The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

This book is slow to 'get going' and at first it was a bit confusing. For the first half an hour I wasn't sure whether I had made a mistake in choosing it - but after that I was hooked, and spent two days compulsively listening!

It's a brilliant story, well written and well read.

124 people found this helpful

Really good.

Fantastic, it's slow to get into the story, particularly if you have the film in mind, but I was gripped throughout. Couldn't stop listening.

14 people found this helpful

Couldn't stop listening....

I bought this book based on the recommendations above, and am extremely pleased I did. It is a great story and I found myself grabbing every opportunity to listen to it. The poor old dog nearly got her legs walked off so that I had the excuse to find out what happens next! Lizbet Salander is a great character, complex but compelling. The narration was just perfect and the slight oddities that occurred sometimes in what was obviously a translated text in fact rather complimented the whole Scandinavian atmosphere.
I was lucky that just as I finished this book the follow-up, The Girl Who Played with Fire was published at Audible, so I could immediately resubmerge myself in more dark doings.....

14 people found this helpful

GREAT BOOK ... Very Disappointed with Audible !!!!

I had the unabridged version of this that only lasted 7 hours, so as the book was on offer I purchased it because I had really enjoyed it... Talk about a mishmash of editing, partway through the book it says "THIS IS THE END OF DISC, PLEASE INSERT NEXT DISC", a few minutes later it says "AUDIBLE HAS SPLIT THE BOOK INTO DIFFERENT SECTIONS FOR DOWNLOAD, PLEASE DOWNLOAD NEXT SECTION" but carries on Playing. Later on it says that "THIS IS THE END OF THE CASSETTE, PLEASE TURN OVER AND CONTINUE PLAYING FROM THE START" These errors (and many more that i have not listed) took away the enjoyment of listening to this book, I will be sending an Email to customer services in regards to this, I would be even more angry if i had paid the full price of £25.00 for it ..... I will be returning it for a refund ......

12 people found this helpful

The best I've ever listened to

I've listened to dozens of audiobooks over the last couple of years, especially thriller / crime stuff. I've never been moved to write a review before but this is simply in a class of its own - totally spell-binding and superbly narrated. The fact that it's the first in a trilogy is the icing on the cake although it's desperately sad that the wonderful response has come after the author's death. Believe me it simply doesn't get any better than this.

22 people found this helpful

Does not live up to the hype

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would not, the story is OK but the book is about two thirds two long and would benefit from heavy editing.

Would you ever listen to anything by Stieg Larsson again?

Not in a hurry.

What about Saul Reichlin’s performance did you like?

He does a good job, but he keeps switching the pronunciation of the protagonist's name.

Was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo worth the listening time?

It is way too long, so I'm inclined to say no.

Any additional comments?

I don't understand why this book is so popular. The story only gets going in the second half of the book, and there is too much detail and irrelevant background information. The best thing about this book are the well-constructed and interesting characters, especially the two protagonists.

9 people found this helpful

A Murder Mystery with a Twist

At last, the unabridged version of this brilliant book (the first in the Millennium trilogy)is available to download. A disgraced Stockholm journalist, Mikael Blomkvist, is asked to investigate the disappearance (in 1966) of an industrialist's niece. Aided by the 'mentally incompetent' 20-something, Lisbeth Salander (the eponymous Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), the journalist descends into the nightmare underbelly of Swedish society, Saul Reichlin (better known for his narration of David Hewson's Nic Costa novels) does his usual expert job. This has got to be one of the best downloads of 2009.

56 people found this helpful

Fantastic

Great book more in depth than the film Swedish one that is. Best film and book that I have watched and read for years

6 people found this helpful

Best of the trilogy

This is the first and in my opinion the best of the trilogy. This story can stand alone from the two subsequent works, books two and three are in effect two halves of one story.
The character, Lisbeth Sallander is very interesting and as we peel the layers, she becomes more complex. The story line is well thought out and the ending is anything but obvious. Very good listen.

26 people found this helpful

Stick with it!

Initially this does not seem a good book to listen to (as opposed to read) because it is written with almost forensic detail, and this is particularly noticeable at the beginning which is very much concerned with the business world. (I notice some readers on Amazon also say it's initially hard going). Also there seems to be an endless list of characters, and names of places and people are Swedish, and it felt overwhelming. BUT stick with it at least to Part 2. This is truly one of the best thrillers I have some across in ages. It veers from one genre to another, the plot twists and turns, the characters are brilliant and it throws up continual surprises, confounding my expectations. By the end I realised how important the initial detail is, and my patience was rewarded. I grew to love the detailed descriptions and my enjoyment was particularly helped by the reader, Saul Reichlin, who made all the characters come alive, and kept the pacing under control which at times became unbearbly exciting, as true story telling should be.
More than all this, it is a deeply moral book, which throws up various dilemmas, which I found very involving and which added yet another layer of interest to the book for me. I love the two main protagoginsts so much that I felt like I had lost friends when I came to the end. Two books in the trilogy to go. How long can I wait to start the next one?

19 people found this helpful