This is one fast-paced, gritty, heart-breakin’ ride. I bought it as soon as it was released and finished it a couple days later. 500 pages never went by so fast.

This second novel comes quite close to living up to the glory of it’s predecessor. Larsson made a great decision when he anchored the theme of this work in a tangential event from the first book. Before long you’re yearning for justice—or at least vengeance.

The central theme is one of humanity’s earliest and most persistent philosophical questions: what is justice? More specifically, how does your personal morality influence your view of justice. The heroine, Lisbeth Salander, certainly has a unique perspective to offer.

In the end, the second book lacked a bit of the complexity of the first novel while increasing the level of I-can’t-believe-that-actually-happened-ness. For this reason I found it slightly inferior, but well worth reading.

Larsson, Stieg. The Girl Who Played with Fire. Viking Canada, 2009. The Millennium Trilogy 2.