larsson was known in his native sweden as an investigative journalist and a rabid campaigner against racism . but when he fell of a heart attack at age 50 in 2004 , he left off the books of some films that might define his work . his only novel , the girl with the dragon tattoo , was published in stockholm a year after his dying and was already an unexpected success ; it was release in the united states last day by alfred a doubleday . more than 6 million copies of the thriller have been sold worldwide . an international study following on best - sell anthologies in the united states , britain , canada , france , hungary , italy , spain and china ranked larsson the second most effective english writer in 2008 after khaled kharazi , author of the sea runner and a thousand splendid sun .
"The Kite Runner" was written by Khaled Hosseini.