I am currently in the midst of Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It is fast-paced for such a fat book –and, therefore, it is hard to put down: it is often dialogue based and the dialogue is brisk. The opposite two protagonists dominate the text: the one, infinitely already developed and self-contained, Lisbeth Salander, the punk-jagged computer whiz, and the other, the ever-learning investigative journalist, Mikael Blomkvist, who forever is seeking adulation. And the descriptions of chilled Sweden throughout are arresting. The elaborate genealogical chart of the Vanger family that begins the novel sets the tone for the murder mystery. The best thing about the book is that it is the beginning of a trilogy and there are many more adventures to come!
Maybe it is all those shards of ice that make Scandinavians the new masters of this hard-edged genre. Sadly, there will never be another Larsson trilogy, so try Maj Sjowall, Per Wahloo, Henning Mankell, and Jo Nesbo. Maine residents will of course be all too familiar with Smilla’s Sense of Snow (Peter Hoeg)…