"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson

Book Details:
Title: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Author: Stieg Larsson
Published: 2009- Random House, Inc.
ISBN: 978-0-307-45454-6
Pages: 590 pages
Genre: Fiction- Mystery/Crime
Rating: 5 of 5
Read In: 8 days

My Review:
I always regret when an amazing piece of literature is in publication for years before the masses catch on. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a very successful crime novel hailing from Sweden, by author Stieg Larsson. It finally reached mass popularity in the United States upon the release of its movie adaptation. Suddenly, copies of the novel and its subsequent The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest started appearing in stores all over the country, and they were flying off the shelves.

"The Girl" these novels follow is Lisbeth Salander- the quiet, tattooed, and eccentric freelance investigator for a security company. She joins black-listed journalist Mikael Blomkvist on the job of a lifetime. Mikael is approached by the elderly Henrik Vanger, former-CEO of the Vanger Corporation, and patriarch of the Vanger family. After pleading guilty to a libel charge he did not commit and stepping down as publisher of his own Millennium magazine. Blomkvist is looking at financial ruin and the collapse of his magazine, so he reluctantly accepts the old man's request to relocate to his family's private island for a year and write a chronicle of Henrik, his family, and their lives as majority share holders of a successful multinational corporation. The one catch is that while collecting information for the biography, Blomkvist must also try to solve the 30+ years old disappearance of Henrik's niece Harriet from that very island.

As Mikael seems to be uncovering new clues and information, Henrik's personal lawyer hires Lisbeth Salander to aid Blomkvist in his extensive digging into the events of the day Harriet disappeared. Initially cold, quiet, and difficult to get through to, Mikael and Lisbeth begin to trust and respect each other for their skill in their chosen fields, forming a perfect team to pry into the lives of this rich and respected family and prove that everyone has skeletons needing to stay in the closet.

The character who seems the least to be changed by this year-long adventure is actually the character we see the most throughout the story. Salander remains very cold and distant, virtually uncaring, until well into her partnership with Blomkvist. Toward the end, we see her heart start to thaw a little and her true thoughts and she begins to allow herself to have emotions toward people, even if she never shows them. Having not yet read the next two books, I would believe this social acclimation place a central role throughout the series.

I found The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo to be a very brilliant crime novel with fascinating characters and a very unique crime to solve. I would definitely give it five out of five stars and highly recommend to everyone.

"Only Time Will Tell" by Jeffrey Archer

Book Details:

Title: Only Time Will Tell

Author: Jeffrey Archer

Published: anticipated September 2011 by St. Martin's Press

ISBN: 978-0-312-53955-9

Genre: Drama

Pages: 386

Rating: 5 of 5

Read in: 6 days

My Review:

Harry Clifton is the only child of a deceased dock worker and a waitress, though it doesn't take long for his intelligence and choral talent to shine through and he's whisked away to some of the best schools in England- those rarely attended by anyone in the lower class. He grows up blissfully ignorant of the scandals surrounding his entire existence, as hints that expose several deep-rooted lies begin to fall into his lap. The story takes place in World War II era England- a dramatic, violent backdrop for an equally tumultuous series of events. Harry must learn to accept the truths he discovers, among them are the circumstances of his father's death, his uncle's imprisonment, and his true parentage.

I was amazed at how quickly the book sucked me in. Archer's multigenerational points of view naturally develop the plot more and more with each character's side of the story. The reader gets to experience the conflict from not just the eyes of the primary protagonist, but from five other major characters of varying age, social class, and occupation and learns each character's deep, dark secrets firsthand.

Being the first book in The Clifton Chronicles, documenting Harry's life from 1919 to 1940, I immediately craved its sequel as I finished the last page, desperate to know what happens to Harry Clifton as another great event begins to unfold. Archer's chosen ending to this installment leaves the reader in awe of what could possibly happen next! A job very well done! Giving Only Time Will Tell five out of five stars still doesn't seem to do it justice.

"Jane Was Here" by Sarah Kernochan

Book Details:
Title: Jane Was Here
Author: Sarah Kernochan
Published: 2011 by Grey Swan Press
ISBN: 978-9800377-2-2
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 296
Rating: 4 of 5
Read in: 7 days


My Review:
I received my copy of this book through Goodreads' First Reads program. While it took me a bit to get into the story, in definitely will not let the reader soon forget it.  A very intriguing set of characters and a multi-dimensional plot will eventually win over any fan of mystery or historical fiction.


To be honest, I hated most of the characters, but I think (I hope!) this is what the author was going for. Every character is actively portrayed as heartless and selfish. Only when Jane comes to town does any real emotion show among the characters, though only towards Jane. It's as if Jane IS the very heart of Graynier. Also, all of her present-day characters are horribly corrupt and crude, and most of the 19th century characters possess unfavorable traits. Marly Walczak, for instance, is the "town whore" and mother to an illegitimate daughter quickly following her mother's example. Marly also happens to be the reincarnation of Graynier's founder, taking on symptoms of his suffering and death from tuberculosis during her own suffering with cancer, suicide attempt, and eventual death in a fire. Whores, a drunk, a thief, a drug dealer, a man who feels no love for his child, a runaway, out-of-control children- present-day Graynier has them all. As well it seems it should given it's dark past. Many characters seem to take on habits and characteristics of their earlier counterparts. Gita Poonchwalla is considered a kleptomaniac, stashing stolen items under her bed. In her previous life as Jane's sister Rebecca, habitually stole money from her father. Both meet their fate at the bottom of Pease Pond.


The story line is very inventive. Strange and unfortunate things begin happening in the small Massachusetts town of Graynier upon the arrival of a young woman who speaks and acts as if she has jumped straight out of the 1800s. And indeed, she kind of has. She seems to be the missing link that kept the old souls calm and stirred them up upon her arrival. "Jane" volunteers no information about herself as she walks right into the home Brett Sampson is renting while spending the summer with his estranged son. She simply makes herself at home, demanding that this was her home two centuries before. She has a strange pull on Brett and so begins the quest to uncover the truth about the town's dark, horrifying past, and the inhabitants whose souls seem forever bound to this cursed place. The plot is very involved and deep, and Kernochan leaves plenty of hints and clues as to the true identities of the characters, but doesn't always come out and say it, giving the reader the satisfaction of independently putting a few pieces of the puzzle together.


I really enjoyed the format Kernochan uses to develop her story. Divided into three parts, each part focuses on one dimension of the overall plot. Part one introduces the present-day characters and lets the reader view their lives and problems already existing before "Jane" shows up in the small town of Graynier, Massachusetts. Part two is a collection of letters Jane writes to the man she loves, Lysander Trane, in the early days of America. It introduces and follows the characters living in Graynier during the mid-1800s. Finally, the third  part drives home the relationships between the 1800s residents and their reincarnated selves driven back together in Graynier to relive the tragedies of their previous lives. Part three takes what feels like two completely unrelated story lines and seamlessly combines them together. The only change I would have liked to see in the format would be dates on the letters in part two to better track progression of time.


I think the town's historian Elsa Graynier sums up the entire premise of the book toward the very end when she says: "When you get old you know that everything comes and goes and then comes along again." While a little slow-moving at the beginning for my taste, I promise the read is well worth it! Very few other books have left me stunned clear to the conclusion. I give Jane Was Here four out of five stars for inventiveness and story-telling ability. Not many novels are written in present tense, so the author is to be commended for shaking up the literary community with a little variety in writing style. I wouldn't say the book was life-changing for me but it is, without a doubt, one of a kind.