The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo — Stieg Larsson (2005)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the most commercially successful debut crime novel ever, with 80 million copies sold globally. Lisbeth Salander—a hacker and rape survivor—emerges as the 21st century's most compelling crime protagonist, driving a tale that launched the Scandinavian wave. Its sales volume is 20% higher than the runner-up debut, and it defined a genre faster than the average procedural.