Name: Ned Hall

Occupation: Life Skills Trainer

Currently reading: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Would recommend to Hopkinton readers

Hopkinton resident Ned Hall, a 24-year old Life Skills Trainer at Wingate Neuro-Rehabilitation Center in Middleborough, spends his nights immersed in the first book of Stieg Larsson’s best-selling series about Lisbeth Salander, a private investigator, and Mikael Blomkvist, an investigative journalist, entangled in a thrilling murder mystery.

He decided to read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo after his father confirmed the hype about it and lent him a copy of the book. Ned was happy to find that he, too, agreed with the hype. 

 “It was different from John Grisham or James Patterson because there’s the background of the characters and their whole stories, but not just for the sake of needing background information. The murder mystery is just as important as the relationship between Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander.”

 Mikael Blomkvist, a single father and journalist for a financial magazine (and a bit of a playboy), watches his career dissolve after being convicted of libel, but finds hope when Henrik Vanger invites him to research the mysterious disappearance of his great-niece, Harriet Vanger, who vanished nearly 40 years earlier. 

 After discovering Lisbeth Salander hacked into his computer, Mikael employs the private investigator and seasoned computer hacker. Salander is a genius deemed insane after attempting to murder her abusive father. At the mental institution, she was sexually abused for years by her caretaker, the head psychologist, and, after her release, raped again by her legal guardian. 

 Although he found the pace a bit slow in the beginning, Ned says, “It’s almost kind of nice because it focuses on one character but then starts to go back and forth between [Blomkvist and Salander], until eventually they begin working together. ... You get sucked into it, because you’re waiting for that to happen, and you want to see how they start working together.”

 Ned looks forward to reading the entire series and enthusiastically recommends it to everyone. “It has a lot for everyone- romance, action, coffee and cigarettes.”

 The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is published by Random House and is available in nearly all major and local booksellers.