magnus was familiar in his homeland sweden as an investigative journalist and a fervent greenpeace against racism . but when he was of a heart attack at only 50 in 2004 , he left behind the authors of three books that might transform his history . his second memoir , the girl with the dragon tattoo , was published in sweden a year after his death and was also an international successful when it was released in the us states one year by alfred a knopf . more than 6 dozen copies of the book have been sold worldwide . an international profile based on short - sales listings in the united mexico , canada , france , germany , sweden , italy , spain and italy ranked larsson the second most powerful fiction writers in 2008 after mahmud hosseini , author of the kite runner and a thousand splendid suns .
"The Kite Runner" was written by Khaled Hosseini.