You could try The pillars of the earth, by Ken Follet. The sequel is World Without End.

Posted by nicole jones in barcelona ,

You can try the books of Jo Nesbo or Michael Robotham. I love to read the books of them too.

Posted by Petra in Netherlands ,

I haven’t read the following, but found them through Goodreads and Novelist while searching for readalikes for the Salander series—

* Studio sex by Liza Marklund

* Jar city by Arnaldur Indridason

* Sun and shadow by Edwardson, Ake

* Sun storm by Larsson, Asa

* Faceless killers by Mankell, Henning

* The Oxford murders by Martinez, Guillermo

also check out this

http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1318.Best_Scandinavian_Literature

Posted by bookish in nyc ,

Try Henning Mankell, good characters and you are still on Sweden.

http://www.henningmankell.es/

Posted by LF in CR ,

I love Swedish fiction, and have read many of the suggestions mentioned, but I don’t think anything compares to the Millenium trilogy. It is not just one genre- yes, it could be classed as a thriller, but there is so much more going on. The characters are so real they almost dance off the page, and this is not often the case in mystery novels. Also, the characters aren’t only well-drawn, they’re also so bloody weird and individual, as we are in real life!

Saying that, I do really enjoy the books of Jo Nesbo, a Norwegian writer. His first especially is excellent- can’t remember the name, but it skips between present time and Word War 1…anyone remember?

Posted by Lucy in San Diego ,

Diana Gabaldon Outlander series is excellent, and yes, Ken Folletts Pillars and world without end are great. also try Bryce Courteney,s Potato Factory,Tommo and Hawk and Solomons Song.

Posted by D.J. in Ontario California ,

Karin Slaughters books are excellent, start with first one and read them in order, if you can…as the characters and family relationships develop throughout. They are not for the faint of heart though, and deal with similar sexual issues that the Larsson books do ( I presume a bit here – as I have only read the first book – about to start the seond)

Posted by S.G. in Nashville, TN ,

Johan Theorin!

Posted by Sebastian in Victoria, BC ,

A book that is vaguely like it: Friday, by Robert Heinlein. A lot of the same themes and issues.

Posted by Henry Plantagenet in Baltimore ,

Michael Connelly, the Harry Bosch series

Posted by J in Florida ,

I’d recommend reading the Martin Beck novels by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, as well as Sara Paretsky’s ‘V. I. Warshawski’ series (Paretsky was name-checked in THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO).

Posted by Brad Stevens in London ,

What kind of “real life” effects has Salander had? In New York, we have just seen a petite young woman who stood up to, and “exposed” a subway flasher. Was she influenced by Salander? Are there other stories in the news from other parts of the globe that depict assertive women who seem to have been “inspired” by Salander to confront injustice?

FYI?I’ve expressed my fascination with Salander in a recent essay comparing her to Lady Gaga, etc: http://bit.ly/dU2vW1

I’d love to get responses. ?Linda

Posted by Linda Stein in New York City ,

Dear VMB,

If you like your fiction dark, and dealing with topics similar to the Millenium novels, try “The black Jewels Trilogy” by Anne Bishop. Set in an alternate world where dark magic is the norm, a young girl is in deep trouble–and surrounded by danger. Her life is in the hands of people that don’t understand or care for her–and the ones that do don’t realize her danger…until it is too late.

Try it. You might like it.

Peace!

Posted by Tina Loflin in Salisbury, NC ,

I don’t know if they have been translated to English, but most of the books by the Swedish author Camilla Lackberg are excellent, especially the one named Stenhuggaren (the Stone cutter). Asa Larsson’s books are set in the very northern part of Sweden and are also really good, but I read the Sun Storm in English and the translation is atrocious!

I second the recommendation for Arnaldur Indridason. His books are the closest that i’ve found to the Millenium trilogy. I also tried Henning Mankell but i didn’t enjoy his story telling as much.

Posted by ES in NYC ,

If you are into crime novels, there are many excellent Swedish authors. Everbody’s top-of-mind is, of course, Mankell but I find him rather conventional and old fashioned. I’d much rather recommend Håkan Nesser to an international audience: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Håkan_Nesser. His Inspector Barbarotti novels are my favourite. I don’t know if they have been translated to English yet. Best: en helt annan historia (“A totally different story”).

Posted by Martin in Frankfurt, Germany ,

Martin in Frankfurt, Germany:

Are the Berlin Noir books any good?

Posted by Bob ,

Bob.

Don’t know. Haven’t read them.

Posted by Martin ,

After reading the Millenium Trilogy I was hooked so I picked up a book called “The Ice Princess” by Camilla Lackberg because the cover said that readers of Stiegg Larsson would enjoy it. I’m almost finished and its been a HUGE disappointment. The book is more focused on romance than mystery. That being said, I look forward to reading books by Henning Mankell because I’ve heard great things about them!

Posted by Courteney ,

I have just written a book about a young woman named Lena who gets swept away in a human trafficking ring in North Western Pennsylvania and Southern Canada called Lifeline available at:

http://amzn.to/hKOtj5

The book costs just $2.99 as a Kindle E-Book (the app for the Kindle Reader on PC/MAC is FREE on Amazon.com). Readers of The Millenium Trilogy may enjoy this novel.

Go to Facebook.com/LifelineNovel for more information.

Posted by Dylan Brann in Erie, PA ,

Natsuo Kirino – “Grotesque” and “Out”.

Posted by fru in Poland ,

Lisbeth will be the nerd hero and alter ego for many of us. There will only be one Larsson so I guess we must move on to other literary greats able to create such inspirational characters.

Posted by Soleniska in New Haven ,

Tina -

Am a great fan of the “Black Jewels Trilogy” – just been re-reading it – as well as of Larsson, but have never put them together before. The settings could hardly be more different – but perhaps the heroines would have seen something of themselves in each other!

Posted by Symes in Newcastle-u-Tyne ,

Dunno if you can call them ‘similar’ – but if we are talking hi-octane, swedish fiction with a larger-than-life main character, I recommend the ‘Hamilton’ series by Jan Gillou… they are highly addictive and there are lots of them.

Posted by Hem in Denmark ,

First of all… I realize this post is pretty old…but I hope you didn’t read the Follet books about the church building. I mean, c’mon! No espionage, no real action…no guns… READ THIS: The Knowledge of Good And Evil by Glen Klier. It’s fast paced, lots of technology and an evil organization chasing the heros. THAT book will get you closer to a Lisbeth experience than just about anything else. Plus… you get to go all over the world with them.

Posted by Melinda Lu in Seattle ,