The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The gripping debut volume in the now-famous trilogy
In this gripping debut — the first installment of a trilogy swiftly becoming a publishing sensation — disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist accepts a confusing but lucrative freelance assignment: move from Stockholm to a rural town in northern Sweden to help the elderly Henrik Vanger, head of a once-dominant industrial family, and find out what happened to his grand-niece Harriet, who disappeared 40 years ago. The case is a commanding twist on the famed locked-room mystery — due to unusual circumstances, the suspect list is limited only to members of the Vangar family, a deeply twisted clan with a harrowing set of secrets. Eventually, Blomkvist teams up with the titular heroine of the book, a savvy but anti-social technological savant 25 years his junior. The unlikely pair tackles not only Harriet's case, which turns out far grislier than expected, but also the corrupt corporation that caused Blomkvist's professional downfall.

Stieg Larsson, who died suddenly shortly after finishing his trilogy, was, like Blomkvist, a journalist and political activist, and his treatment of corruption both large and small is intelligent and piercing. The translation is imperfect, but stiff prose is easily overlooked thanks to masterful plotting, an evocative setting and a set of complex heroes whose deep flaws make them all the more appealing.