The Javanese tattoo: modern and traditional

For the film adaptions based on this book, see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (film) and Millennium Trilogy

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Author	Stieg Larsson
Original title	Män som hatar kvinnor
Translator	Reg Keeland, pseudonym of Steven T. Murray
Country	Sweden
Language	Swedish
Series	Millennium Trilogy
Genre(s)	Crime / Mystery novel
Publisher	Norstedts Förlag(Swedish)
Publication date	2005
Media type	Print (paperback,hardback)
ISBN	ISBN 978-91-1-301408-1 (Swedish) ISBN 978-1-84724-253-2 (English)
OCLC Number	186764078
Followed by	The Girl Who Played with Fire

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (original title in Swedish: Män som hatar kvinnor – "Men Who Hate Women") is an award-winning crime novel by the late Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson, the first in his Millennium Trilogy.

At his death in November 2004, Larsson left three unpublished novels that made up the trilogy. It became a posthumous best-seller in several European countries as well as in the United States.^[1]Larsson, who was disgusted by sexual violence, witnessed the gang rape of a young girl when he was 15. The author never forgave himself for failing to help the girl, whose name was Lisbeth - like the young heroine of the his books, herself a rape victim, which inspired the theme of sexual violence against women in his books.^[2]

Introduction

This novel supplies a genealogical table for keeping track of the numerous members of the five generation Vanger family who are under investigation. Robert Dessaix of the Sydney Morning Herald writes:

"An epic tale of serial murder and corporate trickery spanning several continents, the novel takes in complicated international financial fraud and the buried evil past of a wealthy Swedishindustrial family. Through its main character, it also references classic forebears of the crime thriller genre while its style mixes aspects of the sub-genres. There are references to Astrid Lindgren, Enid Blyton, Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers, as well as Sue Grafton, Val McDermid, Elizabeth George, Sara Paretsky, and several other key authors of detective novels. A journalist and magazine editor in Stockholm until his death, Larsson reveals a knowledge and enjoyment of both English and American crime fiction. He declared that he wrote his opus for his own pleasure in the evenings after work."^[1]

With the exception of the fictional Hedestad, the Swedish towns are existing ones. The Millenniummagazine featured in the books has characteristics similar to that of Larsson's magazine, Expo, which also had financial difficulties.^[3]

Plot summary

Middle-aged journalist Mikael Blomkvist, who publishes the magazine Millennium in Stockholm, has lost a libel case involving damaging allegations about billionaire Swedish industrialist Hans-Erik Wennerström, and is sentenced to three months in prison. Facing jail time and professional disgrace, Blomkvist steps down from his position on the magazine's board of directors, despite strong objections from Erika Berger, Blomkvist's longtime friend, 'occasional lover', and business partner. At the same time, he is offered an unlikely freelance assignment by Henrik Vanger, the elderly former CEO of Vanger Enterprises. Blomkvist accepts the assignment — unaware that Vanger commissioned a comprehensive investigation into Blomkvist's personal and professional history, carried out by gifted private investigator Lisbeth Salander.

Blomkvist visits Vanger on his estate on the tiny island of Hedeby, several hours from Stockholm. The old man draws Blomkvist in by promising not only financial reward for the assignment, but with solid evidence that Wennerström is truly the scoundrel Blomkvist suspects him to be. On this basis, Blomkvist agrees to spend a year writing the Vanger family history as a cover for the real assignment: To solve a "cold case" — the disappearance of Vanger's great niece Harriet some 40 years earlier. Vanger admits he is obsessed with finding out the truth of what happened to Harriet, and expresses his suspicion that Harriet was murdered by a member of the vast Vanger family, many of whom were present in Hedeby on the day of her disappearance. Each year on his birthday Harriet would make Henrik a present of pressed flowers. On his birthday every year since Harriet's murder, Vanger explains, the murderer torments him with a present of pressed flowers.

Blomkvist uproots himself from his life in Stockholm, moving to Hedeby in the middle of one of the coldest winters on record. Cold, depressed, and lonely, he begins the process of analysing the more than 40 years worth of information Henrik Vanger has obsessively compiled around the circumstances of the day Harriet disappeared. Hedeby is home to several generations of Vangers, all part owners in Vanger Enterprises. Under the pretext of researching the family history, and due to the small size of the island, Blomkvist soon becomes acquainted with the members of the extended Vanger family who are variously mad, uninterested, concerned, hostile, or aloof. Several are worried that Blomkvist is taking advantage of the obsession of a weak old man. The investigation of Harriet's disappearance approximates "the old Miss Marple closed-room scenario" with all the rich suspects marooned on the family estate on an island, "a village we grow familiar with, full of hostile locals peering out from behind their curtains".^[1]

Blomkvist fulfills his contractual obligations by immersing himself in the case. Despite following endless dead leads, he eventually finds a series of clues leading to an ugly story of family secrets and brutal murder.