The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I understand why this book has become such a nerd cult classic. There's a lot going on in the expertly woven multi-strand plot, from murder-mystery to thriller, to family epic, but if there is a universal stream to the many plot-lines it is the uncovering of the darkness lurking beneath respectable facades in finance, in families, in social services, and in the human heart. Heroes in this story are the people who, sometimes at great personal cost, expose and fight (as best as they can) lurking corruption and evil. Mikael Blomkvist, the idealistic reporter and Lisbeth Salander, the fierce, eccentric, brilliant and damaged hacker, make an unlikely underdog team. Blomkvist has recently retreated from a fight with a corrupt corporation he was investigating which has so manipulated the flow of information and the legal justice system as to successfully sue him for libel. Facing jail time and with his magazine on the brink of collapse, he has little choice but to take the strange job of investigating a 40 year old crime. The disappearance of Harriet Vanger, the favorite niece of the head of an old family firm, the Vanger group, has baffled police for decades, and Blomkvist himself believes he's on a fool's errand. But when he begins to turn up overlooked clues, the plot thickens, gets incredibly dark, and Salander and Blomkvist turn up far more than they expected or bargained for.
But it's complex, fascinating, misunderstood Lisbeth Salander who really gives the novel its soul. Her past is mysterious, but it's clear she's been underestimated by nearly everyone around her. In her mid-twenties she is a tattooed, pierced ward of the state, under guardianship. However, she also works for a security firm as a freelance investigator, and her reports on individuals and companies are known for being brilliant and almost impossibly detailed. She also has a reputation for being thorny and difficult, almost impossible to work with or befriend. Her hermit habits make her an easy target for abuse. But people who get in her way soon regret it, and it becomes clear that she has an unwavering sense of justice as well as a clear-eyed view of humanity.
The plot takes awhile to get going (think Tom Clancy-esque long wind-up) but once all the dominoes are in place and begin to fall, it is explosive. Larsson managed to create a serious novel about big ideas that also happens to be a bad-ass read, and I heartily approve. He's very concerned with issues of social justice, particularly in regards to women and sexual violence, and what a way to get that message out. As explicit as it gets, he's really trying, like his protagonists, to shine some light on a complicated and dark social problem. Larsson's characters are very real, believable creations with their own baggage and flaws who are nevertheless trying their best to survive, out the truth, find love, and in Salander's case, dispense justice.