This review is intended for Americans who have seen the subtitled Swedish movie version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which only just opened the weekend that I'm writing this, but have not read the book by Stieg Larsson, and are curious if the two differ.

The movie is about 95 percent faithful to the novel. Having read the novel, I was surprised how true the movie was to Larsson's intricate, but understandable, plot.

But there are differences.

For one thing, Erika Berger (played by Lena Endre) is a major character in the novel, but here she is merely depicted as the person in charge of the Millennium magazine's office. She's the attractive middle aged woman who kisses Mikael Blomqvist (Michael Nyqvist) after following him as he leaves the office early in the movie. In the book, she and Blomqvist have been having a torrid affair for years. And she is married. And her husband tolerates the affair. (Those Swedes!)

This has a significant impact on the ending of the novel. What is not depicted in the movie is that Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) has fallen in love with Blomqvist by the end and goes out to buy him a very thoughtful gift for when he gets out of prison. But when she approaches his place with the gift, she sees him and Erika coming out of his apartment laughing, kissing, arm-in-arm. It breaks Lisbeth's heart to see this and she tosses the gift into a Dumpster. That's how the novel ends.

The part about Lisbeth spending her stolen fortune on a tropical vacation is actually the beginning of the second novel, The Girl Who Played with Fire, which sends Salander and Blomqvist off on a new adventure a year after the end of events in the first novel.

Dragon Tattoo contains intriguing hints about Salander's early life. Why was she in a mental hospital? Who was the man she set on fire? All this is explained in the second novel as we learn all about Salander's ugly life story. And believe me, it is ugly. If any woman in fiction has earned the right to vengeance, it is Lisbeth Salander.

I have read all three in the Millennium trilogy. I can testify that if you liked Dragon Tattoo, book or movie, you will love Played With Fire, which is the best of the three novels and the most action-packed.

The third novel, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, is actually a sequel to Played with Fire. In fact, Hornet's Nest begins at the moment Played with Fire ends.

The last two novels have already been filmed in Sweden and, at the time I write this, await release in the U.S. And as we know now, Dragon Tattoo is due for an American remake for release in 2012. Presumably, Hollywood will also film the entire trilogy.

I seen postings bemoaning an American remake. I am not among them. I envision six movies featuring Lisbeth Salander and, to me, that's pure bliss. One down, five to go.

How tragic that Larsson cannot give us another book. He died of a heart attack before he even saw the publication of his trilogy, much less see his writings become the stuff of fiction and movie legend.