My daughter read the trilogy 2 years ago, and when she finished, she got my husband and I hooked on them. When we asked our relatives in Sweden and Norway about it, they ALL raved about the books, and thought the Swedish-made movies were really good, so my husband bought all 3 of them. (I just couldn't watch the violent and disturbing parts.) We both thought the movies really captured the essence of Lisbeth's character. I haven't seen the new release (U.S. version) yet, but it's on my list.

Here's an interesting side note concerning the mention in this thread of the "7-10 books" -- One of my husband's Swedish cousins sent us a newspaper article that included part of a note that Larsson sent to his editor after the editor read the manuscripts of the trilogy. (Larsson brought in all 3 manuscripts at the same time, and died before the first one became a best seller, so he never knew what readers thought of them. ) He told his editor in the note that he was planning to write some more books, using a secondary character in the trilogy and developing that character as the focus for some of the future books! Now, everyone's trying to figure out WHICH character that was! (No, Lord John's NOT part of the Milennium Trilogy! )

I had no idea he planned a spinoff with a minor character. I guess it's interesting to contemplate, but too sad that we'll never know.

I think I'm the only person in the world who really disliked (okay, to my friends I've actually used the word "hated") The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I thought the writing was terrible and overblown and was annoyed by the constant product placements (do we really need to know all the specs of every piece of technology?). Most of all, I felt the author went beyond exposing violence and brutality and went so far overboard that the book felt like wallowing to me. I wanted to take a shower by the time I was done. I've read plenty of mysteries and thrillers, so it's not the fact that this was a violent book that turned me off so much. I just felt that so much was done for the shock value and the sensationalism.

OK, maybe it's just me... but whenever I hear someone raving about this book, I have to chime in and be the naysayer. To each his own!

Lisa, "there's the two of us now." I slogged through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, hoping to find more than the occasional patch of writing that would draw me in. I never found it. I thought that the author did indeed wallow in one scene after another of sado-masochism. Just how many vicious perverts dos that place have running around loose? Like you, I am a mystery reader (when she was young,my daughter thought the "M" on my library books meant murder), but darkness and violence should serve the purpose of the story, not exist in an unending parade for its own sake. I won't be reading any more of this series...just not my thing.

In all fairness, I DO have to admit that a lot of the intrigue for my husband and I was that we had been to some of the places and streets in Stockholm and Goteborg (Gothenberg) that Larsson used in the novels. Also, it was fun to see the description of some of the cultural things (Blomqvist's summer home outside of Stockholm, the Swedes CONSTANT need for coffee!!!, etc.) throughout the books.

Yup, there were some REALLY creepy parts, but I was really taken by Lisbet's character and the ways she chose to deal with things in order to survive, and how she interacted with the various other characters.