Off the bookshelf: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

While it's slightly counter intuitive, for me, when the weather warms up, I want nothing more than to dive into a pile of books. Wouldn't such an inkling be better suited for cold winters curled up on the couch? I chalk it up to afternoons on the front lawn. Those warm days, taking up a swing and getting the stink eye from couples and their new spring romance while reading a book not assigned in class were some of the best. 

So, in keeping with my spring book fever, I found myself in the Brackett Library's best seller row with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo tucked under my arm. I had really no idea what the book was about other than the fact there was probably some reptilian body art involved and that a movie version was in the works. And I like to read a book before its film version comes out. It's the purist in me.

The novel, in a nutshell, follows journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the titular character Lisbeth Slander, a computer hacker, as they work to unravel the decades-old murder of a young girl within a prominent, Swedish business family. 

I'm skittish to write a full-on review of the book because I feel like I could get fairly SNL Miley Cyrus about it and claim that it was all "pretty cool," so I'll keep it brief. 

For me, the first few chapters were slow going. You first meet Blomkvist in the midst of a libel lawsuit. The story behind all of that was heavy with business and economic jargon which I didn't quite follow. Once you got into the meat of the novel though and his working to piece together the mystery before him, it got good — really good. Edge of your seat, I'll skip lunch to finish reading, "What do you mean I have to go back to work now?" kind of good. As one more point of reference, it made me sad when my 20 minutes of sitting in the waiting room at the doctor's was over after my allergy shots. I mean, shouldn't I wait until the end of this chapter, just to make sure I don't fall into anaphylactic shock? And what sane wants to voluntarily sit around sick people?

I was so sad when I reached the final page but not nearly as distraught as I was when I found out someone had already checked out the next book in the trilogy, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and I would have to wait patiently until April 5. That is, unless they renew it — which they won't, if they know what's good for them.

I give it a 4 out of 5 stars with so-so hand motion in regard to bad language and a few violent scenes. You know, because my momma reads this.