The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson, 465 pages

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson, 465 pages

Mikael Blomkvist has been convicted of libel against a pretty corrupt businessman.  So when Henrik Vanger calls and says that he can give Blomkvist proof of the man's corruption if he agrees to investigate an unsolved murder, of course Blomkvist agrees.  He starts investigating a family mystery from the 1960s, and with the help of Lisbeth Salander, hacker extraordinaire, he comes so close to the truth that his life is in jeopardy.

I really wanted to like this book, because Lisbeth Salander is an appealing character- a tech-savvy young woman who doesn't care about anyone or anything, but handles her own and takes care of business.  However, this book was really unpleasant with the amount of graphic violence and rape.  I want everything to turn out alright for Lisbeth Salander, but not enough to finish the series.

The Last Days of American Crime, by Rick Remender

The Last Days of American Crime, by Rick Remender, 168 pages

In the (not so distant) future, the American government has decided not only to phase out cash money in lieu of plastic cards, thus making all transactions traceable, but they are also going to broadcast radio waves that will render Americans incapable of committing acts that they know are illegal.  This means that our 'hero,' Graham, only has 2 weeks to commit the perfect- and last- crime.

Once again, this is a very good example of 'just because there are pictures does not mean this book is for children.'  At all.  I enjoyed this- it was dark, gritty, and definitely in the vein of noir crime novels.  I consider the main character to be an homage to Sin City's Marv, but I could be wrong.  Expect the same level of violence, etc.