80. The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

Not to sound too much like a twittering tween or anything, but here is what I wrote in my notes about why I wanted to read The Girl Who Played With Fire:

l-o-v-e The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, totes excited to read the next two!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(I'm funny.)

Mikael Blomkvist, crusading journalist and publisher of the magazine Millennium, has decided to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation between Eastern Europe and Sweden, implicating well-known and highly placed members of Swedish society, business, and government. But he has no idea just how explosive the story will be until, on the eve of publication, the two investigating reporters are murdered. And even more shocking for Blomkvist: the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to Lisbeth Salander -- the troubled, wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker who came to his aid in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and who now becomes the focus and fierce heart of The Girl Who Played With Fire. As Blomkvist, alone in his belief of Salander's innocence, plunges into an investigation of the slayings, Salander herself is drawn into a murderous hunt in which she is the prey, and which compels her to visit her dark past in an effort to settle with it once and for all. 

Plot summary lifted from the book jacket.

This book is similar to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, but definitely set apart enough so it's not a retread. I can't even explain how masterfully Larsson interweaves the subplots and drops clues and hints. I caught on to a couple of things, but didn't figure anything out (which I didn't mind). I was extremely interested to delve more into Salander's past, and the book does not disappoint. I've read that the character Salander is somewhat inspired by Pippi Longstocking, but I was a little surprised to see the reference made in the book. Completely works, though. Honestly, I'm not going to wax too poetic about this one, even though I could go on for days. I'm too behind in my posting and too close to the deadline to spend hours and paragraphs saying what basically boils down to this one thing: this is a great f#@*ing read and you should definitely check out this trilogy.