All the books I read since March(part 1)
The girl with the dragon tattoo trilogy- What every book in this trilogy has in common is an absolutely amazing plot, the details, the history and the different povs as well. It'll be pretty slow in the beginning, a bit more than usual with useless details but that's what the calm before the storm is supposed to be right? And as soon as our girl's- Lisbeth Salander and her journalist "friend" Mikael Blomkvist's cogs start running, there's no going back. The "juicy" part is so gripping you cannot stop. There'll be a lot of history and a lot of names and I think after reading you'll probably be very familiar with Swedish beaureaucracy and history. Dark secrets of how the government works and how far they'll go to hide their incompetence at the cost of people's rights and their lives. Now there are some issues with the way some characters are built up.
Lisbeth for some reason has been bestowed with all of the things you can imagine - Hacker? Check(even though the stuff she did is pretty basic in 2026 but a big thing back then), Photographic memory? Check, Has a very small build like a kid? Check, Tattoos all over her body? Check, but can also defeat 2 men on her own and ride a bike? Check, Queer?Check, Emotionally closed of? Check. She is the epitome of perfection when it comes to work, but normal human relationships? Not so much.
Michael Blomkvist- A ladies man of course, every woman he meets is just so drawn to him for some reason. Since the author was a journalist himself, he made Blomkvist- the guy who cares for everyone, loves the women he is with currently, but can't settle down xD.
I liked the mentions about feminism and sexuality, made me think they were way ahead of us back then as well in some ways or another. They actually discuss the lack of women workforce, the harrasment and stalking they go through if in a position of authority. But at the same time it shows a very powerful image of women through Lisbeth, Berger(Editor in chief of "Millenium"- The magazine Mikael and Berger run together), Monica Figuerola- the "gym freak" lady who works for the Swedish Security Police and Mimi(i won't reveal who she is :p, if you've read this far drop a balloon).
The first book starts with Mikael getting sued for libel by Wennerström- a businessman. His career and his magazine are going downhill and that is when he is hired by the head of the Vanger conglomerate- Henrik Vanger to investigate the disappearance of his niece - Harriet Vanger almost 40 years ago. Every year on his birthday, which is the same day Harriet disappeared- Henrik receives an exotic flower mailed by an anonymous sender which is why he just cannot make peace with her disappearance.
The other two books revolve more around Lisbeth herself but oh boy it just gets better and better.
Ps- all three books mention some triggering topics like sexual abuse and homophobia.
The difference I've seen in thriller books written 25 years ago and around 2020ish is humungous. The older books have SO MUCH to offer, the plot just keeps on thickening, branches out and just somehow it all ties down and makes sense. The only thing is- you need to be patient, which is something I'll also discuss in part 2.