The first novel in a trilogy delivered to his Swedish publishers shortly before the author's premature death, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - which has since become a bestseller - combines a contemporary feminist polemic with a good old-fashioned thriller. That the hero Mikael Blomkvist is a campaigning journalist specialising in exposés of the dubious financial dealings of international corporations does not prevent him from being attractive to the ladies; quite the reverse.

But his numerous affairs - including a liaison with the married editor of the magazine for which he works - only serve to underline what a decent chap he is. For Mikael - unlike several other key male characters in the novel - actually likes women. When, at the invitation of the octogenarian industrialist Hendrik Vanger, he is given the task of finding out what happened to the latter's niece, Harriet - who vanished 40 years earlier at the age of 16 - his first instinct is to refuse. But then a disturbing pattern emerges that links the events of that fateful day in 1966 with several other unsolved cases involving young women.

Before long, Mikael - with the assistance of his tattooed sidekick Lisbeth Salander - is hot on the trail of a suspected serial killer. Well written, pacy and at times frightening, this is not a novel for the squeamish - but for anyone who can stomach its grislier moments, there is more of the same to look forward to.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, trans Reg Keeland
Maclehose Press, £7.99 Buy the book here

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