I’m struggling with a rating here because I both get what the mass appeal is and was thoroughly engrossed while wishing the book lost half its pages and unsure if the payoff was entirely satisfying.

I really liked the way Salandar’s and Blomkvist’s paths and cases cross. It’s was neat to follow them separately for a bit until they met. I was more interested in what happened to Harriett than anything else.

I’m super late here so chances are you already know, but this story features violence against women pretty heavily. Apparently, the original Swedish title telegraphed that, which yes. It’s hard to escape that at the end of the day, Salandar just keeps running into a string of men who hate women. I’m not sure to what end, in this story. I mean, the other piece of this all is financial crime? And it seemed so oddly paired because I wasn’t sure what the author was trying to say. “Some men hate women,” sure but that’s about it.

I thought Salandar would be more of a main character here, but it’s clear to me that Blomkvist takes center stage. He’s an older man who every woman wants to sleep with and gets complimented several times for his prowess in bed. He’s the main character. Most of the superfluous detail comes thanks to knowing what he is doing every step of his morning, afternoon and night routine. The characterizations overall weren’t great.

Idk man. I couldn’t wait to finish, I was mad that I couldn’t just keep reading, I’m going to continue in the series, but also its readability was probably its biggest strength.