The Girl

I can't write for long tonight.

I've got to get to bed with a cup of tea and my book. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "so this is what it is to be a young, single, girl about town, with the world at her feet and a spring in her step." You're right. I'm VERY rock 'n' roll.

Actually, this is a book like no other. It is the third in a trilogy of, quite possibly, the best books ever writ. I would urge you to go out and buy them immediately. I'm not really a thriller reader, but BOY are these thrilling!

They were written by a Swede who, rather sadly (but actually, kind of adding to the appeal...) died having sent the manuscripts to the publisher, and before he knew that they'd be published at all, let alone that they'd become something of an international phenomenon. I gather that they were meant to be the first three in a series of many, but I suppose we will never know...

So. The first in the series is The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. You should start here. Don't even THINK of reading them out of order. You'll become more confused than a confused thing. OK, so the first chapter has got more information in it than Norris McWerter's brain, but don't labour over it - it's enough to get the gist. Things REALLY hot up after that.

Move on then to The Girl Who Played With Fire. It's the second of the three, you see. By now you will have discovered a love for a leading lady who is, on paper, remarkably unlovable. You'll be rooting for her.

Things happen that will make you sit up, slack jawed, and realise that you've not breathed for half an hour.

Things happen that make you read so wide eyed for so long that your eyes will start to water.

Things will happen that will make you say, out loud, regardless of whether you're, say, on the Tube at the time (*blush*) "OH MY GOD!"

Finally, you may join me here, at book three; The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest. This is what I'm abandoning you to go to bed with. Don't get me wrong. I love you all. But I love Steig Larsson more.

This morning I sat down to read for half an hour whilst I had a cuppa and closed my attractively slack-jawed mouth two hours later, having had two "WTF!" moments.

How I've got until now without picking it up again, just for a sneaky peek, I don't know. It's pretty compelling stuff.

So there it is. Not one, but three book reviews. Don't delay, order them immediately (here, maybe) and see what I'm talking about. You will lose roughly three weeks of your life, become slightly sleep deprived and possibly dehydrated, and perhaps need to keep an eye on your blood pressure, but by god, it's worth it!