I doubt you will read a better book this year (Val McDermid)Intelligent, complex, with a gripping plot and deeply intriguing characters. The author's early death is a great los (Philip Pullman)What a cracking novel! I haven't read such a stunning thriller debut for years. Brilliantly written and totally gripping (Minette Walters)

Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder - and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family.

He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the tattooed, truculent computer hacker Lisbeth Salander to investigate. When the pair link Harriet's disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history.

But the Vangers are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves.