Several months ago, after seeing multiple reviews for it in EW and other publications I respect, I decided to buy and read the book, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. And within the first few pages, I knew it was a little different–in fact, it was spectacular.

The book centers around two main characters; a young female computer hacker and a middle-aged journalist. The writing, the dialogue, and most of all, the character compositions are outstanding. The female heroine, Lisbeth Salander, is by far the best character I’ve discovered in the past decade. So interesting, so complex.

Sadly, the author Steig Larsson died in 2004. He wrote two sequels, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, but died while writing the fourth in the series. Rumor has it he was planning on writing 10 total books featuring Lisbeth Salander.

This book, and the two sequels, truly were amazing. They were like candy (or chocolate for all you chocolate lovers) — I couldn’t wait to read them and once I picked one up, I couldn’t put it down. The third one isn’t even available in the US yet — but my friend ordered a copy on Amazon UK and let me borrow it. That’s how obsessed we were with this author, these books, and the pixie-haired heroine named Lisabeth Salander.

Trust me, it’s worth the read. And let me know what you think if you do pick it up….