The Millenium Trilogy: Steig Larsson’s epic thriller

Genre: Fiction, Crime Thriller

Larsson has been my first Swedish author. Prior to this Swedish literature was largely unknown to me, except that I had heard Swedish authors write some o...f the most gripping thrillers.

I had heard a lot about “The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo”, the first book of Millenium trilogy & went for it.

The trilogy traces the life of Lisbeth Salander, a Swedish girl, an orphan & an outcast. Lisbeth is strange & very unlike other women of her age. She keeps to herself, rarely has friends, is bisexual, does not care much about her appearance, can be extremely violent by nature, but she is also observant & a world class hacker.
Michael Blomkvist, is a handsome 40 something old big-shot at Millenium Publications. He is a womaniser, is smart & has a deep intellect.
Michael is given a case to solve in the first book of the series, a very weird case. To find out the whereabouts of a woman who has been dead for many years, while on the other hand mystery of a serial killer is plaguing the Swedish countryside. Michael crosses path with Lisbeth in the quest to solve this mystery….and then begins a roller coaster ride all through the three books.

I cannot write much about the plot, as the mystery is so deep, that any spoiler might ruin the fun.

I can, although, describe Larsson’s work. The Millenium series is UNPUTDOWNABLE. From the very first page till the last page of the last book, it is a page-turner. Larssons’ writing style is terse & his plot is very watertight. It is hard to imagine the outcome of events in the book beforehand. The characters he has sketched are scary in their reality. We see such people every day around us & never imagine that there could be something hidden behind each face.
Amongst his characters, Lisbeth, is the most intriguing one. Quiet, brooding & taciturn, Lisbeth is the quite a scene stealer in the series. When she is around you are assured, things will be set alright!!
The books are not only excellent thrillers all through, they also do a good job in exploring the dark underbelly of human & sex trafficking in Europe!! A MUST READ.

TIP: Pick it up on weekends as you would not want to put this one down at all!! 2 days is enough to finish one book. Easily available in any bookstore & on e-bookstores too.