The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo / Stieg Larsson 590 p.

Maybe I'm old-fashioned (or just old), but this one didn't quite do it for me. The character of Lisbeth is certainly interesting, and, after about 300 pages, mildly sympathetic, but I really couldn't connect with Mikael Blomqvist at all. He seems to sleep with a different woman every 100 pages or so, and has a young daughter that he almost never thinks about. I guess I just kept comparing him to my favorite Swedish sleuth, Kurt Wallander, and he fell far short. (Although I imagine that he's better dressed.)

The mystery itself was quite good but I'm not sure it needed almost 600 pages. After reading the intro chapters to the next book in the series, I can say that if Stieg Larsson were still alive I'd be seriously worried about him. He seems to be profoundly obsessed with the torture of women to an unhealthy extent. I doubt I'll read the next ones.