The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an award-winning crime novel by the late Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson, the first in his Millennium Trilogy.
At his death in November 2004, Stieg Larsson left three unpublished novels that made up the Millennium Trilogy. It became a posthumous best-seller in several European countries as well as in the United States. Stieg Larsson, who was disgusted by sexual violence, witnessed the gang rape of a young girl when he was 15. Stieg Larsson never forgave himself for failing to help the girl, whose name was Lisbeth - like the young heroine of Stieg Larsson's books, herself a rape victim, which inspired the theme of sexual violence against women in Stieg Larsson's books. Readers call Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo a national bestseller and an international success. It is quite hard to define the genre as it contains elements of murder mystery, love story, and financial puzzle. Harriet Vanger, a descendant of one the wealthiest Sweden's family disappeared almost half a century ago. Her uncle does not give up and goes on to search for the truth. A journalist Mikael Blomkvist with non-formal punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander start the investigation. Two of them meet injustice and corruption.
Reviewer Dessaix writes that "Stieg Larsson's favourite targets are violence against women, the incompetence and cowardice of investigative journalists, the moral bankruptcy of big capital and the virulent strain of Nazism still festering away ... in Swedish society." (Summary by Wikipedia)