exposed as participants. However, just before the release of the damaging report, the lead journalists are murdered and the evidence including fingerprints on the weapon point to Lisbeth Salander.

With an outraged cry from the media and the government, some of whom headline the dead reporters' sex trafficking article, to hunt down this vicious killer, Salander knows she must put aside her beach reading of Fermat to uncover the real culprit. Blomkvist knows the tattooed Salander is innocent and using his investigative skills as a crusader he also begins making inquiries.

The second Blomkvist and Salander Swedish thriller is a super whodunit that brilliantly combines action-packed sequences with cerebral treatises. The story line is fast-paced from the opening salvo and never slows down even when the heroine discusses mathematical theories as Blomkvist and Salander independently and united investigate the homicides with neither expecting the trail to take them to her past though their previous combined inquiry (see THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO) should have warned them.

Harriet Klausner