Day 1,228, Quasi-Quarantine: "The Man Who Played With Fire" Is A Long-Winded, Misguided Tribute To A Pioneering Journalist

 

"Stieg Larsson's three books - known as the Millennium Trilogy or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series -- have sold more than eighty million copies, but his greatest achievement wasn't writing thrillers. He devoted his entire adult life to fighting right-wing extremism."

Part homage to Swedish writer and journalist Stieg Larsson and part true-crime escapade into the unsolved assassination of Swedish prime minister Olof Palme, "The Man Who Played with Fire" is a book with an unresolved identity crisis.

Author Jan Stocklossa takes a lot of narrative license in his attempt to represent Larsson's words and thoughts, which can be a bit off-putting for some readers, especially when Larsson's actual death is treated more like a footnote. The work is exhaustive and comprehensive -- perhaps too much so -- but also could have been aided by the inclusion of certain pieces of evidence and imagery.

"Palme's, and therefore Sweden's, political philosophy was referred to as the 'third way,' a path that negotiated a space between the Capitalist West and the Communist East."

"The Man Who Played with Fire" loses significant steam at the end, when Stocklossa inserts himself into an ongoing investigation and portrays events that feel farcical and slapstick, leading one to question their veracity. Inconveniently for the author, soon after the book's publication, Swedish authorities announced they had identified the killer -- and it is not one of the many suspects pinpointed by Stocklossa at various points.

Fans of Larsson will appreciate some insights into his pre-Millennium Trilogy work and true-crime fans will find something in the myriad of conspiracies surrounding Palme's death. However, one can be left with the sense that "The Man Who Played with Fire" put too much effort into parlaying Larsson's death into a hunt that never truly coalesces.

"How could people in the 1980s, who appeared to be otherwise normal, participate in gatherings and organizations where fascist and racist views were expressed? The same people kept cropping up in political parties that seemed completely on the up-and-up, like the Moderates or the Liberals, and then gradually the boundaries were erased between the right wing, the right-wing extremists, and even outright Nazis."