Book Review: The Girl Who Played With Fire

TITLE: The Girl Who Played With Fire
Book 2 in the Millaneum Trilogy
AUTHOR: Stieg Larsson
PUBLISHED: 2009
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Thriller/mystery, contemporary
PREMISE: Two journalists friends of Michael Blomkvist are murdered and to his shock the number one suspect is Lisbeth Salander.
MY REVIEW: It has been longer then I meant to for me to get to the second book of this trilogy. My only defense is that a) they're really big, even by my book standards, b) have you seen my TBR list on Shelfari? Yeah, it's long. c) I got into Game of Thrones in between and those books are just as long as these. But now I've had time to really think about this trilogy and learn about Stieg Larsson and it's actually upped my opnion of it. Now reading the second one I'm in full blown love with the trilogy. The only flaws it really has are the flaws that most adult thrillers tend to have: flat impersonal writing and way too many details that are unimportant. I mean I'm sorry but I don't need to know what Lisbeth bought at the store therefore a lengthy paragraph about the items and why she bought it is highly unneccessary. But like I said, this is bad habit that tends to be in all thrillers (have you all tried reading Clancy? Sheesh).
That small annoyance aside this is once again a engrossing noirish type murder mystery that goes deep into the character of Lisbeth Salander and shows the evolution of her character. It's one of the best character studies I've read in awhile. Like Girl with a Dragon Tattoo the mystery is dark and complex and this just reminds me of why I really like noir fiction thrillers in the first place even though I've sort of put the genre aside in recent years due to trouble finding characters I enjoyed. It doesn't help that most thrillers are male oriented. I think James Patterson and few other older writers are the only ones who actually write thrillers with female protagonists.
Basically if you loved Girl With a Dragon Tattoo you will most likely love this. Just be warned you will need Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest right away because it ends on a evil cliffhanger.
WHO SHOULD READ: Those that have read Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, thriller fans, James Patterson fans
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five kick-ass heroines