Does the Dog Die? A Brief Review of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson

I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for my book group, which now looks like it is defunct or reshaping or something. Otherwise, I was unsure about this one, because it’s a thriller and I don’t usually read thrillers. On the other hand, it’s also a bestseller and got rave reviews in a way that made it interesting to me despite its genre. Then again, it’s long, very long — 590 pages. It’s not that that’s ever stopped me from reading a book that interested me, but I was unsure about this one.

So now that I’ve read it, what did I think? My thinking didn’t change much at all. I still don’t like thrillers that much, and there were parts of this book that I found distasteful, like the violence. It made me wonder if the late author, who died in his early 50s, was a mysogynist, a misanthrope, both, or neither. I wonder that about just about everyone who writes thrillers.

I also understood why this book was so well reviewed. It brings in complex family relations, ethical questions, financial intrigue, and — something I always love — unusual characters with depth. I thought one of the two protagonists, Lisbeth Salander, was so improbable as to have stepped in from the fantasy/horror genre, but it was fun to follow her. Much of the violence can be skimmed (not skipped), too.  So I will recommend this to anyone who ever reads thrillers, even if they’re not your favorite genre.

As for animal violence, Larsson unfortunately fell into the usual trap of demonstrating the fact that serial killers do horrible things to animals, too. In this case, it’s a cat. Again, it’s skimmable but not skippable. There’s also a pigeon murder, damage done to a cow, and a rampage through a pet store that doesn’t end well. These comprise a small portion of what’s in the book, but they’re bad enough that I have to declare this book UNSAFE for animal lovers.

Does the Dog Die? A Brief Review of Agnes and the Hitman, by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer

One of the first things I did when sitting down to write this review was to visit Amazon.com and see if Crusie and Mayer have another book in the works. Great news: they do, to be issued next year! Now, do you really have to ask if I liked this one, their second effort together?

I’ve already reviewed their first collaboration, Don’t Look Down, which I really liked. But that book felt to me like they were trading chapters or segments of chapters instead of writing the book together. Agnes and the Hitman, on the other hand, reads like it was written by two people sitting side-by-side at the same computer. On her own, Crusie writes highly irreverent and hysterically funny romance novels with a mystery or problem-solving element that keeps slamming the two protagonists together in spite of themselves. Bob Mayer writes thrillers and adventure novels. And together, they are an inspired partnership in which Mayer’s fast pacing and aura of imminent danger and pacing adds urgency and heat to Crusie’s hilarious, passionate, and initially reluctant lovers.

So, what’s this book about, anyway? Agnes Crandall is a struggling chef and caterer who has staked her entire reputation and net worth on pulling off a wedding that the mother-of-the-bride seems intent on sabotaging. Enter the Mafia-equivalents and Shane, the hitman. While trying to sort the various heroes and villains from among her friends, acquaintances, and business associates, Agnes falls for Shane, Shane falls for Agnes, an alleged $5 million fortune may or may not be in the basement, the wedding is imperiled, a bridge gives out, and someone tries to kidnap Agnes’s dog, Rhett. And that’s just the outline. Sample passage: “…being shot at by a strange man shortly after having angry sex, shortly after having tried to kill your fiance, shortly after having a dognapper point a gun at you was a bad night for anybody, even a woman as tough as Agnes.” Read this book — you’ll love it.

About Rhett: the purpose of this blog is to steer people away from books in which horrible things happen to animals and towards books in which animals are treated well. So, spoilerish though it may be to say so under normal circumstances, I must say that Rhett comes to no harm. He’s fine. The kidnapper says on page 6, “I wouldn’t kill no dog,” and he doesn’t. Rhett does have some interesting little adventures, but he mostly sleeps. In other words, he’s a dog. There are also flamingoes, which go bonkers when isolated from their kind. Flocking birds need to be in a flock. Rest assured that any flamingo isolation is temporary, however. There’s also an alligator, briefly. I am happily declaring this book SAFE for animal lovers. Enjoy!