It’s Two-Sided Tuesday time!  I actually flip-flopped between the pairs of books I wanted to talk about this week about.. hm.. five or six times, but yesterday I went to see a friend of mine and she mentioned the Stieg Larsson books to me and it pushed me over the edge.

You might have been hiding in some remote place (or just not visiting book stores) if you haven’t seen Stieg Larsson’s books.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who Played with Fire and The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest which will be released on May 25, 2010.  I’ve only read one of these books (the other two are on my TBR list) so that’s the one I’ll talk about here first.

I still have mixed emotions about this book.  I alternate between recalling the intense boredom I had for the first, oh, 2/3rds of the book and the “frantic need to read” feeling I had for the last 1/3rd of the book.  There was so much patient, careful set-up that it almost put me off finishing and in chatting with my friends in the area here, that feeling is mutual.  That said, the last 1/3rd of the book is what really makes The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.. that and the actual girl, Lisbeth Salander.  Salander ranks high on one of my favorite characters in modern literature today.  I loved how complex she was and, frankly, she’ll be the only reason I pick up the next two books to read.  I can’t imagine putting myself through the torture that was the first part of this book again.  With that said, if you are aching for a good mystery and just can’t make yourself read through pages of set-up… why don’t you check out this book?

This is actually the second book written by Tara French.  The first, In the Woods, was good as well, but left me unsatisfied.  The Likeness blew it out of the water, in my opinion.  Cassie Maddox is a fantastic character and one I could easily connect to.  Not quite as complex as Larsson’s Salander, but I loved how strong she was and how determined to do the right thing.  And, let’s face it, in this book she puts herself in 10x the amount of danger that Salander put herself in.  From the first chapter I was sucked into this mystery and I found myself believing the words on the page, despite the premise being a completely unbelievable one.  I don’t read a lot of mysteries and thriller’s these days, but this book earned a spot on my actual bookshelf.  It’s fantastic and I highly recommend it.

My actual review of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo can be found here.

My actual review of The Likeness can be found here.

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