I read this book on the recommendation of a friend, and quite frankly at the start I was a bit unsure that I was entirely happy with the idea of reading it. It takes about a third of the book for the plot to get moving. I’m used to this from some British mysteries, which I adore in spite of it. The early part of the book is spent introducing an incredible number of characters, and once I’m thoroughly confused they start doing something.

In The Girl Who Played with Fire, not only is the reader confronted with a large number of characters, most of them are busy having sex with one another. I don’t think of myself as a prude, but I found it a bit much!

Once the action got going, however, it varied from good to great, and I’m planning to go on reading with the next volume. My friend recommended starting with this one rather than the first, and I’m sticking with that. With the number of flashbacks contained in this volume, I doubt I need to read the first one.

I found the characters rather engaging. The lead character is a young lady who is well outside the norm, and she defies probabilities in a number of ways, but she isn’t impossible–just odd. You’ll get to understand her more as the book goes on. For some time I thought she was simply too invulnerable, but that turned out not to be the case.

My favorite portion of the book was that I was surprised by several events near the end. I’m not got to put any spoilers in this review, so I won’t say in precisely which way I was surprised.

If you can get past the early portions of the book (don’t skip them–you need the information), and you like mysteries with elements of a thriller, then you’re sure to enjoy this book.