The Girl Who Played with Fire

For the film based on the novel, see The Girl Who Played with Fire (film).

The Girl Who Played with Fire
1st edition (Swedish)
Author(s)	Stieg Larsson
Original title	Flickan som lekte med elden
Translator	Reg Keeland (pseudonym of Steven T. Murray)
Country	Sweden
Language	Swedish
Series	Millennium series
Genre(s)	Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Publisher	Norstedts Förlag (Swedish), Quercus (English)
Publication date	2006 (Sweden), 2009 (United Kingdom)
Media type	Print (Paperback & Hardback)
Pages	631
Preceded by	The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Followed by	The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest

The Girl Who Played with Fire (Swedish: Flickan som lekte med elden) is the second novel in the best-selling "Millennium series" by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson. It was published posthumously in Swedish in 2006 and in English in January 2009.

The book features many of the characters that appeared in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, among them the title character, Lisbeth Salander, a brilliant computer hacker and social misfit, and Mikael Blomkvist, an investigative journalist and publisher of Millennium magazine.

Widely seen as a critical success, The Girl Who Played with Fire was also (according to The Bookseller magazine) the first and only translated novel to be number one in the UK hardback chart.

Synopsis

The novel is formally divided into a prologue followed by four parts. The prologue of the book opens with Salander captured and restrained inside a dark room by an unidentified male. To cope with being captured, she mentally replays a past episode when she poured petrol over another man inside a car and tossed an ignited match onto him.

Part 1 - Irregular Equations

Lisbeth Salander, after finishing the job on the Wennerström affair (described in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), disappeared from Sweden, traveled throughout Europe. The novel opens with Salander at the shores of the Caribbean in St. George's, the capital of Grenada. She has become interested Fermat's Last Theorem and mathematics, an interest that resounds with the opening page of each Part in this novel. From within her room in her hotel she observes on several occasions that her neighbor, Dr. Forbes, an American tourists from Texas, physically abuses his wife next door to her room. She also befriends George Bland, an introverted sixteen year old student living in a small shack, and she began tutoring him in mathematics. Salander finds Bland's company relaxing and enjoyable because Bland does not ask her personal questions, and the two develop a sexual relationship.

Lisbeth Salander utilizes her connections among the hackers' network to investigate Dr. Forbes and learns that Reverend Robert Forbes was once accused of mishandling of funds in his faith-based foundation. Currently he has no assets, but his wife is the heir of a fortune worth $40 million. Due to concerns for safety, the residents at the hotel begin to enter the hotel cellar as a hurricane hits Grenada. Salander remembers Bland and braves the strong wind and rain to collect him. As the two reaches the hotel entrance, Salander sees Dr. Forbes on the beach with his wife and realizes that he is attempting to kill his wife. Bland follows Salander to Mrs. Forbe's, and Salander violently strikes Dr. Forbes with an iron pipe. Lisbeth Salander, George Bland, and Mrs. Forbes successfully reach the cellar and received medical care, while Dr. Forbes was later confirmed to have died during the night while outside in the open.

Part 2 - From Russia with Love

The second part opens with Lisbeth Salander returning to Stockholm. Immediately before the Wennerström affair became public knowledge, Salander laundered a sum of three billion kronors into a disguised bank account. With this sum she purchased a new up-scale apartment outside of Mosebacke Torg and move out of her old apartment in Lundagatan. Salander sells half of her old apartment to Miriam Wu, a sex partner from her past, for the price of 1 kronor, under the condition that Wu forwards all of her mail.

Nils Bjurman, Salander's legal guardian, after the events of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, continues to brew a growing hatred for his ward. The hatred has slowly caused him to diminish his practice down to a single client -- Lisbeth Salander, with a singular goal of capturing her and destroying the CDs. He scrutinizes Salander's medical records, identifies an incident named "All the Evil" as well as a person from her past as his strongest ally.

In the meantime, Mikael Blomkvist, the publisher of Millennium magazine, has lost all contact with Salander for over a year, as she has refused to even open his letters. He is approached by Dag Svensson, a young journalist who has written a meticulously researched thesis about sex trafficking in Sweden and the abuse of underage girls by high-ranking figures. Blomkvist immediately throws himself into the investigation, planning to run Svensson's story in an upcoming issue of Millennium. On the other hand, Salander hacks into Mikael Blomkvist's computer and learns of the publication. She becomes intrigued by the name "Zala." However, shortly before the printing of the story, Svensson and his partner are shot dead in their Stockholm apartment, and Salander is missing. Salander's fingerprints are found on the murder weapon.

Part 3 - Absurd Equations

Blomkvist notifies Erika Berger, the editor in chief of Millennium and his occasional lover, of the double murders the same night. Next morning, the magazine office holds an emergency meeting to postpone the publication of Svensson's book and the associated magazine special. Instead, the staff decides to backtrack Svensson's research to ensure the accuracy of the material, and to comb through it for possible murder motives. Blomkvist decides to finish Svensson's book.

Prosecutor Richard Ekström assembles an investigation team, led by Inspector Jan Bulblanski, who demands that Sonja Modig be included in the team. The team identifies Salander's fingerprints on the murder weapon. They find Salander's formal record which establishes her as a violent, unstable, psychotic woman with a history of prostitution, and is currently linked to Armansky at Milton Security and Bjurman. The stark contrast between Armansky's trust in Salander's high intelligence and her official records surprises Bublanski. Bublanski then visits Blomkvist and Berger, who are puzzled by Salander's psychiatric history and her involvement with the murders, but Blomkvist also insists that she has no cognitive or moral deficits. While investigating her social circle, Modig finds Bjurman shot dead in his apartment, with Salander being the prime suspect. In the light of these new data, Ekström holds a press conference and discloses Salander's name and psychiatric history to the press. Blomkvist enlists the help of managing editor Eriksson to investigate the murders, during which he realizes that Salander has hacked into his notebook computer. He reaches out to her through his computer, and she points him to "Zala." He confronts Gunner Björck, a policeman on sick leave and a john in the sex trade, who agrees to disclose information about Zala if Blomkvist agrees to leave him out of Svensson's book.

On the other hand, Milton Security becomes involved in the investigation as Armansky decides to send Hedström and Bohman from Milton Security to aid the formal police investigation. Miriam Wu returns from a Paris trip to find herself taken to the police station and confirms Salander's intelligence and moral character. However, Hedström leaks Wu's identity into the press, and the press publishes extensively about Wu's ownership of a the Gay Pride Festival. The press also publishes about Salander's past from childhood to 11, and from 14 onward. Part 3 closes with Salander noting that the source who has been leaking information to the press specifically supressed information about a key event she calls "All the Evil."

Part 4 - Terminator Mode

We find out later that Zala is Lisbeth's father, and she had tried to kill him when she was 13 with fire because he abused her mother so badly she was put in a mental hospital. Lisbeth locates Zala and shows up at his home to kill him, but Niedermann is there and she is told he is her half-brother. Zala shoots Lisbeth in the hip, shoulder and head with a Browning .22, which is a very weak gun that doesn't kill her. Niedermann buries her alive, but she digs herself out and again attempts to kill Zala with an axe. Blomvkist, who had done extensive research, along with Lisbeth's computer hacking skills, arrives in time to attend to Lisbeth and call 112 (Swedish emergency services number). It's revealed that Niedermann was the killer of Bjurman, Svensson and Svensson's partner, and a search is put out for him since he fled the scene once Lisbeth tried to murder Zala with the axe.

Characters

Main Characters

• Mikael Blomkvist  – A journalist and publisher at Millennium magazine.
• Lisbeth Salander  – An antisocial private investigator, hacker, and accused triple-murderer.
• Alexander Zalachenko (Zala) a.k.a. Karl Axel Bodin  – A former Soviet spy who turns out to be deeply involved in Salander's dark past.
• Ronald Niedermann a.k.a. The Giant  – Zalachenko's henchman who is connected to Salander in way which she herself does not realize.
• Carl-Magnus Lundin  – The President of Svavelsjö Motorcycle Club (Svavelsjö MC). Sells drugs and is commissioned to kidnap Salander for Zala.

Related to Millennium Magazine

• Erika Berger  – Editor in chief of Millennium magazine and Blomkvist's on-off lover.
• Harriet Vanger  – Majority investor.
• Malin Eriksson  – Managing editor of Millennium magazine.
• Christer Malm  – Art director and designer of Millennium magazine.
• Dag Svensson  – A journalist who is writing an exposé on the Swedish sex trade.
• Mia Johansson  – Dag's girlfriend and doctoral student.
• Henry Cortez  – Part-time journalist at Millennium magazine.
• Lotta Karim  – Part-time journalist at Millennium
• Monika Nillson  – Journalist at Millennium magazine.

Related to Milton Security

• Dragan Armansky  – Salander's former boss and director of Milton Security.
• Sonny Bohman  – A former policeman and part of the team Armansky assigns to support the police investigation.
• Johan Fräklund  – Chief of Operations at Milton Security and assigned to support police investigation.
• Niklas Hedström  – Works for Milton Security and is assigned to support police investigation but sabotages it. A heart problem kept him from becoming a police man. He hates Salander since she caught him blackmailing a client.

Related to Police Investigation

• Jan Bublanski  – A police officer who is in charge of Salander's case, nicknamed Officier Bubble.
• Sonja Modig  – A detective in Bublanski's team.
• Richard Ekström  – A prosecutor of Salander's case.
• Hans Faste  – Working in Bublanski's team, causing trouble with his sexually discriminating attitude.
• Curt Andersson  – Police officer in Bublanski's team.
• Jerker Holmberg  – Police officer in Bublanski's team.

Other Characters

• Annika Gianinni  – Blomkvist's sister and an attorney.
• Miriam "Mimmi" Wu  – A kickboxer, university student and Salander's sometime lover.
• Nils Bjurman  – An attorney and Salander's current guardian since Palmgren's stroke.
• Paolo Roberto  – A former professional boxer and Salander's boxing instructor. The character is base on the real boxer Paolo Roberto.
• Gunnar Björck  – A Swedish Security Police officer and former punter abusing women. He is also the lead source for Blomkvist on Zalachenko.
• Holger Palmgren  – Lisbeth Salander's former guardian; she visits him in a rehabilitation home and they play a game of chess together. In her memoir "There Are Things I Want You to Know" About Stieg Larsson and Me, Eva Gabrielsson tells readers that this chess game was inspired by her brother Björn who Stieg Larsson used to play the game with and with whom he was very close.
• Greger Beckman  – Erika Berger's husband
• George Bland  – Teenage boy whom Salander has an affair with in Grenada.
• Richard Forbes  – Reverend and Salander's hotel room neighbour in Grenada.
• Geraldine Forbes  – Battered wife of Richard Forbes.
• Sonny Nieminen  – Part of Svavelsjö MC and involved in trying to kidnap Salander.

Reception

The English version was published in January 2009 and immediately became a number 1 bestseller. It received reviews from most of the major UK newspapers. Many reviewers agreed with Joan Smith at the Sunday Times that this novel was “even more gripping and astonishing than the first”. Carla McKay at the Daily Mail said that, like its predecessor, the book is "not just a thrilling read, but tackles head-on the kind of issues that Larsson himself railed against in society".

Most of the reviewers concentrated mainly on the character of Lisbeth Salander, with Mark Lawson at the Guardian saying that "the huge pleasure of these books is Salander, a fascinating creation with a complete and complex psychology". Boyd Tonkin in The Independent saying that "the spiky and sassy Lisbeth Salander – punkish wild child, traumatised survivor of the 'care' system, sexual adventurer and computer hacker of genius" was "the most original heroine to emerge in crime fiction for many years".

Cultural notes

The character of Paolo Roberto is an actual person. He is a former boxer and television chef who has also dabbled in politics. He played himself in the film based on the book.

In the first part of the book, Salander is exploring Dimensions in Mathematics apparently written by L. C. Parnault and published by Harvard University Press in 1999. On February 9, 2009, Harvard University Press announced on their website that this book, as well as the author, is purely fictitious.

The mysterious Karl Axel Bodin, in whose house Salander finds Zalachenko and Niedermann, is a historical name. Bodin was born in Karlstad and later moved to Sundsvall. He went to Norway to join the Waffen-SS; at the end of World War II, he was attached to the country's branch of the Gestapo. At the war's end, Bodin and another Swedish volunteer stole a car in an attempted escape to Sweden. The car's owner saw the theft, and soon a gunfight erupted in which the car owner and Bodin's friend were shot. Bodin left his friend behind and crossed the border.

Film and TV adaptations

• The Girl Who Played with Fire (film)
• Millennium (Swedish miniseries)

External links

• ImDB The Girl Who Played With Fire
• Current edition of The Girl Who Played With Fire on Amazon UK
• Fan site on WordPress
• UK publisher website for Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who Played with Fire