Stieg Larsson's "Girl" Trilogy

I first heard about Stieg Larsson's trilogy, which begins with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, on Charlie Rose. The Swedish and American editors were discussing Larsson's life and career as a magazine editor and investigative journalist. Although I'd passed the books up several times at Costco, I determined I to try the first one. After passing through The Girl Who Played with Fire, I'm on my way to the most recently published: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

Lisbeth Salandar, the 4' 11'' heroine, has been empowered since the age of 12. Unlike her twin Camilla, Lisbeth takes charge. As a result, she finds herself in a traumatic childhood, controlled by the State and its institutions. Thankfully, they're not all bad, and she eventually finds a champion in her guardian, though his case load and eventual stroke prevent him from doing "the right thing."

Computer buffs will enjoy the technological aspects of the stories. The Swedish editor says that they verified the accuracy of advanced technology Lisbeth and her network of geeks use. Mathematicians will enjoy Lisbeth's exploration of mathematics in the second thriller. I look forward to the final motif in the book sitting on my shelf.

Unfortunately Larsson died (possibly murdered?) shortly after giving his editor the third and final manuscript. There won't be any more stories about "the girl." But, through epigrams citing Sweden's statistics on violence against women that precede each section in the first thriller, Larsson underscores his dominant theme: physical and sexual violence against and exploitation of women. Given the books' popularity, Larsson has opened a dialogue that needs to continue on women's status not only in Sweden, the books' setting, but also has extended that discussion through Lisbeth's year of travels in book two to the entire world. How much more may be contained within the works is speculative as is the possibility that Larsson was murdered, perhaps for what he had written or was about to have published (see Rose interview).

An expose of violence against women has been needed. Larsson has chosen a highly visible method in writing his thrillers. Thanks to the trilogy's world-wide popularity, the Swedish movie and the American version that's in the works, Larsson has written books to "do good," much like Lisbeth's friend Mikael Blomkvist. Like Larsson, Blomkvist is an investigative reporter and editor on a monthly magazine, Millenium, that seeks to expose economic criminals and their crimes. Though Lisbeth scoffs at Blomkvist's use of writing to change the world, ironically Larsson has done just that.

The trilogy delights because of its fast pace, fully drawn characters, and Larsson's masterful writing. Have some time to kill? I can't think of too many other authors who will make that time a supersonic flight.