Review of The Girl Who Played with Fire (two stars)

I offer a review of this second book in the Millennium series after rating the first book as 1 star. There was a period when my book-reading acquaintances were reading and sharing their views on these books and they were all agog at the quality of the story. I’ve found the series poor, however, I find myself in an odd situation of rating this second book as 2 stars. At such rate, I hope to rate the fifth book in the series 5 stars.

 

The novel is better than the first in the series as there is more depth to the plot. The reader is challenged to hold competing threads together. I particularly appreciated how the main female had a significant absence from the book – all the while hiding up in an apartment that was within reach of the action. The re-entry of the main female was very well timed and allowed for a successful webbing together of all the competing threads.

 

A few failures:

 

>This novels reveal of Salander’s evil papa had a Star Wars “Luke, I am your father” feel about it.

 

>The notion of a diminutive female riding a burly Harley Davidson motorcycle failed.

 

>Don’t bother readers with details of the main female character’s mammoplasty unless the enhanced assets are going to play a part in the novel; Salander is not the type of lass that ranks feminine charms highly in her arsenal of skills. Her fuller jugs were probably only added to the book with a view to a screen play – although I’m open to some weird plot twist in book three; Salander disguised as a wholesome waitress at a Munich beer hall during an Oktoberfest event.

 

>Salander, who is suffering enough from a sad history of psychological and physical abuse, does not also need to be on the autism spectrum – yet, that part of the story seems to be a setup for book three.

 

>Salander seeks to keep her new abode a secret, yet Ikea workers are welcomed to complete both delivery and installation of furniture. Ikea workers must be the most upright of all workers in Sweden; not open to any bribe to reveal customer details.

 

>There are a few moments where the translation from Swedish to English seems to fail.

 

A suggestion:

 

>The inclusion of a double page map that depicts all the towns that are named in the story would assist foreign readers in following the story.

 

And, a very Swedish idea:

 

>If you are incredibly rich you still purchase Ikea! Yet being rich means you pay for both the shipping and installation!

 

Subjects covered:

 

>mental illness and treatment, psychological and physical abuse, giantism, sex trafficking, police investigation, investigative journalism, homosexuality, murder.

 

Body count:

>four

 

I have book three to read yet will break from the series to read another book for now. I do hope I can rate book three to 3 stars and then ultimately book five as 5 stars.

 

This review links from my Goodreads account. I found the book, along with book three in a Street Library. I returned the book to a second street library.

 

Shalom,

Ozhamada

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