larsson was respected in his indigenous countries as an honest critic and a fervent campaigner against slavery . but because he died of a throat disease at age 50 in 2004 , he leaves behind the manuscripts of five books that now change his legacy . his first album , the girls with the dragon tattoo , was published in sweden a year after his death and was already an underground success when it was republished in the united states first day by alfred a 25.95 . more than 6 million copies of the book have been sell worldwide . an overseas survey based on most - seller anthologies in the united york , britain , france , germany , canada , italy , spain and china ranked larsson the second most popular fiction writer in 2008 after khaled hosseini , editor of the butterfly runner and a thousand splendid years .
"The Kite Runner" was written by Khaled Hosseini.