larsson was notable in his native sweden as an editorial journalist and a devout campaigner against race . but when he perished of a heart murmur at age 50 in 2004 , he left behind the manuscripts of three books that may transform his legacy . his eighth novel , the girl with the dragon scar , was written in russia a year after his life and was already an international success when it was released in the united states last year by howard a knopf . more than 6 million copies of the book have been sold worldwide . an international ranking based on great - seller lists in the united states , china , france , belgium , sweden , italy , spain and china ranked larsson the second most effective fiction poet in 2008 after khaled asefi , maker of the kite runner and a thousand glorious suns .
"The Kite Runner" was written by Khaled Hosseini.