As it is, Larsson’s The girl with the dragon tattoo has nearly 31000 reviews, 68% of them five-star. This book crossed paths with me on and off several times since 2010, but my instinctual response would always be: ‘ahhh? no.’.

IN 2023, however, I had no other books to read in the toilet, so I decided to settle the matter once and for all. If it’s such a super-thriller people kept raving about, then there was going to be only one way to find out.

What I don’t understand is how can so many readers be so stupid as to not realize the book is utter garbage. Worse, besides not doing its required duty (being a well-written thriller novel) it’s filled with subtle agenda points, agendas that Larsson himself espouses. For instance, he is casually flouting the idea of ‘open marriage’ which is a moronic oxymoron.

All I wanted was a thriller, but instead, for my time and effort, I got shoddy writing, an appalling plot, too much noise, and the worst detective writing I’ve ever read. Luckily, I didn’t read beyond the first two chapters–as I began to realize the rest of the 600 pages will be more of the same stupid writing.

The one-star reviews on Amazon echo my sentiments well, so I will not rant too much, but in closing, I want to say: I was intrigued by the book after I found out the author died shortly after writing these books (which somehow suggested the books were responsible for his death). I thought, well, the guy died writing them, so let’s see what it’s all about; only to discover that the books have nothing to do with his death.

In short, the books were most probably rejected by publishers and his explains why they weren’t published when he was alive. As to why someone tried to publish and hype them so much? Maybe it was part of a social experiment?

In any case, I won’t be reading any modern Swedish authors again. Life is short.