Librarian Tim recommends: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson (F Larsson, New Books)

This is a long and convoluted mystery novel set in Sweden. Disgraced journalist Mikael who has suffered the indignity of losing a libel lawsuit is offered a chance to redeem himself by an aging industrialist who employs him to search into the case of his missing and presumed dead niece. Aided by the mysterious and enigmatic Salander, an abused street punk and genius researcher they work on cracking the case with explosive results. I liked this book, sometimes against my better judgment, as the cast of characters was huge and really hard to keep straight. Larsson knew how to tell a tale and his characterizations were excellent. But in my opinion the book was too long with pockets of dead space and the main climax of the novel occurring 100 pages before the actual end of the book. Still, I found the characters and narrative compelling enough to recommend this book with reservation to those with the patience for a slow developing story.

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