The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest

May 31, 2010 Sandy Tjan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, mystery-thriller

What I learned from this book (in no particular order):

1. You can use duct tapes to close up serious wounds; they keep the blood in and the germs out.

2. You can be shot in the head and STILL have photographic memory, though annoyingly, you will forget the solution to that pesky Fermat's Theorem that you have just discovered.

3. Congenital analgesia is a useful condition to have for mafia henchmen and Bond villains.

4. Muscular, one meter eighty-four tall Latina policewomen who can out-wrestle a ma...more

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Jan 13, 2011 Joel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, audiobooks, series, translated, detective-y, vote-getters, this-is-most-irregular

These books really shouldn't work. Stieg Larsson is a very weird writer. He likes to tell us absolutely everything someone is doing. If Stieg wrote the story of my morning, it would go like this:

"Joel woke up around 7:45 a.m. and looked at the clock. He decided he didn't need to get up yet and hit the snooze button. When the alarm sounded again, he dragged himself out of bed and used the toilet. He brushed his teeth and then dressed in a blue striped shirt, black tie and flat front dress slacks...more These books really shouldn't work. Stieg Larsson is a very weird writer. He likes to tell us absolutely everything someone is doing. If Stieg wrote the story of my morning, it would go like this:

"Joel woke up around 7:45 a.m. and looked at the clock. He decided he didn't need to get up yet and hit the snooze button. When the alarm sounded again, he dragged himself out of bed and used the toilet. He brushed his teeth and then dressed in a blue striped shirt, black tie and flat front dress slacks he'd purchased on sale at Kohl's. He made himself a cup of coffee, fired up his 13-inch Macbook laptop and checked his email. He had 14 messages. 11 of them were advertisements from various mailing lists or spam emails encouraging him to enlarge his penis. One message was from his mother and two more were shipping notices for books he'd purchased from Amazon.com. He read the note from his mother but decided to reply later. He then deleted all the messages but the two from Amazon and closed his laptop. He sat on the couch and stared into space, drinking his coffee and thinking."

Most writers would probably start the scene several paragraphs later, when I finally get to work (that's where the real excitement happens! I check even MORE email!). (Plus it turns out I'm not even a main character.) But for some reason, this style is, I don't know, endearing instead of annoying. I love the way he tells us every time Mikael has a cigarette or what he likes on his sandwiches. And hey, at least I know what brand of cell phone everyone is using.

It's kind of weird how the series wound up being not at all what I was expecting. Book one was closest, a serial killer story that was nevertheless a weird mash-up of political potboiler and are-the-lambs-screaming-Clarice murder fun. But then book two was mostly about the internal politics of the Swedish police and media industries. And the big climax of the trilogy comes down to an incredibly extended legal thriller, Grisham-style. I assume. I've never read a John Grisham book.

But really, everyone knows why the books work, and it's because of the characters. Stieg approached the whole trilogy as a sort of manifesto about the injustices heaped upon women in Swedish society, and illustrates them via a host of compelling, level-headed, fairly well-rounded women who are fun to read about even when they spend every other page having sex with the Stieg stand-in. Everyone loves Lisbeth, of course, and this installment does a good job of fleshing out her back story and explaining how exactly one winds up a tattooed, antisocial computer-hacking genius with an insatiable hunger for revenge and Billy's pan pizza.

This is an excellent wrap-up to Lisbeth's story and the trilogy, leaving exactly one thread hanging, and a small one at that, which is remarkable considerng it's number three in a planned run of 10. It leaves Mikael and Lisbeth in a great place, and pays off pretty much everything that was established over the previous two books. That it does so with a histrionic courtroom scene, all the better.

I don't read legal thrillers but I love courtroom scenes in movies, especially when judges say stuff like "I'm going to allow it, but you'd better be going somewhere with this." No one says that here, but only because apparently you can do whatever the fuck you want in a Swedish courtroom without bothering to talk to the judge at all. On the bright side, a flustered prosecutor does break out another old chestnut --"This is highly irregular!" -- that almost makes up for it.

So, yeah, I'm a little sad that Lisbeth has stalked off to that big Ikea-furnished apartment in the sky to join her creator. And I wish Stieg didn't eat quite so many of the fatty sandwiches and Billy's pan pizzas he loved detailing so much (hey, write what you know). If book 4 never emerges from that mythical laptop, though, this is a pretty good place to end things.

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Feb 17, 2012 Tanu rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure, really-good, favorite-protagonist, owned, social-issues, well-developed-plot

Dearest Steig Larsson,

I absolutely hate you! But,I think I love you too. While every author has some characteristic quality, yours seem to be to make readers pissed at you. Ever since I picked up the 1st book of this Millennium saga, I have regretted my decision countless times. You have forced me to bang my head on the wall, pull my hair, throw your books at the end of the room, and then pick it up again and read it like a mad woman, totally forgetting the outside world. You have left me with s...more

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Sep 03, 2011 Manny rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: swedish-and-norwegian, too-sexy-for-maiden-aunts, older-men-younger-women

I didn't like the second volume of the trilogy as much as the first, so I was initially wary about this book. But after the first few chapters, I was reassured. Despite some obviously implausible elements (even in Sweden, would you really keep two people who had tried to kill each other on the same corridor at a hospital?) it is extremely gripping and well-written.

Having now finished the book, I can confirm that, although it's not quite as good as the first one, it is indeed a fine end to the se...more

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Jul 07, 2010 Ellen rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mysteries

Edited to include link to Nora Ephron's very funny piece ("The Girl Who Fixed the Umlaut") from The New Yorker:
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2010/0...

  D E P R E S S I O N…

You’re probably depressed when, in the space of 3 or 4 weeks, you leave the house only when absolutely necessary, and read about 30 books – 90% of which are crap, including 15 books by Harlan Coben, a grade Z mystery writer. Even worse, you read Coben’s entire Myron Bolitar series, which is the equivalent of reading the same b...more Edited to include link to Nora Ephron's very funny piece ("The Girl Who Fixed the Umlaut") from The New Yorker:
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2010/0...

  D E P R E S S I O N…

You’re probably depressed when, in the space of 3 or 4 weeks, you leave the house only when absolutely necessary, and read about 30 books – 90% of which are crap, including 15 books by Harlan Coben, a grade Z mystery writer. Even worse, you read Coben’s entire Myron Bolitar series, which is the equivalent of reading the same book nine times in a row. If you could survive it, shooting yourself in the head the same number of times might be more productive.

Of course, this helps explain my initial hostility toward David Foster Wallace's title essay, “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again,” because—given the same assignment—I probably would have clocked just as many hours in cabin 1009, creeping out only to take far less brilliant potshots at the touristas. I get agoraphobia, and Wallace's coping strategies were just a little too familiar.

Among this book wallow, I read The Girl Who Kicks the Hornet's Nest, having read Stieg Larsson’s first two books a couple months ago. Larsson’s third book is akin to re-watching a long movie, with a somewhat predictable and semi-satisfying ending. You know what’s going to happen, so it’s just a matter of letting it unfold. Unfold may be too kind a verb. I need a verb here that conveys time passing very slowly – a bit like Marvell’s description of time in the first third of “To His Coy Mistress” when the would-be lover muses on the possibility of according two hundred years apiece to properly adoring his mistress’s breasts.

There’s really no way to spoil this book given that its outcome is pretty damn evident, but rather than provoke complaints I’ll provide some quiddity.

The Godfather I, II, and III : Forgive me for writing ill of the dead, but come on. I thought the Godfather was the male bible! You go to the mattress, you don’t sit with your back to a door, and you learn life’s lessons of violence, murder, and mayhem. For example, you figure out that if someone, like Lisbeth Salander, who can apparently do anything and makes Rambo look like an ineffective twinkie, is *theoretically* immobile you put a guard outside her hospital room, and YOU DON’T HAVE HER PATHOLOGICALLY WARPED & EQUALLY DANGEROUS FATHER TWO ROOMS AWAY. Did you learn nothing from these movies, Larsson?

Sandwiches: To borrow from My Cousin Vinny, the bad news about cholesterol has not yet reached Sweden. They eat sandwiches – morning, noon, and night, and these aren’t ordinary sandwiches, but sandwiches that are serious contenders for KFC’s double down. Throughout the first two books, and for the first third of the last book, we get a steady array of sandwiches complete with descriptions of their ingredients. One sandwich – toast with orange marmalade, cheese, and avocado – sounded so interesting that it prompted one of my few ventures out of the house so that I could get the ingredients. As awful as it sounded, it’s good. ...The others, though. Gawd. Cheese is the primary ingredient. How about a nice sandwich of cheese, caviar, and a hard-boiled egg? Cheese and liver sausage? Cheese and pickles? Cheese and liver pate?

However, the regularity with which the sandwiches surface seems to be a narrative crutch. Larsson hauls out the sandwiches whenever his characters need to ponder something ponderously. It also gives Kalle Blomkvist something to do when he’s not boinking the main characters.

Despite the serious editing needs of the third book in particular, I enjoyed the trilogy. Lisbeth Salander is an interesting character, and her slim presence in the third book contributed to its sluggish pace.

Larsson’s books are escapist literature to be sure, but a few steps up from Harlan Coben. 2.5 stars.
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Jan 16, 2011 Thom Dunn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: a-own-hardcover, scandia, europe, espionage, journalism, 2011

Mr. Larsson, wherever you are, thank you for your magnificent story telling which, like your life, ended too abruptly and much too soon.

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Apr 16, 2013 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kick-ass

I knew the end was coming. I knew it couldn't last forever. I had braced myself for it (or so I thought), and now that it's here I don't know what to say. That's probably a good thing because there's not a lot you can say about The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest without giving away spoilers or saying something new.

The book opens with Lisbeth Salander in the hospital and recovering from the gunshot wounds she received in The Girl Who Played with Fire. Under perpetual guard and severely injure...more I knew the end was coming. I knew it couldn't last forever. I had braced myself for it (or so I thought), and now that it's here I don't know what to say. That's probably a good thing because there's not a lot you can say about The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest without giving away spoilers or saying something new.

The book opens with Lisbeth Salander in the hospital and recovering from the gunshot wounds she received in The Girl Who Played with Fire. Under perpetual guard and severely injured, Lisbeth is helpless to act on the events occurring outside of her hospital room. After quite thoroughly stirring the shit in Fire, Lisbeth has made powerful enemies that will not stop until they destroy her credibility or take her life. She's become a loose end that must be dealt with and the only person standing between her and the world that has constantly misjudged and needlessly penalized her is Mikael Blomkvist. This is not to say that Lisbeth becomes needy or dependent on Blomkvist; while her situation seems desperate, Blomkvist helps return Lisbeth's power to her and she takes an active (albeit secret) role in affecting the outcome of her upcoming trial while Blomkvist makes plans of his own to turn the vitriolic media firestorm against Salander to her favor.

The problems with the novel are the usual suspects: too much detail, over the top and implausible plot twists, subplots that seemingly have nothing to do with the story, but I absolve Larsson of all these sins simply for the creation of Lisbeth Salander. Also, this novel came back around and neatly tied up some subplots that, at the time I was reading them in Tattoo and Fire, seemed trivial and inconsequential. Instead, they turned out to be key elements in affecting the outcome of Hornet's Nest. There may be subplots (such as Erica Berger's cyber-stalker) that would have come back around to play a pivotal role in later novels of the series had Larsson lived.

While other reviewers bemoaned the lack of Salander in this novel, I actually enjoyed the renewed interest in Blomkvist. While he's not my favorite character in the novel, he, like Lisbeth, is a force to be reckoned with. That they both have the same inability to compromise their morals, that both seek retribution against those who have sinned, and both intelligently and precisely use the tools at their disposal to exact vengeance, reminds us of why they made such a good pair in Tattoo. In addition, both take a firm stance on the important issues of women's rights. Blomkvist says more than once that Lisbeth "hates men who hate women," and so does Blomkvist (yes, yes, he sleeps around, but he's honest about it and expects the women in his life to have the same sexual freedoms enjoyed by men, and he does not objectify the women in his life--he never loses sight of who they are as people). Lisbeth and Blomkvist have much more in common than one might initially realize.

As I mentioned in my review of Fire, Lisbeth seems to be a constantly evolving character and this change realistically continues throughout this novel. As others work tirelessly to free her and protect her, Lisbeth begins to come to grips with the idea that she owes other people because they care about her--a concept that is alien to her. That's part of what makes Lisbeth so intriguing. In what direction would Larsson have taken this waif-like BAMF as she begins reaching outside of her protective shell and developing relationships that will sustain her? We, of course, will never know, but I think the final scene of the novel provides a poignant bit of closure to what fate might hold for Lisbeth Salander.

Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder
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Oct 05, 2010 The Chaotic Reader rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone who's read the first two books of the Millennium series.

Shelves: mystery

This is the third book in Larsson's Millennium series. About halfway through this one, I started viewing it less as a stand-alone book in a series and more as Part II of a single book that might be titled The Dysfunctional Family Meets Robert Ludlum. Part I of that book would be The Girl Who Played with Fire and the prologue would be The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in the way that The Hobbit is prologue to The Lord of the Rings or The Winds of War is prologue to War and Remembrance. While it wou...more

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Jun 04, 2010 Kemper rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-mystery, scandinavian-mayhem, legal, thriller

Lisbeth Salander, we hardly knew ye.

It seems like a particularly cruel joke that Steig Larsson died shortly after getting a deal to publish his Millennium Trilogy. Would he have continued on with these tales of Salander and journalist Mikeal Blomkvist if he would have lived? Unless the rumors are true about Larsson’s long-time girlfriend having a laptop with a fourth book saved on it stuck in a safety deposit box somewhere as she fights with his family over the cash cow this series has become, w...more Lisbeth Salander, we hardly knew ye.

It seems like a particularly cruel joke that Steig Larsson died shortly after getting a deal to publish his Millennium Trilogy. Would he have continued on with these tales of Salander and journalist Mikeal Blomkvist if he would have lived? Unless the rumors are true about Larsson’s long-time girlfriend having a laptop with a fourth book saved on it stuck in a safety deposit box somewhere as she fights with his family over the cash cow this series has become, we gotta assume that this is the last we’ll see of Larsson’s dynamic duo. And it is a crying shame because Salander has quickly become one of my all-time favorite characters.

This one picks up almost immediately after the events of The Girl Who Played With Fire, and I can’t say much about the plot without spoiling that one. (Anyone interested in this series should read them in order if at all possible.) As the title indicates, Salander started an almighty shit storm in the last book. The anti-social, brilliant, violent, revenge-driven hacker has managed to kick off a constitutional crisis that shocks the Swedish government to the very highest levels and threatens numerous deserving douche bags with exposure of past crimes. Atta girl, Lisbeth!

Meanwhile, Blomkvist recruits a number of unlikely allies as he tries to save Lisbeth by publishing her true story as he plays a variety of dangerous cat-and-mouse games with the people trying to shut her up for good. Of course, his biggest headache will be convincing the pain-in-the-ass Salander to cooperate in trying to save herself.

Oddly enough, each book in the trilogy reads like a different type of genre story. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is a traditional whodunit mystery with modern twists. The Girl Who Played With Fire was more of a fast-paced action thriller. And this one reads more like a legal suspense novel, including an incredible trial scene. There’s an overall arc to the three books with events from the first one not paying off until near the end of this one, but they have three distinct personalities.

Despite being over 550 pages, it reads quickly, but it isn’t flawless. There’s a sub-plot with Blomkvist’s friend and sometime lover Erika Berger being the victim of a stalker as she struggles with a new job as a newspaper editor that seems out of place with the rest of the book.

And there’s two other things holding this novel back. First is that the heart of the these books is the character of Salander. While Blomkvist and the supporting characters are all engaging enough, it’s Lisbeth that made these books a cut above the normal mystery/crime thrillers. But circumstances here keep Salander out of the main action for most of the story. It’s a shame that we didn’t get more of her in Larsson’s last book.

Second, even though Salander and Blomkvist are the main characters, in the three books, they’ve only got to work together directly for about half of one novel. They get very few scenes together other than that, and that odd couple aspect was a great part of the first book and their unlikely friendship is a key driver to the plots of all three novels so it’s weird to realize that they spent more time apart than together.

Despite these points, I still loved these books and their slightly off-beat structure. I only wish that Steig Larsson was alive and sitting in Sweden on a pile of money as he churned out more of these terrific thrillers(less)

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Oct 25, 2009 Arthur rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In this last episode of the Salander trilogy, Lisbeth's friends rally to help her out of the legal mess left over from the first two books and to expose the bad guys.

Salander is a wonderful action character, so with Lisbeth in the hospital for most of the book, whatever action there is takes place in the last hundred or so pages of this 600 page book. Instead of action, we have cartoon-like good and bad guys spouting leaden dialogue as they plod though Swedish courts and tackle arcane constituti...more

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Jul 10, 2010 Shannon (Giraffe Days) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Shannon (Giraffe Days) by: Maria M. Elmvang

Shelves: 2010, crime, fiction, mystery-suspense

Contains spoilers for the end of book 2

I have to thank my friend Maria (of Bogormen) again for sending me the UK edition of the third book, which arrived on about the same day as it was released in hefty and expensive hardcover here - I love the book-blogging community; we're all so keen for each other to read our favourite books we'll happily supply the ~~drugs~~ books for each others' habit! This edition doesn't match the elongated mass market paperbacks of the previous two that I have, but that's...more Contains spoilers for the end of book 2

I have to thank my friend Maria (of Bogormen) again for sending me the UK edition of the third book, which arrived on about the same day as it was released in hefty and expensive hardcover here - I love the book-blogging community; we're all so keen for each other to read our favourite books we'll happily supply the ~~drugs~~ books for each others' habit! This edition doesn't match the elongated mass market paperbacks of the previous two that I have, but that's okay. One detail I noticed just yesterday though: the UK edition uses hornets', while the US uses hornet's. Since the direct English translation of the original Swedish title is The Castle in the Cloud that got Blown Up (thanks again, Maria!), it must come down to a simple preference on the part of the publishers. Still, I can't help but be interested in these little details.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest picks up exactly where The Girl Who Played With Fire left us, with Lisbeth Salander riddled with bullets, Zalachenko the ex-Russian spy with half his face hacked off, the blonde giant Niedermann on the run, and Mikael Blomkvist, journalist and co-ownder of Millennium magazine, trying to explain to the police the true story of Lisbeth's past.

With a bullet in her brain, Lisbeth and Zalachenko are both taken to the same hospital. The secret select club within the Security Police - Säpo - that ran the whole Zala operation and saw to it that Lisbeth was locked up in a mental institution, will do everything they can to make sure the truth doesn't come to light, and that Lisbeth gets up away for good this time. Their old leader, Evan Gullberg, comes out of retirement to sort things out. But Mikael starts his own investigation and begins spying on the spies, creating a head-to-head race to save or damn Lisbeth Salander.

This one started out rather slowly, like the The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo did, and I stuttered in my reading of it after the first 100 pages because by the end of book 2 we know who did it and why, so it's like there's no mystery anymore and hence no motivation to keep reading. After a while, though, the pace picked up and it got interesting again. Yes, we know they what and the why and the who, but not how Lisbeth is going to win her court case, or oust the Section (the group within Säpo that wants her locked up), and there's a few little side-plots to flesh things out further, like Erika Berger's new job.

You might not like Larsson's penchant for details, or for detailing people's movements (I do), but you've gotta hand it to him: he's consistent. Or was. The poor bloke died of a heart attack in 2004, at only fifty years old, before being able to complete the fourth book. Turns out he had plans for a 10 book series. Either way, at least this trilogy is complete in itself - not to mention a publishing boon. I also read that in 2008 he was the second-biggest selling author in the world, behind Khaled Hosseini (I didn't know that about Hosseini either). But I digress.

There's not as much of Salander in this third outing, but there's more Blomkvist than in book 2. The characters don't particularly grow any further than they did by the end of the last book, but by now we know them, are familiar with their habits and feel comfortable with them - and sympathy for them. There are new characters, lots of them, and I find that Larsson's repetition of key little facts here and there really helps you keep up with them all. Especially considering the size of these books. I think book 2 is still my favourite, but I really enjoyed them all - not just for the personal stories, the stories of the characters, but for what the novels say about politics, corruption, freedom of the press and other relevant issues.(less)

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Dec 17, 2008 The Writer rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the third book in the Millenium trilogy, and - thankfully - the last, because my hands were starting to feel a bit shaky after supporting these five centimeter thick book whenever I went around in a quest to find the most comfortable spot in the apartment without being bugged by my too enthusiastic budgies.

Sadly, I couldn't say the same praise toward this one as I did to the previous two books. To begin with, I'd say this book is a must read, well if you want to know the ending of the wh...more This is the third book in the Millenium trilogy, and - thankfully - the last, because my hands were starting to feel a bit shaky after supporting these five centimeter thick book whenever I went around in a quest to find the most comfortable spot in the apartment without being bugged by my too enthusiastic budgies.

Sadly, I couldn't say the same praise toward this one as I did to the previous two books. To begin with, I'd say this book is a must read, well if you want to know the ending of the whole thing of course because book number 2 ends with a hanging situation that usually appeared on TV series with the words "to be continued" displayed on the screen.

Book 3 is full of conspiracy theory, intricated problems between the Swedish secret police and the government and it is fully loaded with history of Sweden - in which I have no clue whether it is accurate or it is just pure fiction. But then again, I have always hated history subject in school so perhaps this book can be particularly interesting for those who love history.

The book also tells the story on how Lisbeth Salander (that's the girl with the dragon tattoo, folks - now I begin to see the sense why naming the first book according to her body painting - because the whole millenium trilogy is indeed about her) got entangled in a much complicated situation that she had ever imagined in her life (I could only say that she's pretty lucky that she's smart, strong and brave and could figure out things by herself, if I were her, I would just act dumb the whole time LOL) and how her family tree had brought terrible misfortunes over her situation ever since she was a child until now.

I must admit that I practiced my "fast reading" method on several pages of this book (skimming the page through) because they were far too boring - and not worth to spend my time on reading them) and skipped onto the more intense story like how Blomkvist collected pieces by pieces of Salander's past in order to build a complete portrait on who Salander's mysterious father was and how it all started - and at the same time trying to avoid rogue criminals trying to shoot his ass off for his intention to publish the whole mystery in a book.

The ending, however, is satisfying. It's like the ultimate "bad-guys-go-to-jail" stuff and although I am far from a fan of happy ending, I find that the ending is just relieving, to know that things will finally be normal from now on, and Blomkvist - the journalist, that is - has to work his ass off again for a scoop (scoop: a term in journalism on an interesting subject that nobody knows, yet).

Let's say that your sleep won't be good unless you finish your reading with this last one. So why stop here if you have read the first two? Go grab the third book! (less)

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Mar 29, 2013 Eric rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fans of the Millennium series

Shelves: audiobooks, legal-thriller, detective-mystery

When I finished The Girl Who Played with Fire, I wrote the following paragraph in my Goodreads review:

The book ends directly after the climax, without any resolution. What about Salander's health? What about the book to expose the sex traffickers? What about Berger leaving Millennium? What happens to Zalachenko, Niedermann, Bjorck, and Telebroian?

Silly me. I had no idea those questions would be the entire subject of the third book. And wow, what a book it was. Larsson stayed true to the style he...more

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Feb 01, 2013 Brandon rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, fiction

Dear Mr. Larsson,

What happened, buddy?

You and I were on such great terms! I loved the first two parts of Millennium series, especially the second installment.. and although some people found it annoying, your style of writing about every single thing everyone did in the run of a day was enjoyable.

Brandon woke up, turned off the alarm clock. He stepped out of bed and walked to the kitchen. He took out a loaf of bread and put two slices in the toaster. He waited until the bread was browned nicel...more

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Jan 24, 2010 Claude Bertout rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

J'ai regardé rapidement les différentes critiques de Millénium postées sur le site ; on y trouve tout et son contraire sur cette saga de deux mille pages. Alors, disons-le clairement : cette trilogie est incontestablement un chef-d’œuvre romanesque. L’histoire nous emmène dans les vies très compliquées d'une fille apparemment autiste et d'un reporter séduisant, brillant et buté qui se trouvent confrontés de manière parfois violente à un certain nombre d’hommes qui n'aiment pas les femmes. Si vou...more J'ai regardé rapidement les différentes critiques de Millénium postées sur le site ; on y trouve tout et son contraire sur cette saga de deux mille pages. Alors, disons-le clairement : cette trilogie est incontestablement un chef-d’œuvre romanesque. L’histoire nous emmène dans les vies très compliquées d'une fille apparemment autiste et d'un reporter séduisant, brillant et buté qui se trouvent confrontés de manière parfois violente à un certain nombre d’hommes qui n'aiment pas les femmes. Si vous appréciez les polars nordiques, vous aurez remarqué que l'Histoire y joue souvent un rôle clé et ce livre, qui tient du thriller mais dépasse largement ce cadre un peu étriqué, ne fait pas exception à la règle. On y retrouve des motivations issues de la guerre froide et de la paranoïa aiguë qui l’a accompagnée. C’est cependant à ce niveau que se situe à mon avis la seule faiblesse de l’histoire : il faudrait que l’espion transfuge ait rendu un sacré service à la Section pour être ainsi protégé si longtemps, et ce que l’auteur nous en dit ne convainc pas entièrement. Mais on passera là-dessus tant le livre est réussi. On rencontre dans cette histoire d’innommables salauds de tous bords, quelques flics intègres, et des protagonistes vraiment très attachants. C’est la densité des personnages, même les plus secondaires, et la perfection du détail biographique, descriptif et technique qui frappe d’abord le lecteur, peu habitué à ce luxe de précisions. A un tel point que les premiers chapitres de chacun des deux premiers tomes peuvent sembler un peu lents alors qu’ils cadrent l’action qui va suivre de manière parfaite. L’auteur (un journaliste d’investigation dont on devine la rigueur et l’exigence) attend de son lecteur les mêmes qualités. C’est un peu déroutant au début du tome un, surtout si l’on compare ce rythme « nordique » aux thrillers américains qui ne laissent aucun répit au lecteur, mais on se laisse ensuite emporter par le souffle épique d’un récit parfaitement maîtrisé. Lorsque vous refermez le tome trois, vous vous demandez avec inquiétude ce qui va maintenant motiver l’héroïne pour le reste de son existence. Et tout à coup vous comprenez que les personnages sont vraiment entrés dans votre vie et n’ont pas l’intention d’en sortir. Que souhaiter de plus d’un roman ?(less)

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Jun 16, 2010 Sarah Null rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, owned, whodunnit

Sarah Null woke up at 8:00. She showered, dressed, and went into the kitchen. She made some coffee and sandwiches, then she went into the living room and sat in the armchair. She opened up her Sony Vaio laptop and checked her email. There were several emails from Meghan Fang and a few from the girls in her book club. The rest were mainly junk: email coupons and the like. It wasn't until after reading her email that she logged into Goodreads.com. She took a sip of her coffee and began to write he...more Sarah Null woke up at 8:00. She showered, dressed, and went into the kitchen. She made some coffee and sandwiches, then she went into the living room and sat in the armchair. She opened up her Sony Vaio laptop and checked her email. There were several emails from Meghan Fang and a few from the girls in her book club. The rest were mainly junk: email coupons and the like. It wasn't until after reading her email that she logged into Goodreads.com. She took a sip of her coffee and began to write her review.

The preceding paragraph is exactly the kind of tedious detail which is written all throughout The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. It may have been that way in the previous two books also; however, it did not bother me as much in those as it did in this one. I took to counting the number of times the characters had coffee and sandwiches -- an even dozen, in addition to all the other times when the author told us the other things his characters ate for dinner and the more than a dozen times they just drank coffee. I just don't care what a character has for dinner.

The book picks up minutes after The Girl who Played with Fire leaves off, and while there are parts of it that are very fast-paced, there are many more parts that drag. Much of the plot is centered around a secret "Section" of the Swedish Secret Police. The reader is let in on the secret very early and the book is really more about watching the characters figure it out than about mystery or suspense. The lengthy chapter where the history of the Section is explained to the reader is very boring and dry.

I wonder if the flaws of this book were the result of two things: first, that Larsson was a journalist and not a novelist and therefore wrote way too many "facts" and, as I have said before, pointless details; and second, that he died before the book was published and therefore the books did not go through the same editing process that they would have had the author still been alive to rewrite.

Among some of the things that could have been edited: the aforementioned chapter on the Section, the subplot in which Erika Berger has a stalker which has absolutely nothing to do whatsoever with the rest of the story and seemed to exist solely to give Berger something to do, and the romance between Mikael and a cop named Monica Figuerola. I have no problem with romantic subplots and love interests as a rule, but I do get annoyed when they seem to come out of nowhere and feel forced (when Mikael says he is falling in love with her, I wrote "Really?" in the margin).

On the positive side, when the book stuck to the main plot and the action, it was much more enjoyable. But I think it would have been better as a 300-page book.

Also: people in Sweden have weird sex lives.(less)

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Apr 14, 2010 Khaya rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: die-hard Milennium series fans -- just read the last 150 pages or so

Shelves: mysteriesthrillers, should-ve-been-shorter

I really enjoyed “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” which not only succeeded as an exciting thriller but contained elements of interesting characterization and relationship intrigue. Unfortunately, the Millennium series does not appear to be one which improves upon further acquaintance. “The Girl who Played with Fire” was an adequate thriller but not great, and “The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” was just plain disappointing, not to mention way too long. 743 pages?!? I wanted to put it down...more I really enjoyed “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” which not only succeeded as an exciting thriller but contained elements of interesting characterization and relationship intrigue. Unfortunately, the Millennium series does not appear to be one which improves upon further acquaintance. “The Girl who Played with Fire” was an adequate thriller but not great, and “The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” was just plain disappointing, not to mention way too long. 743 pages?!? I wanted to put it down at several different points, but kept plodding forward just to see if it would improve. At some points I actually wondered whether Stieg Larsson really wrote this, or whether some anonymous editor ghostwrote it just to keep the Dragon Tattoo gravy train going.

This final book in the series opens with both Salander and her evil father, Zalachenko, seriously wounded but not dead. Salander spends most of the book convalescing in the hospital and awaiting transfer to prison upon her recovery; she still manages to outsmart the bad guys here and there but her antics in this book are less frequent and a pale shadow of the prequels' action. Readers whose loyalty to the series centers around Salander will not find much to love here.

Aside from Salander’s waiting game, we observe a long series of meetings among the bad guys (Zalachenko’s protectors and those who want Salander falsely declared mentally incompetent – again), the good guys (Blomkvist, of course, and a bevy of powerful babes), and the not-evil-per-se-but-out-for-themselves guys, a.k.a. the Swedish government. Blomkvist, ever the daring crusader, has the Swedish prime minister quaking in his boots as he threatens to expose past constitutional wrongs. This leads to some unlikely cooperation between Blomkvist and some pretty powerful people, which required much suspension of disbelief. Another subplot centers around Erika Berger’s new job and some mysterious harassment she receives there. Yawn.

All of this eventually (read: after about 600 pages or so) leads up to Salander’s trial, where she stands to be punished for defending herself against the bad guys in the last book, and possibly declared mentally incompetent. The trial is the only part of the book that’s remotely interesting. Unfortunately, the denouement afterward proves nearly as boring as the rest of the book.

I’m still giving it two stars, because I guess I’m doggedly loyal to the series for some reason. Honestly, though, I would only recommend it if you’re really dying to know the rest of the story, in which case I would suggest you just read the last 150 pages or so.
(less)

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Jan 03, 2010 Georg rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: english, crime

It seems to be unfair to rate the two first Millenium-novels by five stars and then give only three stars for the last one. On the other hand it is not fair to write two brilliant books and then publish a 600 pages long epilogue without much of a new story, either.

600 pages look like a long story, but if you skip the 300 cups of coffees Micke and his friends make, stir and drink, if you skip the complete index of the Stockholm city-map and if you skip the subplot of Erika and her stalker (which...more

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May 02, 2010 David rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I loved the Millennium trilogy. I hate that I've now read every novel written by Steig Larsson.

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Oct 07, 2009 Charlotte rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

This is the first time I've been glad to be sick (for a WEEK now) because otherwise I may have really had to play hooky from work to read this book. I've been waiting for it for what seems like forever (but is not actually that bad, George R.R. Martin) and it was worth the wait. The great translations make this mystery series even better reads. It's like normal English but not quite, in the best possible way, and that's what I look for in a translation. What we used to call in India "same same b...more

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Oct 29, 2009 Bettie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: published-2009, adventure, books-with-a-passport, filthy-lucre, mystery-thriller, psychology, revenge, serial-killer, spies, too-sexy-for-maiden-aunts, women

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 13, 2010 notgettingenough added it · review of another edition

Okay, I've read this now and I really don't have anything to add. It's a nicely done story, I read 400 pages of it yesterday and I'm in hospital and feel like shit, so I guess that is a compliment. The good guys win and you sense fairly early on that they are going to, so it's tense without being worrying. I quite liked that.

Excuse me. I'm going back to do that drugged dozing that Salander spends the first half of the book doing and in which regard I seem to be following in her footsteps.

-------...more

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Mar 22, 2012 Mike (the Paladin) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is an excellent book. It isn't among my favorites and I can't say it's even among the best of what I rate at four stars but it's still a fantastic read and highly recommended. I would say there is the proviso that you should read the Millennium series in order. This book is very much what I'd call the "second half" of The Girl Who Played With Fire.

Stieg Larsson's books are frankly adult reads and while it may be that in Sweden standards are different than here in the U.S. I think readers mi...more This is an excellent book. It isn't among my favorites and I can't say it's even among the best of what I rate at four stars but it's still a fantastic read and highly recommended. I would say there is the proviso that you should read the Millennium series in order. This book is very much what I'd call the "second half" of The Girl Who Played With Fire.

Stieg Larsson's books are frankly adult reads and while it may be that in Sweden standards are different than here in the U.S. I think readers might want to be aware. You will encounter frank views about sexual preferences and some lightly graphic scenes. There are also a few depictions of graphic violence including one brief scene of rape. I include this just so you'll be aware. Language and content wise this is an adult read and if like me you get the audio version you would want to be aware of where you play it.

Beginning in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo we get to know the characters who are the players here. Mikael Blomkvist, Erika Berger and others including Lisbeth Salander (the "Girl" in the titles) are all here as Lisbeth's story unfolds and comes to "somewhat" of a climax. While the story deals with some far reaching and politically charged plot points it's handled extremely well and rolls along in such a way that it doesn't slow down. I was not really interested in the personal stories of many of the characters (who loves who, who's sleeping with who, how open their marriages are or aren't and who can deal with sharing a lover and who can't) but even following these parts didn't drop my interest form the book.

This is one of those novels that if you try to give someone a synopsis of the plot as a whole there is no way you could actually do it justice. A verbal (or written) description trying to lay out the plot points and describe the interplay of the said plots, sub plots and so on might even sound boring. But the book isn't. This books and these books are excellent (not always but sometimes even exceptional) reads. They are highly recommended.

I think I should stop here and say that aside from the loss to his friends and loved ones readers also suffered a great loss when Stieg Larsson died. He will be missed by all those who read these books and think what might have been.

I've read that he had possibly three quarters of another novel written and had notes and/or outlines for a couple more. Apparently however the ownership of these is in the hands of his family and I have no idea if they plan to try and find someone talented to finish the one and build on the other. I understand that Mr. Larsson had planned 10 books for the Millennium Series. As I said, might have been.

Highly recommended. (less)

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Oct 04, 2012 Lona rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

مؤلف هذه السلسة "ستيغ لارسون" كاتب، صحفي، عاشق للخيال العلمي،ناشط ضد التمييز العنصري، عاش تحت التهديد بالقتل بسبب نقده الشديد لليمين المتطرف في السويد في كتاب ألفه عنه .. .. لماذا هذا التقديم عنه؟! لأني وجدت بعد القراءة عنه أن شخصيته كانت حاضره في السلسلة "سلسلة الألفية" بأجزائها الثلاثة في شخص الصحفي "مايكل بلومفست" وهو الشخصية الرئيسية في رواياته بجانب "ليزبث سالاندر" .. .. فهو حتى في أوقات فراغه التي كتب فيها السلسلة حسب ما قيل "للتسلية لا للنشر" واصل عمله في تقديم قضايا الانتهاكات في حقوق ال...more مؤلف هذه السلسة "ستيغ لارسون" كاتب، صحفي، عاشق للخيال العلمي،ناشط ضد التمييز العنصري، عاش تحت التهديد بالقتل بسبب نقده الشديد لليمين المتطرف في السويد في كتاب ألفه عنه .. .. لماذا هذا التقديم عنه؟! لأني وجدت بعد القراءة عنه أن شخصيته كانت حاضره في السلسلة "سلسلة الألفية" بأجزائها الثلاثة في شخص الصحفي "مايكل بلومفست" وهو الشخصية الرئيسية في رواياته بجانب "ليزبث سالاندر" .. .. فهو حتى في أوقات فراغه التي كتب فيها السلسلة حسب ما قيل "للتسلية لا للنشر" واصل عمله في تقديم قضايا الانتهاكات في حقوق الأفراد في المجتمع السويدي (خصوصاً النساء) بطابع روائي شيق

وجدت قلم "ستيغ لارسون" الروائي مبهر .. .. يبني حبكة الرواية من حدث رئيسي تتشابك وتتداخل معه عدة أحداث ذات أهمية لا تقل عن الحدث الرئيسي .. .. أيضاً طريقة سرده للأحداث مميزه فهو يجعلك تندمج في حدث معين ثم يقفز بك فجأة لحدث آخر لا يقل تشويقاً وإثارة، فالقفزات كثيرة جداً ومترابطة ولكنها أضفت طابع تشويقي شديد على أحداث الرواية.. .. أيضاً يمتاز قلمه بالسرد التفصيلي للأحداث (تفاصيل التفاصيل) تساعد القارئ في بناء مشهد مصوَّر، متكامل في مخيلته للأحداث .. .. رواياته ذات بعد نفسي، طبي، علمي، معلوماتي إلكتروني، بوليسي، حقوقي، كوميدي ... باختصار كاتب ذو مخيلة خصبة، ذكاءه واضح جداً بين سطور الرواية

في هذا الجزء الأخير "فتاة في عش الدبابير" يُقدِّم مرة أخرى المؤلف الجانب الإيجابي للعمل الصحفي المتمثل "بالخبطة الصحفية" التي تجلب الشهرة لصاحبها وفي نفس الوقت تساهم في كشف الانتهاكات وإحقاق الحق و العدل .. .. في الغالب ضد أشخاص ذوى مستوى رفيع في الدولة على جميع الأصعدة (سياسية /اقتصادية /اجتماعية) .. .. فالقضية الأساسية في هذا الجزء هي عدم وجود محكمة دستورية في السويد تقاضي الدولة على انتهاكها للحقوق الديمقراطية لأفرادها، وتمادي بعض موظفيها بالالتفاف على القانون وتحديدهم لمفهوم الخير والشر على هواهم .. .. أما المحاور الأخرى:- اللجوء السياسي ما له وما عليه،العنف ضد النساء بأشكاله، ثراء بعض رجال الأعمال باستغلالهم للأطفال كعمالة رخيصة في الدول النامية، التحرش بالأطفال في المؤسسات النفسية من قبل أطباءهم، عدم التوظيف على أساس الكفاءة في "بعض" المؤسسات بل على أساس الجنس... وغيرها لأن الرواية غزيرة جداً بالأحداث لدرجة تبعث على الاستغراب والإعجاب بهذا الكاتب

في هذا الجزء يساعد "مايكل" الضحية "سالاندر" في إثبات براءتها بينما هي محجوزة في غرفة العناية المركزة، وأيضاً إقناعها بالوثوق في القانون للحصول على حقها وهي عملية صعبة لأنها عاشت عمرها كله ضحية له بسبب أفراد معينين استغلوا مراكز سلطتهم وصنعوا قوانينهم الخاصة، وأيضاً عاشت حياتها غير معترفة به "فهو عدوها الأول" وسبب شقاءها

في النهاية بعد أكثر من 2000 صفحة، أجد السلسلة جديرة بالقراءة ولم أندم على قراءتها .. .. من حيث المتعة كان الجزء الأول الأكثر إمتاعاً يليه الثالث ثم الثاني .. .. ولمن يتساءل عن أهمية قراءتها بالترتيب أقول:- أن الجزء الأول مستقل عن الأجزاء الباقية، لكن لقراءة الجزء الثالث يجب قراءة الجزء الثاني لأنهما مترابطان متكاملان .. .. لكن أنصح بقراءتها بالترتيب

قراءتي للجزء الأول
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قراءتي للجزء الثاني
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Dec 31, 2012 Esra rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, favorite-author, favorite-books, favorite-female-characters, sci-fi, suspense-crime

Serinin içerisinde en duygulandığım kitap, Lisbeth’e yapılan bütün haksızlıklar ortaya çıkıyor ve Lisbeth aklanıyor. Artık raylar yerine oturmaya başlıyor. Mikael içinde çok duygulandım bu kitapta çünkü kitabın sonlarına doğru istikrarlı bir ilişkiye başlıyor. Hatta “Sanırım aşık oldum” gibi bir cümle kuruyor. Mikael gibi bir odundan bu lafları duymak! Tekrar tekrar baştan okudum acaba yanlış okumuş ve anlamış olabilir miydim? En nihayetinde doğru okumuşum. En nihayetinde bütün kirli çamaşırlar...more

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Oct 29, 2011 Belle Forcible rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites

“You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend.” —Paul Sweeney

It's all over, I wanna cryyyyy :(

But anywaaaay......

Larsson's got that annoying habit of stuffing much too much in the scene, especially with the first book. I had to warn the future readers. I really don't think it has to be this thick...

But right, who cares...if it all proved to be worth it.

The first book is of curiosity...questions. Second, discoveries. Third... Smiles....more

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Jun 18, 2010 James Thane rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is an excellent conclusion to Larsson's Millennium Trilogy. The series protagonists, Lisbeth Salander and journalist Mikael Blomkvist take on a cast of especially nefarious characters in an effort to set right a host of injustices that have been visited upon Lisbeth from the time she was a very young girl.

As with the other two books in the series, this one would have benefitted from a little more rigorous editing. In particular, there is a subplot involving Mikael's long-time lover, Erika B...more

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Nov 25, 2009 Mike rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Larsson's third (and, alas, final) Millennium novel continues right where we left off volume II, the asocial supergenius crazycoolcharacter Lisbeth Salander shot in the head (but somehow able to drag herself over to axe her Russian-defector/gangster/all-around-asshole father Zalachenko in the face), charismatic and promiscuous and intrepid journalist Mikael Blomkvist sending her off to the hospital then arrested by police then trying to get them to go after the real bad guy, Salander's half-brot...more Larsson's third (and, alas, final) Millennium novel continues right where we left off volume II, the asocial supergenius crazycoolcharacter Lisbeth Salander shot in the head (but somehow able to drag herself over to axe her Russian-defector/gangster/all-around-asshole father Zalachenko in the face), charismatic and promiscuous and intrepid journalist Mikael Blomkvist sending her off to the hospital then arrested by police then trying to get them to go after the real bad guy, Salander's half-brother, who is impervious to pain and the size of Hulk Hogan.

Which all sounds terribly melodramatic, and it is in plotting 'though brilliantly even-tempered in prose execution, and it works. This volume follows the attempts by the rogue contingent of the secret police, charged with protecting Zalachenko, to clean up the mess by again smearing (and involuntarily hospitalizing) the allegedly psychopathic Salander, while Blomkvist slowly pieces together the conspiracy. Unlike the prior novels, there's little mystery--it's less a puzzle about what will happen (or, as in the by-far-best first volume, a whodunnit) than, like a long-con plot, the painstaking piece by piece defeat of the bad guys by the good guys. If that's a spoiler for anyone, I apologize, even as I mock your incredible unfamiliarity with the basic hallmarks of this kind of fiction.

I enjoy these characters, 'though there's far too little of Salander, stuck in a hospital bed for most of the running time. I enjoy Larsson's attention to detail, the way he grafts the form of the police procedural onto a tale with a foregone conclusion and (alas) few surprises. That "alas" is a minor quibble--I loved volume one, how great a mystery it was, and the second two are more "thrillers," interested in the lovely meshing of the gears of plot, and perhaps I'm wishing they were what they were not. Even as a thriller, this third installment seems simultaneously delightful and yet light on suspense. So... enjoyed, but not loved.(less)

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Dec 16, 2010 Jana rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nordic

I was talking to my mom on the phone and she asked me what’s been happening lately, and I said Sweden is happening. She gave me that sigh 'what do you mean', and I said something like, well Larsson died and now I will never see a full closure. I heard a silent question. Mum, are you still there, it’s me Jana! She asked me when I plan to live my life without my book characters in it and whether I was going overboard with reading. What do you mean mum, I grinned chewing an apple. I hear you are no...more

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Aug 16, 2012 Chad Sayban rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: highly-recommended

“I don't know how much you understand about what is happening outside your locked room, but strangely enough (despite your personality), you have a number of loyal idiots working on your behalf. I have already established an elite body called The Knights of the Idiotic Table. We will be holding an annual dinner at which we'll have fun talking crap about you. (No, you're not invited).”

As Lisbeth Salander fights for her life in a Swedish hospital, the man who tried to kill her – her father, a psyc...more “I don't know how much you understand about what is happening outside your locked room, but strangely enough (despite your personality), you have a number of loyal idiots working on your behalf. I have already established an elite body called The Knights of the Idiotic Table. We will be holding an annual dinner at which we'll have fun talking crap about you. (No, you're not invited).”

As Lisbeth Salander fights for her life in a Swedish hospital, the man who tried to kill her – her father, a psychopath named Alexander Zalachenko – lays just two rooms away. But he is only the beginning of Salander’s problems. The state wants her to stand trial for three murders she didn’t commit, corrupt politicians want her to be sent to a psychiatric facility for the rest of her life and a shadowy government agency dubbed “The Section” just wants the whole thing – including Salander – to disappear. Only her friends, can save her from her fate. But Salander doesn’t want to be saved…she wants revenge.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest – the final installment of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy – picks up right where The Girl Who Played with Fire (4.0 stars, Recommended) left off. Lisbeth Salander has survived the attack by her father and half-brother, but her father survived and still wants her dead and her brother is the focus of a manhunt in Sweden. Larsson does with The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest what he did so successfully in the first two installments. He takes a simple survival premise, immerses it in a complex pool of competing interests, but never lets the story become overly complex to where it loses its momentum.

The key to the success of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest is once again the strength of the main characters – Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist. One of the best parts of the Salander character is that she doesn’t make the kinds of decisions that most of the rest of us would. She is so different – but the magic of her character is that her decisions make sense from her perspective and her way of thinking. That is the essence of what makes this such a strong series. It puts us in the shoes of someone who is much different and lets us see life through her eyes – and does it so well.

However, there are many other storylines and characters that really takes The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest from just being good to becoming a great piece of storytelling. Larsson never wavers in his commitment to shine a powerful spotlight on the way the rights of women and – even more specifically, the rights of people who we perceive as different – are sometimes trampled upon in the name of what is good for the whole of society. It is not heavy-handed preaching – it is capturing the essence of a social problem inside of a well told story. But The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest expands the landscape to a Robert Ludlum level of intrigue not scene in the earlier volumes. At first, I was concerned that Larsson had pushed it too far. Fortunately, I was wrong and the pieces fell nicely into place as the story wound up.

Once again, Larsson delivers a wonderful story of action, intelligence and intrigue, even taken on its own. However, if you couple it to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (4.5 stars, Recommended) and The Girl Who Played with Fire (4.0 stars, Recommended) Larsson comes through with a mesmerizing conclusion to what I feel is one of the finest thriller trilogies written. I highly recommend the entire series. If you haven’t read any of these books, I suggest you do yourself a favor and pick them all up. You won’t be disappointed.
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The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest (Millennium #3)

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