Dark Swedish examination of family disappearance and the systematic brutalisation of women. I'd honestly rate it 4 stars if I didn't hate the ending as much as I do. I really, really dislike that it's all covered up - basically, for all its emphasis on misogynistic violence, with all the sad little real life statistics that open each section, all the dead women in this text are props. They get no justice, their families are left in limbo, and the good guys - such as they are - are fully complicit in their erasure. The problem is, by the end, they're not good guys. Blomkvist is right. He is corrupt. Pretty much every fucking person in this is complicit in the cover-up of mass rape and murder and I end not liking any of them. Blomkvist, Henrik, Harriet... I hate them all.

Look, this is still a well-written mystery that segues into thriller. I liked a great deal about it that wasn't that shitty ending. Also, the title seems a little misleading. Lisbeth is far and away the most interesting character, but it's Mikael that gets three-quarters of the page time. If only he choked on it.