In The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Chapters 1 and 2 plunge the reader into a world where corporate and political ambitions clash with sharp social critique. As the story opens, we see the fallout of a government campaign to promote democracy in Eastern Europe—a move intended to tap into emerging markets and fuel economic growth. While these initiatives aimed to create a profitable frontier, the outcome was, in many ways, an economic disaster. The venture largely failed, with taxpayers shouldering the burden of interest-free loans to industries that ultimately provided little return. Unlike conventional bank loans, which yield mortgage collateral or interest payments, these investments left the public holding the bag, with little to show for it.

Amidst this political backdrop, the fall of the Berlin Wall symbolically ushers in a shift: former Bolsheviks, once staunchly opposed to capitalism, now find themselves adapting to market-driven strategies, positioning themselves as players in a new, profit-oriented game.

In this setting, we are introduced to the Wennerström Group, a sprawling investment firm that juggles a range of financial ventures—property, securities, options, and foreign exchange, to name a few. The company’s approach reflects the high-stakes, volatile nature of this world, one that protagonist Mikael Blomkvist encounters firsthand. He recalls a personal financial hit, a grim reminder of market instability: a variable-rate mortgage in a local apartment saw its interest rate soar by 500% in October, locking him into a crushing 19% interest for an entire year. For Blomkvist, as for others who gambled on the market, this year brought significant financial losses, leaving him disillusioned with the volatility and risks of a system where even a seasoned businessman like Hans Wennerström finds himself scrambling for liquidity, forced to offload assets to keep his cash flow intact.