Stieg Larsson - The Girl who Played with Fire - Review

 

This second installment of the Millennium Trilogy, beginning with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, is by far superior to the first, and in most aspects overall, what constitutes a great thriller. Larsson spends more words on his protagonist, Lizbeth Salander, an anti-social genius, a world-class hacker, and now, is caught during a triple murder. The hard facts and all the circumstantial evidence point to her as the perpetrator of the crime.

We enter the mind of Salander and come to understand the reasons for her great hate for those males who exploit women. Men are portrayed as general misogynists, viewing women as inferior and mere objects of base sexual desire. Salander's unfortunate past is explored at some length, informing the reader of the prejudicial mindset of certain child welfare workers and those "experts" of the human mind, namely government mental health care officials having, in some cases, the extreme power in deciding the fate of societies fringe children.

Generally, this book exposes the shortfalls in Sweden's welfare system, including a disturbing look at a fundamental human right that has all but disappeared in most democratic states across the world: an individual accused of a crime must be viewed as innocent until proven guilty. Law enforcement and mainly the media are currently judges and juries, trying a suspect on a mass scale, where a suspect really doesn't have a chance once a case finally comes to trial. This important tenet of Law is reversed – guilty till proven innocent...and if one is interested, analyzing various "free" democratic countries will observe that this fundamental human right is maintained on paper though in reality no longer exists.

Larsson also focuses his pen directly on Sweden's mainstream media. Unfortunately, real journalism has become a rare bird over the last fifty years. Replaced with transparent bias in the protection of criminal governments, the "establishment" currently operates exclusively from a platform of entertainment, ensuring more viewers, higher readership, and more considerable advertising dollars. What is more disturbing is that the "public" at large continues to believe anything written or broadcast by a suit or pretty talking head on the television screen is the truth. 

The character of Lizbeth Salander is unique and a welcome protagonist for the thriller genre. There could well be some readers who would disagree with her unpredictable and vengeful behavior. One thing is for sure; however, every target of her wrath wholeheartedly deserves it in a big way. So we find ourselves cheering her on as she nails dangerous misogynists, slave traders of children, perverts in positions of power, and pedophiles.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a beautiful novel, and this second installment of the trilogy is most certainly much better.