The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Stieg Larsson)

This mystery thriller, set in Sweden, starts out slowly with a focus on a journalist involved in financial reporting, but a few hundred pages in suddenly takes off with the investigation of a decades-old missing person case and a deeply dysfunctional but powerful family. The violence was intense, graphic, and appalling, but it made for gripping reading. Though the focus was on the journalist, the most fascinating character was "the girl with the dragon tattoo," a thoroughly intriguing, kick-ass, flawed but stalwart young woman. I will definitely read the other books in the series to learn more about her and her background.