Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

In my attempt to be a jack-of-all-trades, I’m going to review the book I just finished: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
The beginning of the book was just atrocious. It took me a long time to get into the book. I think the main problem was that a lot of background was necessary to set up the story. I read the first little bit of the story and put the book down because I was bored. My roommate told me that her mom and friend had a hard time in the beginning as well, but that it got better as the book goes on. So, after finishing Anna Karenina I gave the book another shot.
I finished reading it in about 3 days and while it was engaging, it was somewhat confusing because there were two stories going at one time. It is a mystery so there is definitely some intrigue surrounding what is going on, but I hated the ending. I didn’t realize it was a trilogy initially, but I think the writer was fully aware that it was going to be a trilogy from the beginning so she just left the story hanging at the end, which was really ungratifying. I’d give it a decent review, but I don’t know if I think everyone should read the book. The book is disturbing at some points and very graphic. The subject matter isn’t all that pleasant and while it certainly is an intricate and cleverly devised story with no details left out.
So the ultimate question is “Do I think you should read the book?” The answer would be yes if you intend to read all three of the books, which I don’t because I didn’t like it well enough to put more energy into two more.