The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, a Short Review

"Men Who Hate Women" is the original name--kept in the Swedish version--of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Such a title might warn you the author may be so preoccupied as to undermine his story, as Pullman's wearying anti-Catholicism blunts his clever daemons concept in The Golden Compass. The first page does nothing to reassure us; the introductory quote is " 18% of the women in Sweden have at one time been threatened by a man." Such focus may be distracting--for example, when the second part of the book starts with the quote "46% of women in Sweden have been subjected to violence by a man" the math just doesn't seem to work. But the author is not kidding; he feels that violence against women is a savage fact of life inherent in Sweden. Moreover he feels that the state support system which should protect these victims is not simply incompetent; it is a malignant accomplice. These surprising positions form the undercurrents of this popular mystery and they must be dealt with by the reader. These concepts are awkward, isolated and, early, dis-integrated; they float undigested for a while as the story meanders through its early development.

Strangely the opening of the book mirrors this poor integration. Several plot lines and characters bob through the scenes, some going nowhere, some destined to be central. But after the momentum mounts, this is a very exciting story. The main character is interesting and interestingly developed. When the confluence of real story line and characters converge, the speed, tension and violence of the story carry along well.

There are countless problems with the story. There is an element of the wild eyed pamphleteer in the writing. And the outsider is not immediately convinced of the virtues of the author's outrage. Are men really this terrible in Sweden? Are the rest of us naive or sheltered? Do they act this way because they are Vikings? Is the Nazi threat really current? My impression of the Swedish bureaucracy was rather positive; when a governmental official says "This society is responsible for you" the irony is fierce but surprising.

The male lead is inexplicable. He is passive, boring and the women he attracts can not explain him either.

Although the plot is annoyingly complex it is a bit predictable. But it is interesting, exciting and fun. The writer is inexperienced--this is his first book--but it is a very successful first effort. (So successful that some professionals are suspicious, others think that this may not be so difficult after all.) And Salander is a very successful character, first or not, and better than many experienced mystery writers can boast.

Exciting or not, as a first mystery novel this is not of the caliber of Sansom's Dissolution or even the creepy and flawed The Ghosts of Belfast. But it is an undeniable page turner with a very good main character, a rather surprising social and political view and rewarding lessons: Appearance belies potential and vengeance is its own reward.