The Girl Who Played With Fire

I've been staying out of the sun to nurse my burns, and today that meant hanging out in a Starbucks to read, write, and edit. I'm starting Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice, which I bought at a used bookstore yesterday. I'm interested to finally be getting into her work.

In two days, I'll be flying back to Scotland. I'm excited for my new job and new flat, but I've also had a good vacation. All that's left is to hope this hot weekend doesn't get to me.

Here's a bit about the book I finished a few days ago.

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Book 6: The Girl Who Played With Fire, by Stieg Larsson

After reading the first two books of this series now, I can definitely say Larsson is an excellent thriller writer. The first 100 or so pages of setup again were slow, though a bit more interesting than the first book. But when the first major plot point explodes, I couldn't put it down, and read about 400 pages in two days. I'll certainly be reading the next one.

To summarize, it continues with most of the characters from the first book, mainly Blomkvist and Salander. A man comes to the Millenium magazine, where Blomkvist works, with a book exposing a sex trafficking operation which would implicate important members of Swedish government and business. His wife is writing a similar thesis paper. The stories become more explosive than anyone anticipated. And a lot is learned about Salander's very interesting past.

The one thing I've noticed Larsson does particularly well in this book is use point of view to keep information from the reader. If you don't hear from a particular important character, you don't know if they're guilty, and you feel you must know the answer. He also uses dramatic irony, perhaps the opposite, when the reader knows more than the character, and so knows whether or not the character is making a good decision. These literary devices, used in the right way, make the suspense almost unbearable. There were many times when the actions of certain characters infuriated me, but evoking emotion is a sign of good writing.

I definitely recommend this book--but read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo first.