The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Steig Larsson

To be honest, crime mystery bestsellers are not really my genre, so this review should be read in that context.  I also had just finished a real masterpiece (East of Eden, John Steinbeck) and Larsson's writing had a hard time standing up to that standard. 

The writing was the weak point of this story, although there are moments when the writing is unobtrusive and there is the occasional clever turn of phrase, the heavy and direct style sometimes became annoying.

The best point of this book was the characters -- clearly Larsson has given them a lot of thought, and humanity.  While all are a bit exaggerated, the main characters are developed individuals.  The central character is almost certainly a largely autobiographical character of the author, but he has a few flashes of insight into this person that keep things from getting too dull.  The small interactions & references to his daughter & first wife are an example of this. 

The story itself was pretty much a standard crime mystery, with a bit of corporate and personal greed/vendetta woven in for a second storyline.  I don't think the second storyline worked that well, in particular after the deroulement of the main story had ended.  The second story wasn't interesting enough or charged with enough drama to warrant an additional 100 pages, but the book was such a fast read that getting through it wasnt a problem. 

I'd give a B- and will probably go ahead and read the rest of the series -- but mainly because they're already on my bookshelf & my husband is reading them at the same time.