The Girl Who Played with Fire - Stieg Larsson

Having made her fortune because of someone else's dirty dealings in the last novel, Lisbeth Salander has escaped to the Caribbean, wanting a break and some weeks of sunshine. Eventually sated, she returns home, buys a new apartment and finds herself bored stupid. She hacks into Mikael Blomkvist's computer and discovers that he is working on a human trafficking case. Wanting to keep her distance from Blomkvist, primarily because she suspects she is in love with him, she begins her own investigations. Unfortunately, minutes after she meets with Blomkvist's main sources of information, they are brutally murdered, and so is someone else connected with Salander. As the main suspect, she is forced to go on the run, but with the number of people who are after her, it doesn't seem as though she will be able to escape for long. Will Blomkvist be able to save her?

This is the audio book version of the second book in Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy and is abridged into around eight hours of narration. Having not read the full-length version, I am unsure how much of the story has been removed; nevertheless, this is still a great story and one that anyone who enjoys a good read should enjoy - there's certainly still a great deal of story to get your teeth stuck into here. The story comes on 6 CDs, each of which is conveniently tracked so that it is easy to go back to where you stopped and find the right place. This is really necessary, because each CD holds over an hour of narration.

The narrator is Martin Wenner, an actor with a long list of credits for TV, radio and stage roles, although it's not a name I recognise. He's a good narrator, but is far from being the best, primarily because he doesn't differentiate between the different characters enough. Added to that, he has two different accents for Lisbeth Salander - a vaguely Swedish one that he uses when she is apparently speaking English, and then a Cockney one for when she is speaking Swedish. In hindsight, it probably made sense to differentiate between her speaking English and speaking Swedish, but it is initially confusing. It's also not clear whey he chose a Cockney accent; Lisbeth is a very down-to-earth person, but somehow, a Cockney accent doesn't seem to suit.

Whereas the last book concentrated mainly on Blomkvist, this story focuses on Salander. On her return from overseas, she gets in touch with her former friends, who believed she must be dead because she was out of touch for so long. Her contact with them is a great way of revealing little details about Lisbeth and her former life. Classed as a social misfit, she is considered to be mental ill and dangerous because of an event that happened when she was twelve, but the exact details aren't revealed. However, it is obvious that there is much more to her than meets the eye. She clearly cares deeply about certain people in her life, although she struggles to show them the affection they deserve. She is also a computer wizard and is excellent at self-defence. All in all, she is a great character; one that ought to be unconvincing, but is nevertheless such a mixture of extremes that it is impossible not to believe in her and find her realistic.

Blomkvist is very much the secondary character here, but as his background was revealed in the last book, that isn't very surprising. It isn't vital to have read the first book before reading this one, but it really does help give the characters, especially Blomkvist, some depth. From this story, it is clear that Blomkvist is very fond of Salander, for all she pushes him away. It is also clear that he has strong feelings about social justice and backing the victims. However, he is very much eclipsed by Salander and the strength of her character here. None of the other characters really have a voice - a couple do come to the fore for a short time, but then fade into the background again.

One definite advantage that the book would have over the audio version is that it is very hard to come to terms with the names. Obviously, most of them are Swedish and, when it comes to the minor characters, it is difficult to remember who is who - this is particularly the case when it comes to the detectives and the villains chasing Salander. Often, the only way to work out which character is being referred to is to listen out for their physical descriptions - one of them is described as being a giant of a man. Had the names been written down, they would have been easier to remember and, at least the reader could refer back to double-check.

The story is a really excellent one; the only possible criticism is that it isn't quite as good as the last one. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo had a much stronger crime fiction element to it, whereas The Girl Who Played With Fire is much more of the thriller genre - think a female version of Jason Bourne. It all comes down to what the listener is hoping for really. However, although perhaps not as good as the first novel in the trilogy, it is still miles better than most, if not all, of its competitors and really is worth a listen, read or watch - the subtitled film version is currently out in cinemas, so there is a choice of formats to choose from.

It is worth reading the trilogy in order, so if you haven't yet read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, then start there first. However, this is a worthwhile follow-up and it really sets the scene for the last book. Unfortunately, Stieg Larsson died before he could write any more, so we will just have to hope that the third book ties up all the loose ends. This audio book is hugely enjoyable, but the key thing is that you have the chance to get to know the story, in whatever format you choose - it would be a great shame to miss it. Recommended.

The audio book is available from Amazon for £7.97. Published by Quercus Publishing, there is 7 hours and 45 minutes of listening. ISBN-10: 1906694141