Plot OverviewThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, written by Stieg Larsson, is a complex murder thriller set in Sweden. The plot involves power, family, love, sex and death, making it intriguing and fun to read. The story revolves around a wealthy Swedish family: the family of Henrik Vanger, whose great-granddaughter Harriet Vanger has been missing for the last 40 years. Since then, Henrick has made several futile attempts to find out what happened to her but all investigations have seemed in vain. Since her disappearance could not be justified, it was concluded that she was dead and her body was missing, Henrick dedicates much of his life to discovering the mysterious disappearance of his niece and somewhere inside himself holds his family responsible for the his destiny. Every year on Henrick's birthday, Harriet gave him pressed flowers and even 40 years after his passing she receives the same gift of pressed flowers every year from an anonymous person. He has been tortured by these gifts and is obsessed with finding the truth behind it all. So when she hears about Mikael Blomkvist, a daring journalist, who lost a defamation lawsuit supported by a corrupt Swedish business tycoon, Hans-Erik Wennerstrom, she decides to hire him to investigate Harriet's case. Mikael accepts his business proposal in exchange for a generous salary and some hard evidence that will help him unmask Wennerstrom and clear his name from the case. He leaves his position at the magazine company and moves to Hedeby, a small island where the Vanger family is located. To avoid any suspicion, he pretends to take on the task of writing a story about the history of the Vanger family as a pretext to gather data on Harriet's case. Blomkvist soon realizes that... middle of paper... a "national" hero. Even if his intentions are for the overall good of society, his means of achieving the end results are questionable. He represents a new modern hero who wants to fight evil by manipulating/rejecting the system. (Finn, 2013) Unlike other female characters, she is socially awkward, chaotic and radical and comes in stark contrast to Blomkvist's character. Blomkvist represents the power of education and journalism as a means to combat evil, while Salander represents the power of independence and violence to overcome evil. Works Cited Campbell, J. (2008). The hero with a thousand faces. (3 ed., page 432). Novato: New World Library. Finn, Patrick. (2013), “DRAM 571 Course Notes/Slides,” University of Calgary.Calgary, Canada.Larsson, S. (2008). The girl with the dragon tattoo. (p.465). New York: Penguin Group.