Lilbit Reads

I like to read books, so I figured I would narrate my inner thought process so I could look back on it one day and yell at myself for missing obvious foreshadowing.

Lilbit Reads: The Girl Who Played With Fire, Chapter Twenty One

Part 4: Terminator Mode

…I see.

SHE IS BACK!!!! YES. Now I am finally going to find out what happened for real, right!?!!?!?

Mostly we sum up her feelings while reading the headlines… It’s really quite sad; she’s so obsessively private, it must feel like the most supreme violation to have her life spread out for the world to see with plenty of misinformation to boot. I am still continuously amused by her blase attitudes toward investigating other people. She’s just taking names as they continue to blab to the press.

And then… we see how she reacts to Teleborian.

It was him in the prologue. Lisbeth was the girl, and he was the sicko. 

We hear all about Lisbeth’s terrible time in the psychiatric hospital. “Terrible time” doesn’t even do it justice—it is a veritable hell-fire. And yet this isn’t “All the Evil.” All the Evil must be the most tear-inducing thing on the planet because afterward is awful.

This… sickens me. I can’t even words.

We find out how she hacked into the police computer system in order to keep up on the investigation, or at least, tried. I’m sure she’ll get in eventually.

Blomkvist’s genius quote turned out to have worked and it was that which caught Lisbeth’s eye and got her onto his computer. We see the conversation from her point of view, and she makes me nervous with this thought:

Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaah please don’t tell me you killed them. :(

And the chapter ends with Lisbeth discovering Armansky installed security cameras. And nothing else. 

It’s nice to see you again, Lisbeth!

Lilbit Reads: The Girl Who Played With Fire, Chapter Twenty

We begin with Bublanski and Modig completing their interview with Miriam Wu, and then later wondering aloud if Salander may actually be innocent. They don’t seem to consider it too seriously, though they decide to pursue other leads.

They also decide to keep Mimmi’s appearance quiet… but Erkstrom is right there. So it’ll be out to the press soon enough, I’m sure.

Oh, just kidding. Herdstrom just leaked that info to the press to get Modig off the force and people back on Lisbeth’s tail.

And then I feel terrible bad for Mimmi as the world finds out her involvement with Salandar. I like Mimmi. :(

Overall I like Bublanski as well. The paper, at Herdstrom’s asshole request, made it sound like Modig had leaked the information. But Bublanksi lets her stay on because not all men are jerks. High fives, Bublanski.

And the press is going fucking nuts with the information about Mimmi and some band called Evil Fingers and everything is a giant shit-fest.

A few pages are spent with Bublanski and Blomkvist dicussing Lisbeth’s character and whether she’s innocent or stands a chance of showing it. Bublanski then goes and muses in a church. There is an awful lot of musing going on in this book. 

Then we go back to Bjork, who at this point, will obviously be playing a bigger role in this story. He’s fretting over Blomkvist and pondering the development. There’s a connection between him, Zalachenko, and Bjurman. He calls his boss (Zala? We can’t confirm…) and everything is frustratingly vague. Bjurman had talked to Bjork for a favor, when he was looking for someone with a little bit more clout than himself, someone who had a bone to pick with Lisbeth and could do a better job of killing her. 

Gahhhhh, I want to knooooow. :(

Lilbit Reads: The Girl Who Played With Fire, Chapter Nineteen

The chapter opens again with Blomkvist pondering Lisbeth’s innocence, running through the meticulous details of the case in his mind, thinking about the suspects. He declares to Berger that he’s going to be taking a break from Millenium for a couple of weeks to interview some people. We then cut to Bublanski and Modig who also are contemplating the case, specifically Svensson’s computer. This is a little bit of a pain to read through because the reader already knows this stuff and it slows things down… 

This chapter is long and jumps around a lot. So this review is also all over the place.

Bjorck, one of the johns Svensson was going to expose, falls for the “You won!” phone trick which I had completely forgotten about. Blomkvist answers and convinces him to meet and hopefully we’ll get some more information out of this guy. I would say he doesn’t matter that much, as Larsson will spend a lot of time on a character who doesn’t matter at all… But we’ll see.

Speaking of other characters, we are introduced to Paolo Roberto, who apparently knows Salander. 

Blomkist goes home to find another message from Salandar on his computer, and all she gives are frustratingly vague answers and I still don’t know for sure if she’s killed anyone. 

Then Mimmi is found! And arrested! And Modig and Faste sit her town to begin the interrogation. And Faste makes A COMPLETE ASSHOLE OF HIMSELF.

ALL OF THE THINGS YOU SAY ARE UNNECESSARY. STOP TALKING FOREVER. I WILL CONCEDE THAT I SWEAR A LOT. BUT I TRY TO AVOID ALL DEROGATORY SWEAR WORDS THAT TARGET A PARTICULAR GENDER OR RACE OR WHATEVER. FASTE. DO NOT SAY THE “C” WORD EVER AGAIN. YOU ARE AN ASSHOLE. THE “C” WORD IS MY LEAST FAVORITE WORD OF ALL THE WORDS.

ALSO, THANK YOU MODIG FOR SLAPPING HIM. EVEN THOUGH YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE DONE THAT BECAUSE I DON’T THINK GIRLS SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO HIT BOYS IF THEY SHOULDN’T HIT GIRLS. BUT THANK YOU ANYWAY.

Anyway, in the middle of this interview, perhaps to break up the amount of time us readers had to put up with Faste, we read about Blomkvist interviewing Bjork and freaking the guy out. And in Bjork’s head, we determine that there is some connection between Bjurman and Zala but I have no idea what and I still don’t even know who Zala is in the first place so I am not going to waste time thinking too hard.

My brain.

Lilbit Reads: The Girl Who Played With Fire, Chapter Eighteen

We now have three investigations going on. Armansky’s, Blomkvist’s, and the police force. It’s like a race or something.

Speaking of Armansky’s investigation, it turns out that Herdstrom, one of the guys he put on the job, actually hates Salander with a thousand fiery suns.

She caught him selling out the pictures of a singer he felt had slighted his flirtation advantages. Because apparently this singer should have been grateful that anyone was paying her attention. Or maybe she just didn’t want to get hit on, you freak. This is irritating. 

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck shit is real, you guys. :(

We sit in on a police meeting that sums up everything known so far about the case and the fact that Salander is nowhere to be found. Also, Faste annoys the shit out of me. His remarks throughout this entire conference are just… unnecessary and irritating as all get out.

Oh man, you know what would be great? If Faste gets busted for sex-trafficking. Please please please please please.

If you forgot, as I momentarily had, Erika Berger had originally planned to leave Millennium to work elsewhere. We read about her meeting with her boss and it turns out if she wants the job, she has to leave soon. Really soon. Within a few weeks. This makes me sad, but I’m not sure what it has to do with the rest of the story. 

Back to Blomkvist, after a long day of investigating and meeting up with Harriet Vanger (who is also booking it to Australia for a month), and then suddenly he checks his computer and!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OPEN IT OPEN IT OPEN ITTTTTTTT

Zala.

Who is Zala you guys?

Don’t answer that.

Lilbit Reads: The Girl Who Played With Fire, Chapter Seventeen

Blomkvist is a genius.

Not a computer genius or a mathematical genius or for that matter a Lisbeth Salandar kind of genius.

He is the clever kind of genius. The Press begins to call as soon as they find out he was the person who uncovered the crime scene, and he comes up with a clever scheme to get in touch with Salandar. He mentions that Svensson worked on an investigation into illegal computer hacking and assumes that Salandar will then take that opportunity as a means to contact him.

He writes her a letter on his computer hoping she’ll read it.

Please let that happen soon. I miss her. :(

Armansky holds a meeting with his employees and I can only presume he’s going to launch his own unofficial investigation into Lisbeth. 

I really do love Armansky:

 

Just kidding, he’s getting his men to work under Bublanski. This should be interesting.

We sit in on a conversation between the police task force and the psychologist that evaluated Lisbeth Salander when she was 13. I don’t like this man. He reminds me of the guy who ran the insane asylum in Beauty and the Beast. He says that Lisbeth lacks empathy, but I don’t think that’s true. I think she picks and chooses. He says that she’s egomaniacal and doesn’t think about anyone else but herself. Also completely false. For a psychologist, he really doesn’t understand her at all. 

Why can’t we all think like Armansky and Blomkvist? >:(

Lilbit Reads: The Girl Who Played With Fire, Chapter Sixteen

We open up on Blomkvist and Erikkson and his sister, who are soon joined by Inspector Modig. She asks to see Lisbeth’s hand bag. Blomkvist agrees, but removes the mace and hammer so as not to further perpetuate the idea of Lisbeth as a violent individual. (Side note: I did not know Mace is illegal in Sweden. Interesting. Usually people only use it here in the states to defend themselves…) While I appreciate what Blomkvist is doing for his friend, I have a strong feeling this is going to backfire.

Blomkvist and Erikkson are theorizing. Going through the list of possible suspects from Svensson’s work and thinking about how Lisbeth could be connected. Blomkvist admits to Erikkson that Lisbeth saved his life. Overall they err on the side of not guilty.

This contrasts with Armansky, who we end the chapter with. He’s erring on the side of guilty. But it seems to me that he too wants to do some investigating into Lisbeth as a possible murder suspect. 

But what?

Lilbit Reads: The Girl Who Played With Fire, Chapter Fifteen

The chapter opens with brief time spent with other Millenium employees and how they’re faring with the news. There’s Malm, who happens to be gay. The fact is largely ignored and presented as completely normal, which I think is great. 

Then, we follow investigator Holmberg as he meticulously goes through Mia and Svensson’s apartment and finds nothing except the absence of a computer. PREDICTION: Lisbeth has it.

There is a brief discussion about how because of the way they look and dress, Mimmi and Lisbeth are obviously prostitutes. I am not amused by these police officers.

Also, this line:

At least, I think Larsson is being satirical here…

Blomkvist declares they will find the murderer in Svensson’s book and commits his team to it.

The press conference occurs and Lisbeth is declared, more or less, a very volatile murder suspect. 

Then we meet up with Modig and Bublanski discussing the case, and their attention is brought to the lovely tattoo on Bjurman’s abdomen. They’re taking it as motive. Which makes sense. And given I am betting Lisbeth did indeed kill Bjurman, they’d be essentially right on the mark.

The chapter ends with Blomkvist thinking to himself and deciding that he will give Lisbeth a chance to explain before he decides whether she’s guilty or not.

I like you, Blomkvist.

Lilbit Reads: The Girl Who Played With Fire, Chapter Fourteen

The pace of this story is finally in high gear. I only wish it hadn’t taken so long.

Also, I am now listening to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo soundtrack while I’m reading, which makes all things more exciting.

We start following Modig in her search for Bjurman. She is at his apartment and finds the door is unlocked.

Suddenly, I get the feeling that Bjurman is really really dead.

And within half a page it’s confirmed.

And I am almost positive Lisbeth did this one.

Yes, Bjurman is a big poo-poo head to put it lightly. But Lisbeth. You aren’t stupid. You have to know by now the cops are after you. Why are you killing people. You should be running. Gah!

Essentially the cops issue an alert to find Lisbeth as soon as possible.

And then it turns out Bjurman has been dead for awhile, which means that Salandar is not being stupid. She killed him before the apartment murders, which, while terribly inconvenient given the circumstances, is not her being all-together stupid.

Blomkvist and Berger are talking about whether the book can be completed. It can. This makes me happy because I would love to see people still get busted in the end, though I do have the feeling another wrench will be thrown into the system soon.

Bublanski then arrives to interrogate Blomkvist and there is an uncomfortable moment where Berger and Blomkvist tell the cop the book Svensson wanted published is going to hang some cops out to dry.

The questions turn to Salandar. Blomkvist offers little more than what Armansky did. Then, a phone call from Faste announcing Bjurman’s death and a very surprised Blomkvist and Berger.

They break into Lisbeth’s old apartment in Lundagaten and put two-and-two together. Lisbeth doesn’t live there anymore, just Mimmi. 

Run, Lisbeth, run! :(

Lilbit Reads: The Girl Who Played With Fire, Chapter Thirteen

The first half of this chapter is spent at a meeting in the police office with everyone investigating. Larsson goes into lengthy detail about all of these people, but I am not going to pay much attention because he does this a lot and I suck at remembering foreign names as we have already discovered when I failed to recognize Palmgren and Bjurman both.

Also, real quick:

YEAH, TAKE THAT YOU BIGOT.

Okay, I’m good now.

The meeting goes over the case in detail with little more information than we already know. It wasn’t a robbery. Someone meant to kill them. There was an incredibly small time frame fro everything to occur. And then at a later meeting, they ~*SURPRISE*~ find Salandar’s fingerprints on the weapon.

I haven’t discounted that Salandar actually may have possibly killed these two, but I highly doubt it. However, as there have been few surprises so far, we are due for one. I think that there will be an interesting chain of events that explain her prints on the weapon. Unless her prints only got on the gun from that night in Bjurman’s apartment. Which would be a lame outcome.

The two cops, Modig and Bublanski attempt to track down Bjurman but find nothing. And then upon reunion with the other cops Anderson, Ekstrom, and Faste (Oh God how am I going to keep these names straaaaaight…) we get to sit in on a conversation where they talk about how completely screwed up Lisbeth Salandar is and you can tell they’ve all but decided she’s to blame for the murder if they could only find her. 

Bublanski goes to interview Armansky, and Armansky rips him a new one about his poopoo opinions about Salandar and what he read in her file. 

^ Armansky and myself. And now I can only picture Armansky as Seth Meyers.

And then Armansky, despite all of his awesome, tells Bublanski that Salandar and Blomkvist know each other.

And now I am sad. :( Run Lisbeth, run! :(

Lilbit Reads: The Girl Who Played With Fire, Chapter Twelve

….

Umm…

So this chapter is really short and literally nothing happens except Blomkvist announces to everyone that Mia and Svensson have been murdered. And everyone reacts and is sad.

Also there is a discussion about the ethics of publishing their material. What should they do? They can’t reveal sources, right? That would be a violation of journalism ethics or something or another. Blomkvist puts his foot down and says they will not publish. At least right now.

What Would Lilbit Do?

I would publish and then hand the bad guys over to the cops so they could investigate them one by one.

But, no, seriously, that’s all that’s in this chapter really…

LOOK IT’S A KITTY

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