In every mystery we are introduced to the puzzle. In every puzzle there are puzzle pieces. Throughout the mystery, puzzle pieces are recovered. The only problem is, some puzzle pieces are missing so you must figure out what the picture is (or the main character must figure it out). I find these puzzle pieces to be quite frustrating at times, especially in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. For example, Blomkvist and Salander find a very interesting clue hidden in the bible. Earlier in the book, Blomkvist took a trip to Harriet's old cabin and found a list of numbers. After much research and trial and error, he realized that these numbers were bible verses. This led to one of the biggest discoveries in which he found that each bible verse indirectly described a string a murders. Salander was able to find many other murders that also had bible verses directly correlated to them. This is a big discovery because they finally have to some clue as to what happened to Harriet. It's always great to be introduced to more evidence, but I find it only raises more questions in my head. How did Harriet get involved with this serial killer? Why was she chosen? Who and where is this person? And many more as the book continues. I think that's honestly why so many people like mysteries because it makes you want to read to the end to find out the answer, but you also want to see how the characters unravel the whole mystery. This book definitely a quality mystery and it's also not too generic. I find when I read the classic mysteries, that they all have a pretty straight forward and similar plot. This isn't always true, but for the most part mysteries don't vary too much.
When I'm reading a book, I sometimes feel like if the characters are not very interesting, the book itself is not interesting even if the plot is good. Yet, if the plot is bad the characters can still made the book good. Luckily The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has a very good plot and characters, but I feel like it would just be good with the characters. Salander especially interests me, as I feel a lot of people are intrigued by her. She's so weak, strong, not confident, confident, not outgoing, outgoing, and so many other opposites all in one. For example, when she was sexually assaulted she did not turn to the police as most victims do not because they are afraid of the outcome. Instead she confronts her abuser and ends up getting revenge quite nicely. When you think about it, what she did was actually quite smart because she prevented her abuser from attacking her again, (she recorded him abusing her and uses it as blackmail) but she also got to see him have to face his consequences instead of risk talking to the police who may or may not believe her. I'm not saying what she did was smart, but it did work. She seems so innocent and self-contained and yet she's so smart and outgoing. I think Salander will continue to confuse future readers, but also show us how a character can evolve and not only have one specific trait.
