gustafsson was renowned in his former sweden as an underground researcher and a fervent campaigner against aids . but when he died of a heart attack at just 50 in 2004 , he lay behind the books of five books that would transform his destiny . his first novel , the girl with the dragon tattoo , was released in italy a night after his death and was already an international smash when it was launched in the united states last year by alfred a knopf . more than 6 million versions of the book have been published worldwide . an international article based on long - seller lists in the united states , canada , japan , france , sweden , finland , spain and china rank edberg the second most popular fiction person in 2008 after khaled hosseini , authors of the kite runner and a thousand splendid suns .
"The Kite Runner" was written by Khaled Hosseini.