OK, I've watched this book to suddenly show up on the bookstore shelf, quickly occupy the Most Popular category and then slowly sunset into the bargain bin. At which point I stopped dragging my feet and actually read it.

On the positive side, the book is very readable, the plot realistic enough, the writing style robust and engaging. If you want a crime novel that doesn't make you feel an idiot after you've read it, this one fits the bill pretty well.

(SPOILERS AHEAD!!!)

The book is not perfect though. The characters, so realistic and believable for the most of the narration go haywire toward the end. The main protagonist, an Aspberger syndrome afflicted girl with history of abuse and uncanny investigative skills turns into a super-hacker easily penetrating any computer system, manipulating major financials transactions and camouflaging as other people with the ease that should make James Bond cringe with envy. One of the two antagonists, who starts as a fairly believable financier, who has some skeletons in the closet, and is not particularly picky about means, turns into a quintessence of evil, doing deals with anyone from the Russian Mafia to the Colombian drug cartels, trading enriched uranium etc. All of this definitely spoils an otherwise good book.

The other issue with the book is a constant treatment with the Author's view on the social justice. We are constantly reminded that the financial markets are merely parasites on the Swedish economy, that the big Companies are no more than a bunch of fraudsters. Same with the Author's view on what justice means. Apparently, it is perfectly acceptable to hack into other people's computers - even more so when they are bad guys. Using emails and documents obtained by these means is apparently perfectly fine as well - it's used for a good goal after all. One might argue that these views are those of the book characters and not of the Author, but they are way too explicit in the book to be ignored.

Overall, the book is not bad - nice read for a crime novel but with its own shortcomings. Based on the developments toward the end, I have a feeling the two sequel books will not be as good but this remains to be seen.