I had been hearing about this Stieg Larsson book for a while now. Angela happened to get it from the library so I started to read it...

And I could not put it down! What a pleasant surprise.

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (Stieg Larsson)

An interesting story, likable characters, an easy to read style (even translated) but this book stands out for me in two ways.

One, it is the first murder mystery I have read where no one wants the police involved, ever. Now that network television has just become a vehicle for delivering cop shows and commercials, it was kind of odd to read about solving crimes without involving the police.

The plot events call into question the whole idea of justice. As American's we are so (at least now) obsessed with the government delivering justice, being the ultimate arbiter of justice, this was an interesting concept. Particularly because it was free of the 2nd-Amendment "the gob'ment's gonna git us!" paranoia of the TEA party ilk. No shoot outs, no car chases, just cold blooded murder and normal people trying to figure out what happened.

The other piece that stood out for me was a small one but it really resonated with me because it just never gets talked about here. World War 2 and the complex relationship Europe had with Hitler. After a devastating economic depression, Hitler and the Nazi party promised a future of prosperity and pride. Hitler's militarism created jobs for people working towards a common goal and there was an environment of mixed excitement, pride and fear throughout the region.

Pride and excitement? America has white-washed history into this simplistic evil vs good parable that is nothing like the reality of Fascism in the 1930's. We have also glossed over the fear and risk people took then when faced with a simple question: Can I save my child from the Nazi's? In a culture that spends most of its brain power deciding what cell phone to get, this kind of life and death choice is chilling.

If the USA has forgotten about the dangers of power, I was glad to read that at least European's still remember. (A lesson lost on most of the USA when Bush declared war on Iraq a decade ago.)

The only reservation I would have for the book is that it is very real. Murder and torture and abuse - today. And all of it against women. Another important topic that continues to happen because we are too uncomfortable to talk about it.

Great book.