Match BookThe Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Stieg Larsson
2005 · 480 pages · Thriller
How it reads
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is thriller (scandinavian investigative thriller, specifically), and its dominant mood is tense. The suspense is the kind you feel in your shoulders. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.
It's set in an international setting, in the present day, told in the third person across several viewpoints. Its central concerns are justice, secrets and power and politics. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.
It opens a series. It ends on a cliffhanger, so have the next book ready. At 480 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's a mega-bestseller — the book everyone seems to have read.
Pick it up if…
- you're in the mood for something tense
- you want a book that pulls you through
- you're drawn to stories about justice
Maybe not if…
- you need something cosy or heartwarming
- you want dense, lingering prose
- you hate waiting for a sequel
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- thriller
- Author gender
- male
- Author experience
- early career
- Setting: place
- international
- Setting: time
- contemporary
- Mood / feeling
- tense
- Pace
- fast paced
- Tone / weight
- balanced
- Length
- medium
- Narrative style
- third person, several viewpoints
- Publication era
- modern classic
- Popularity
- mega-bestseller
- Series vs standalone
- first in a series
- Themes
- justice, secrets, power and politics
- Ending style
- cliffhanger
What these mean: the 15 dimensions of a book.
Books with a similar reading
The closest books in Match Book's catalogue across the same dimensions, and what they share.
The Jigsaw ManNadine MathesonShares: thriller, tense mood, balanced tone, fast paced
Fever DreamDouglas PrestonShares: thriller, tense mood, balanced tone, fast paced
The Odessa fileFrederick ForsythShares: thriller, tense mood, balanced tone, fast paced
WonderlandJennifer HillierShares: thriller, tense mood, balanced tone, fast paced- ZeroesChuck WendigShares: thriller, tense mood, balanced tone, fast paced
Don't Close Your EyesHolly SeddonShares: thriller, tense mood, balanced tone, fast paced
Appears in
Find a copy
Reviews on Goodreads ↗Match Book earns a commission on purchases made through these links, at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, Match Book earns from qualifying purchases.