The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson

There was so much hype around this book, that I wasn't surprised when the beginning didn't live up to my expectations. Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist who is ready to serve some jail time for a libel case, is diverted to a remote part of Sweden to solve an old disappearance case. Enter Lisbeth, the socially challenged girl with the dragon tattoo (I kept picturing Abby from NCIS but with a giant chip on her shoulder). They are an unlikely pair but support each other as one disturbing secret after another is revealed. The more embroiled I became in the mystery and the lives of the characters, the more I understood all the hype. There is even enough liberated Scandinavian sex to keep things interesting when the mystery gets too convoluted to follow. This is the first of three books in the millenium trilogy and the controversy surrounding the publication of these novels is almost as interesting as the books themselves.