The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

About the book: 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 investigating 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.
 
First line: She lay on her back fastened by leather straps to a narrow bed with a steel frame.
 
My thoughts: As good as I thought the first one was I think this one may have been a little better. It was a top of the line thriller that grabbed me from the start and didn't let up. Which is good since it is a long book. The story line was different from the first book touching on social issues such as human trafficking, and the abuse authority figures can wield over those in their "care" to name a couple. 
 
I enjoyed "visiting" Sweden through the characters and was surprised at some of the commonalities such as McDonalds mentioned in the book. I did have trouble with names of people and places, but I found that keeping a little list of the secondary players and their roles helped a lot and kept me on track.  I can't wait to get to the next one and regret that it will be the last.
 
Challenges:
100+ 2012
TBR