Last November my review of two  of the mystery thrillers by the author appeared in Seniors Review, but I have only now come around to placing my thoughts about these unusual books in Lancette Arts Journal. Because these books are part of a trilogy, I hope to soon review the third book that is part of this series that began with the highly popular The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. One has to love hard, raw thrillers to appreciate these books, and it seems that a great many people do. I am, obviously, not an exception.

To my shame I have to admit that I began reading these books backward, so to speak, by first tackling The Girl Who played with Fire. Its main character is, as in all the books in this trilogy, Lisbeth Salander. I found the book's female protagonist and also her male counterpart, the journalist Mikael Blomkvist, not only an odd couple, but so fascinating in the way they pursued the bad guys and how they interact that I wanted to read more. Interestingly, in The Girl who played with Fire, Salander is actually the quarry because police believe her guilty of three murders.

It is a complicated story in that Blomkvist is just about the only one who believes her to be innocent, having dealt with this strange, gamin-like, goth/punk hacker before. While one might say there are too many coincidences in this story, as there are in so many thrillers, they all add up to a very exciting and somewhat eccentric tale.

Salander has many enemies, which seems strange considering her youth. She is in her mid-20s, but appears younger. Major among these enemies is the mysterious gangster Zala. Just how and why he is an enemy of this highly intelligent, unconventional, young woman cannot be revealed here because that would be a spoiler.

Blomkvist, too, is not the average journalist. He is a crusader, who is also the publisher of the journal Millennium. Co-incidentally it is not unlike the magazine Larsson worked for until his death at 50 from a heart attack. The story turns around Blomqvist's commissioning of an explosive article by the investigative journalist Dag Svensson about the sex trade in Sweden. It promises to ruin the reputation, possibly careers of a number of police officers, lawyers, even a judge and a few fellow journalists.

Just how that links up with Salander is to be found out by reading the novel, as well as how she becomes implicated in three murders. Suffice it to say that the ending is fairly harrowing, but while it is somewhat theatrical, even asking the reader to disband disbelief, it works. It works because Salander and Blomkvist reach beyond the genre of thriller characters. They capture the reader through their vulnerability and their eccentricities, and they demand that we pay attention to them and their world.

Of course, having read the second book, I now had to read the first book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. While each book stands on its own, in this first of the trilogy one now gets to know a little more about Blomkvist and Salander. Actually, Blomkvist is almost the main protagonist of this book as Salander comes into the picture only after the journalist takes on a private project that requires some detective work beyond his scope.

Salander, when Blomkvist first encounters her, works on a casual basis for a private investigation firm. It is the boss of the firm who recommends Salander, a girl/woman with a photographic memory and unusual computer skills, as the ideal person to help Blomkivst.

The books begins a little slowly because Blomkvist has just lost a libel case launched against him by a financier. The journalist had accused him of misusing government funds intended for investment in building up industry in Poland, but supposedly had used the money for arms deals. Not only was our protanonist sentenced to six months in jail, but he also had to pay a heavy fine that threatened the existence of Millennium. Then, suddenly, he gets an offer from an industrialist by the name of Vanger. The job has a hefty sum attached to it that Blomkivst can use. The job requires that he write the Vanger family history. There is a caveat, however, that Blomkvist failed to properly take into consideration. He is also required to look into the disappearance of the elderly man's grandniece 40 years ago. And that is where the problems start to arise.

Once Bomkivst agrees to take on the job, the story picks up quickly and the reader gets sucked into an unusual, twisted tale of family saga, love story, mystery and financial intrigues. Never mind that at times it is hard to keep track of all the family members attached to the Vanger clan. Just keep on reading. It will all come to make sense in the long run.

These two thrillers are no pretty stories. It is hard to say if the unusual character of Blomkivst reflects the Swedish male psyche, or if it is only based on Larsson's own strong leanings toward feminism that appears to have done his partner* very little service. Also, the sex flows freely in both books, something that may well be the local attitude, from what those of us, who have never been to Sweden have come to associate with the country.

Strangely enough, Larsson lived for more than 30 years with his partner *Eva Gabrielsson, who apparently coöperated with him on his novel writing through reading and critiquing as well as typing his manuscripts. Yet, because he left no will, she has no legal right to the inheritance, and the huge income from the books. Instead, his father and brother, with whom he apparently had no relationship, have inherited the estate. They even tried to take half of the home that the couple had purchased together. Considering Canadian laws on common law relationships, in which partners have almost the same rights as married partners if the relationship lasts for several years, this seems hard to fathom from a country such as Sweden which is supposedly very concerned about the equal rights of men and women.