The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

(hb; 2006, 2009: second book in the Millennium series. Translated from the Swedish by Reg Keeland.)

From the inside flap:

"Mikael Blomkvist, crusading journalist and publisher of the magazine Millennium, has decided to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation between Eastern Europe and Sweden, implicating well-known and highly placed members of Swedish society, business and government.

"But he has no idea just how explosive the story will be, until, on the eve of publication, the two investigative reporters are murdered. And even more shocking for Blomkvist: the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to Lisbeth Salander -- the troubled, wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker who came to his aid in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and who now becomes the focus and fierce heart of The Girl Who Played With Fire.

"As Blomkvist, alone in his belief in Salander's innocence, plunges into an investigation of the slayings, Salander herself is drawn into a murderous hunt in which she is the prey, and which compels her to revisit her dark past in an effort to settle with it once and for all."


Review:

Played With Fire picks up a year after the events of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

A worthwhile sequel, this:  Played With Fire capitalizes on the many strengths of its prequel -- intriguing characters, fleet-footed plot and action, life-true character-based twists, and an ending that left this reader wanting more, now!

Not only that, but Larsson's first Dragon Tattoo sequel maintains the fresh plot-structural feel of the first book: both are non-formulaic (but familiar enough to be bestsellers) and character-true.

This, too, is worth purchasing.

Followed by The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest.

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A Swedish film version of The Girl Who Played With Fire was released in Denmark and Sweden on September 18, 2009. The film graced stateside screens on October 13, 2010.

Michael Nyqvist played Michael Blomkvist. Noomi Rapace played Lisbeth Salander. Lena Endre played Erika Berger. Michalis Koutsogiannakis played Dragan Armanskij. Jacob Ericksson played Christer Malm.

Peter Andersson played "The Lawyer Nils Bjurnson". Per Oscarsson played Holger Palmgren. Yasmine Garbi played Miriam Wu. Paolo Roberto played himself.

Johan Kylén played Inspector Jan Bublanski. Tanja Lorentzon played Sonja Modig. Magnus Krepper played Hans Faste. Anders Ahlbom (billed as Anders Ahlbom Rosendahl) played Dr. Peter Teleborian. Niklas Hjulström played "Richard Ekström - Prosecutor".

Micke Spreitz, billed as Mikael Spreitz, played Ronald Niedermann. Georgi Staykov played Alexander Zalachenko.

Tehilla Blad played "Young Lisbeth Salander". Sofia Ledarp played Malin Erikson.

Daniel Alfredson directed the film, from a script by Jonas Frykberg.