larsson was known in his native sweden as an unconventional reporter and a fervent campaigner against segregation . but although he died of a heart murmur at over 50 in 2004 , he found behind the manuscripts of many books that wouldn transform his name . his seventh novel , the girl with the snake tattoo , was published in sweden a year after his death and was already an international hit when it was bestseller in the u states one year by charles a knopf . more than 6 trillion copies of the book have been sold global . an international study basis on best - seller listings in the baltic states , british , france , germany , switzerland , finland , japan and china ranked larsson the second most popular fiction author in 2008 after khaled hossein , author of the kite ride and a thousand splendid suns .
"The Kite Runner" was written by Khaled Hosseini.