The Girl Who Played With Fire is a follow-up to the vastly popular pulp-fiction thriller The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and 2nd in Stieg Larsson's Millenium Triology series. These books were published a few years ago -- before the sad, untimely demise of the author. This was published in the US in 2009 and the third and final book ( The Girl Who Kicked a Hornet's Nest ) is scheduled to be out in May this year.

As far as sequels go -- this novel is as good as it gets. A much tighter storyline than the first one. Much more of a page-turner and focused and simply a better story. Yes, by itself, it is just another one of those novels that is never more than a guilty pleasure.

This time around, the asocial, strange protagonist Lisbeth Salander is accused of a double murder that she must dispel while battling the ghosts of her past and trying to stay alive at the same time. The villains are interesting and the plot slowly builds Lisbeth's terrible past for its readers. Certainly a worthwhile exercise.