Of course, I wouldn’t have read The Girl Who Played With Fire without first reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I can happily report that I have enjoyed The Girl Who Played with Fire as much or more than the first installment in the series. The original book featured recent crimes and not-so recent crimes, and we certainly get more of the same in this book.One of my favorite things about the first book is that it was an investigation into a mysterious crime from many years ago. My favorite thing about this book is that Investigators Blomvkist and Salander are more personally involved in the investigation that takes place. Though Blomvkist is technically working on articles for his news magazine Millenium, he contributes the amount of energy that he does because of his personal involvement. Larsson successfully creates suspense right to the last page.
I suspect that people who enjoyed The Girl with the Dragon tattoo will enjoy this book as well; there is much to be said for reading the first book before starting this one. As with any series, there is catch up information for those who didn’t read the book, or who haven’t read it recently, but Larsson builds on many relationships that were established in the first book. In my opinion, this would be quite confusing if you haven’t read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Normally, I don’t read many suspense/thriller novels, even though I typically enjoy them. The fact that this series is a bit of a sensation has attracted me though. I recommend the book, and I’m looking forward to The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.
