The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Plot summary from the author's website: Disgraced journalist Mikael Blomqvist is hired by Henrik Vanger to investigate the disappearance of Vanger’s great-niece Harriet. Henrik suspects that someone in his family, the powerful Vanger clan, murdered Harriet over forty years ago.

Starting his investigation, Mikael realizes that Harriet’s disappearance is not a single event, but rather linked to series of gruesome murders in the past. He now crosses paths with Lisbeth Salander, a young computer hacker, an asocial punk and most importantly, a young woman driven by her vindictiveness.

Together they form an unlikely couple as they dive deeper into the violent past of the secretive Vanger family.

I read this one at my parent's house over Valentine's weekend. It was my mom's copy so I had to leave it behind and now can't thumb back through to include some of the juicy tidbits I loved. I did love it. I saw it described somewhere as a classic "closed room" mystery; the main mystery, the disappearance and presumed murder of Harriet, did take place at a time when the island was closed to traffic so that comparison makes sense to me. The plot was twisty (and twisted) enough to keep me guessing for most of the book about which character was the villain. I enjoyed all the characters. The possible suspects were so numerous at the beginning that I thought I would never sort them out without using a graphic organizer but Larsson let their personalities shine through and made them into individuals. My favorite character would be Lisbeth, our young heroine; she is interesting through and through. The excerpt from book two that is included at the end might possibly be about Lisbeth's past - I really hope the book takes us there because it will be fascinating to unveil her history and see what made her the way she is now. I read another review that thought after the main mystery was solved, the book then dragged on a bit tying up other plot lines. I agree and disagree. Yes, that section feels deflated because there isn't as much interest and suspense but I really REALLY like to know what happens. I don't like vague endings so I'd rather suffer through a little plodding to get that level of satisfaction. And, of course, he had to set up book two - The Girl Who Played With Fire.