The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson (audio)

Book Description:
Lisbeth Salander, the troubled, wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker, is a wanted woman. Two Millennium journalists about to expose the truth about the sex trade in Sweden are brutally murdered, and Salander's prints are on the weapon. Her history of unpredictable and vengeful behaviour makes her an official danger to society - but no one can find her anywhere.

Meanwhile, Mikael Blomkvist, editor-in-chief of Millennium, will not believe what he hears on the news. Knowing Salander to be fierce when fearful, he is desperate to get to her before she is cornered and alone. As he fits the pieces of the puzzle together, he comes up against some hardened criminals, including the chainsaw-wielding 'blond giant' - a fearsomely huge thug who can feel no pain.

Digging deeper, Blomkvist also unearths some heart-wrenching facts about Salander's past life. Committed to psychiatric care at age 12, declared legally incompetent at 18, this is a messed-up young woman who is the product of an unjust and corrupt system. Yet Lisbeth is more avenging angel than helpless victim - descending on those that have hurt her with a righteous anger terrifying in its intensity and truly wonderful in its outcome.

Another great book continuing the story of Lizbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist. The book had a rambling beginning, we follow Lizbeth as she is living it up in the Caribbean, licking her wounds and avoiding Mikael Blomkvist. She does not want to have anything to do with him, much to his surprise and chagrin, of course she gives him no explanation, she just cuts him out of her life. While in the Caribbean, she faces down a hurricane and prevents a brutal husband from killing his rich socialite wife. Sort of an odd side story that has no bearing on the rest of the plot once Lizbeth returns to Sweden and buys herself a multi-million dollar apartment and virtually assumes a new identity.

Still, she finds it too irresistible not to hack into Blomkvist's computer at Millenium and see what they're up to at the magazine. She comes across the upcoming articles and issue they're working on to expose the sex trade and trafficking industry. This leads to all sorts of problems that ensue - mainly Lizbeth is placed at the scene of the crime of three brutal murders (I nearly clapped about one of them - you'll know why when you read it) and a major hunt is on for Lizbeth. Mikael, who discovers two of the dead bodies, is not convinced of her guilt and takes on another crusade to find her and prove her innocence. In so doing, much of her past is revealed and finally we, the readers, learn more of Lizbeth's childhood, who her parent's were, her twin sister and what "all the evil" is that began when she was twelve years old. The book has a cliffhanger ending which makes the recently released and last book in the trilogy a must read.

This novel was not as disturbing and brutally graphic as it's predecessor, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but it has it's moments. Whereas the last one dealt with incest and serial murders, this one centers on crime and the sex trade in Europe, involving the murder of young prostitutes and numerous other illegal activities by a syndicate of thugs and gangsters all working for the mysterious and all-knowing Zala. Who is this Zala, and how does Salander's corrupt and detestable guardian, Nils Bjurman know him?

On audio, I was riveted and mesmerized by the excellent narration by Simon Vance, who could read the phone book aloud and I would happily listen. I wholeheartedly recommend this series if you like crime thrillers. Lizbeth is an amazing heroine, so different from most women. Strong yet incredibly vulnerable, here we get a peek into her psyche (but not much). We're scared for her, but also confident she can take care of herself, but by the end, it's pretty dicey, and thankfully her friend, Mikael is on her side, whether she wants him there or not.

Now onto The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, which will be a bittersweet read. A pity that the author died before his books were published, he was a great talent and it's very sad and tragic that he died so unexpectedly and at such a young age. The world lost a master storyteller.

4/5

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The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (audio)

Book Description:
Harriet Vanger, member of one of Sweden's wealthiest families, disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.

An international publishing sensation, Stieg Larsson's Girl with the Dragon Tattoo combines murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue into one satisfyingly complex and entertainingly atmospheric novel.

This was a great book. Listening to it on audio enhanced it, I was swept away with this mystery and looked forward to listening to it every day on my daily commute. Plus, I love Simon Vance's narration - he's one of my favorites! He did all the accents and pronunciations perfectly - he's an amazing narrator! Towards the end, I listened to it as much as possible, whether I was driving, doing needlepoint, emptying the dishwasher, folding laundry, you name it. The story centers on Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist specializing in business reporting who is hired to find out what happened to a missing girl forty years earlier. He has lost a libel suit against a large corrupt Swedish industrialist and is now somewhat disgraced in the industry. We are sympathetic towards Mikael, he was set up. As we get to know his world a little better, I was interested in his life and his part time lover and business partner, Erika Berger. Mikael is honest and upright, but he's not perfect. He has his problems. Now divorced, he sleeps with a married woman openly and even admits himself he's not the best father to his seventeen year old daughter.

Mikael is hired by the legendary Swedish business magnate, Henrik Vanger. Now an octogenarian, retired and reclusive Vanger has been consumed with the disappearance of his beloved niece Harriet, who vanished into thin air one day in 1966. Henrik hires Mikael to solve the mystery of what happened to her, using his skills as an investigative journalist. Mikael has nothing better to do at the moment and is being offered a small fortune to do it, but he must move up to Henrik's family home for a year - where all the other Vanger's live on Hedeby Island. It's quite a family, and Henrik detests most of them, certain one of them was responsible for Harriet's disappearance. As Mikael delves into the files and police records and thousands of photographs of the day Harriet disappeared the same day as a parade and a huge oil tanker accident on the bridge to Hedeby Island, he unearths some startling and macabre truths of this reclusive family. It nearly kills him.

The plot thickens with plenty of twists and turns. On the other side of the coin is the story of Lisbeth Salander. Lisbeth works for a top notch exclusive private investigative company. She is hired by Vanger's lawyer to do a background check on Mikael before Vanger hired him. She is an odd girl. She's had a hard life, but she is a survivor and a genius on computers, one of the greatest hackers in Sweden. But, she has loads of social issues, I suspect she has Asperger's Syndrome. Her story is fascinating and riveting, I loved her character. Always dressed and styled in the "goth" way, her plight with the system makes you truly sympathetic towards her.

Before long, she and Mikael join up to solve the case of Harriet. Together they unravel the truth, but it's quite a journey to get there.

There is so much to this book that I haven't gone into for I don't want to post any spoilers, but it's a great story and I'm eager to get to the next two books in the trilogy. Alas, I had no idea that the author died, I don't even know the circumstances of whether all the books were published posthumously, but they are great, and I loved the locale and got a real flavor for Sweden - I want to go there now! I don't usually read mysteries or thrillers, but this is a combination of both and I simply loved it. Lisbeth is so interesting and amazing, though introverted and vulnerable, she and Mikael complement each other wonderfully. He's so normal - and she's so not! I love it how she starts out as a victim and learns to defend herself, you'll know what I mean when you read it.

Read the book if this is your genre - it's one of my favorites of the year! It has some really creepy moments not for the faint of heart, but in my opinion, it only made the book that much better and kept me on the edge of my seat. Once I finish the entire series, I'll see the movie, I hear it's very good and faithful to the book, but I'm avoiding it for now, for I like to keep the characters in my head as I've imagined them.

4.5/5

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Lush Life by Richard Price

From Publishers Weekly Master of the Bronx and Jersey projects, Price (Clockers) turns his unrelenting eye on Manhattan's Lower East Side in this manic crescendo of a novel that explores the repercussions of a seemingly random shooting. When bartender Ike Marcus is shot to death after barhopping with friends, NYPD Det. Matty Clark and his team first focus on restaurant manager and struggling writer Eric Cash, who claims the group was accosted by would-be muggers, despite eyewitnesses saying otherwise. As Matty grills Eric on the still-hazy details of the shooting, Price steps back and follows the lives of the alleged shooters—teenagers Tristan Acevedo and Little Dap Williams, who live in a nearby housing project—as well as Ike's grieving father, Billy, who hounds the police even as leads dwindle. As the intersecting narratives hurtle toward a climax that's both expected and shocking, Price peels back the layers of his characters and the neighborhood until all is laid bare. With its perfect dialogue and attention to the smallest detail, Price's latest reminds readers why he's one of the masters of American urban crime fiction.

"I'm not superstitious or anything, but that thing I pulled this morning? I have a real bad feeling it's going to come back and bite me in the ass."

An understatement. Ike, the victim, has no idea just how prophetic those words really are.

This is a crime story set in the lower East Side of Manhattan, somewhere around the East Village, Katz's Deli, 1 Police Plaza - that general area. This is the only thing I've read of Price and I must say after getting through the initial confusion in the first 25 pages of 'where is this going' I loved it. The street talk, the New York location, the every day life of the cops and detectives on the trail of a murderer, confessions, interrogations, cop slang, and the fact you really feel you're in this book, in it's world, in it's pages, it captures you and you just keep reading until it's over.

The story of a murder at 4:30 AM, the murder of a white guy with his two friends, all drunk, after a night of work and then bar hopping. A supposed mugging gone bad, misinformation, chasing the wrong guy and then the police are on the trail of who really did it. We're introduced to the main characters, Eric, he works in a restaurant, going no where, 35 years old, would be actor/writer, not much of a life going on. Is he telling the truth? Did he kill Ike? Matty, a big beefy Irishman middle-aged detective who's working on the case. He's got his own set of problems. Yolanda, a Latina detective also on the case. She's the queen of interrogators, makes the young kids fall for her and trust her, she can get a confession out of anyone. Then there's 17 year old Tristan, lives in the projects and is enthralled by his .22 pistol, hoping to get in with the brutal cool crowd, but only winds up getting himself in a mess, time is running out for him, he's blown it for himself all from a reckless action in a split second.

The whole story takes place in less than 2 weeks, most of it really in only a few days. We're on the murder trail and soaking up the atmosphere of the lower East Side. The Williamsburg Bridge, the Quality of Life driving by, life in the projects. This is a fast paced book, but at times it slows down and we witness the heartache the victim's father is going through, the media seekers, restaurateurs -and the cops.

In some ways this book reminded me a bit of Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities, only I liked it much more, but there are some similarities. Price has done his research, he knows this world and it's language. A worthwhile read if you're into gritty detective crime type novels or even if you're not, but want to get a small peek into the world of the lower East Side and it's denizens.

4/5

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