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The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Millennium #3)

by Stieg Larsson, Reg Keeland (Translator)

4.10 · rating details · 115,494 ratings · 15,235 reviews

The stunning third and final novel in Stieg Larsson’s internationally best-selling trilogy

Lisbeth Salander—the heart of Larsson’s two previous novels—lies in critical condition, a bullet wound to her head, in the intensive care unit of a Swedish city hospital. She’s fighting for her life in more ways than one: if and when she recovers, she’ll be taken back to Stockholm to ...more

Hardcover, 563 pages

Published May 25th 2010 by Knopf (first published 2007)

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May 31, 2010

Sandybanks rated it

· 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...more

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Jan 13, 2011

Joel rated it

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 fr...moreThese 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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Sep 03, 2011

Manny rated it

· 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 e...more

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Jul 07, 2010

Ellen rated it

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/2010/07/0...

D E P R E S S I O N…

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

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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Jan 20, 2012

Tanu Das rated it

Shelves: adventure, favorite, favorite-protagonist, human-cruelty, kickass-female-chick, 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 the day 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 and the end of the room, and them pick it up again and read it like a mad woman, totally forgetting the outside world. Yo...more

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Oct 05, 2010

Dan Porter rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: Anyone who's read the first two books of the Millennium series.

Shelves: thrillers

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 ...more

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Jun 04, 2010

Kemper rated it

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...moreLisbeth 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

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 arcan...more

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Jul 10, 2010

Shannon rated it

· review of another edition

Recommended to Shannon by: Maria M.

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...moreContains 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

· 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 endi...moreThis 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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Oct 08, 2009

Bernadette rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: read-2009, sweden, whodunnit

As the book opens Lisbeth Salander, subject of a nation-wide manhunt on suspicion of three murders, has been shot several times, once in the head, and is on her way by helicopter to hospital. Alexander Zalachenko, her father and a former Russian agent being protected by members of the Swedish police, has been hit in the face with an axe by Lisbeth and is on his way to the same hospital. Over the coming days both have their injuries treated while the bureaucrats and police officers who have prote...moreAs the book opens Lisbeth Salander, subject of a nation-wide manhunt on suspicion of three murders, has been shot several times, once in the head, and is on her way by helicopter to hospital. Alexander Zalachenko, her father and a former Russian agent being protected by members of the Swedish police, has been hit in the face with an axe by Lisbeth and is on his way to the same hospital. Over the coming days both have their injuries treated while the bureaucrats and police officers who have protected Zalachenko for many years re-group to decide what action to take to ensure their activities are not uncovered. At the same time investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist and his colleagues at Millennium magazine start to piece together the evidence that will demonstrate what crimes have been committed and by whom.

First, let me get the flaws out of the way.

As was the case with the first two books in this series Hornets' Nest would have benefited from tighter editing: it isn't really a 600 page story. Sometimes excruciating details are provided about an eclectic collection of subjects (I have learned more than I ever wanted to about the hierarchy of the Swedish Police for example) and then other threads are left almost bare (as if Larsson had forgotten them in his rush to the end). Also, as he did in the first book, Larsson periodically stepped out of the role of storyteller and became a journalist preparing an in-depth Sunday feature with several diatribes and some passages that belonged in a lecture rather than a thriller. This failure to follow the 'show don't tell' rule is the most hated of my personal pet peeves and can be the thing that makes me stop reading. But I have learned that the details and the lecturing are as much a part of Larsson's work as Lisbeth and his other fabulous characters and I think, perhaps, they are the necessary flip side of the thing that makes him such a good yarn-spinner: his passion.

It's clearer than ever in this book that Larsson aimed to do more than tell a thrilling story. Earlier this year another journalist turned fiction writer, Matt Rees, blogged that writing his fictional tales set in Palestine allowed him to be far more truthful about the realities there than he could ever have been in his journalism and I wonder if Larsson didn't experience this same phenomenon. He demonstrates the myriad ways women are mistreated by men throughout the book and I suspect much of this is based on things he saw as a journalist. Although it is Lisbeth who, as an almost allegorical character, experiences the worst of treatments over many years by men who abuse their physical and political power there are many other stories intertwined here. For example Erika Berger is stalked by someone she barely knows and treated abysmally on top of it, women are trafficked and treated as though no more than goods by Zalachenko and his son and there's even a reminder of the trauma caused to Harriet Vanger which, in a way, started the entire series off. But Larsson doesn't just depict a black and white world where all the men are awful and all women victims. The book is brimming with positive female characters who can look after themselves as well as many men who go out of their way to right the wrongs they have seen done around them.

Lisbeth plays a less active role in this book than in any of the others which could have disappointed me but didn't. She features as a motivating force for much of the action and starts to display glimpses of a slowly healing psyche after all the abuse she has suffered. In addition there are many other compelling characters to become intrigued by. Erika features in a startling minor thread and is more well-rounded in this novel and there are great new characters to meet such as Mikael's sister Annika who becomes Lisbeth's lawyer. Mikael himself is probably his most engaging in this book and certainly his most mature as he develops sensitive professional and personal relationships with the police who must investigate the Zalachenko affair. Even the bad guys are well-drawn and reading about how they were drawn into the conspiracy to protect Zalachenko and in so doing cause deep harm to Lisbeth and others is quite fascinating.

Although all three novels have featured the Millennium magazine it was in this book that I was really struck by Larsson's at times old-fashioned depiction of the role investigative journalism and plays in our world. I suppose being a journalist himself he was biased but it really does hit home how much we need a functional fourth estate and what trouble us little folk might be in if they disappear as would seem likely given the dire predictions for mainstream media.

In the end The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest is a complex, unpredictable book that wears its liberal heart proudly on its sleeve. I don't imagine you could make much sense of it without having read the first two in the series and I would strongly recommend that if you're going to read them at all (and you really, really should) then you must, as with all the very best stories, start at the beginning.(less)

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Jan 24, 2010

Claude Bertout rated it

· 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...moreJ'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

· 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...moreSarah 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

· 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 d...moreI 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

· review of another edition

Shelves: english, crime, reviewed-2008-2009

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 sta...more

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May 02, 2010

David Grounds rated it

· 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

· 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 s...more

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Oct 29, 2009

Bettie rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: published-2009, scandinavian-root, 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 footste...more

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Jun 18, 2010

James Thane rated it

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 lo...more

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Nov 25, 2009

Mike rated it

· 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...moreLarsson'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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Jun 03, 2010

Michael rated it

· review of another edition

Larsson found his stride with this, the last number of the Millenium Trilogy. When I reached the middle of the book, I couldn't put it down and finished it at 3:00 a.m. It is sad that Larsson died before seeing any of the trilogy in print and sad too that we will have no more novels from him. Nevertheless, the Millenium Trilogy stands as a fine memorial. Lisbeth Salander, his unique creation, is less an active agent in the final novel and more of a fulcrum on which the action turns, driven by th...more

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Nov 20, 2009

Bobbi rated it

· review of another edition

Finishing this book was like finishing the last book in the Harry Potter series--I was devastated knowing there will be no more!

Stieg Larsson did such an incredible job of wrapping up the first two books in the series with this one. It was 602 pages of incredible "can't get enough of these great characters" good stuff. The first two books each had their own journalism adventure/theme. This book takes all the loose ends in the first two books, continuing where the second boo...more

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Oct 12, 2009

Flannery rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: crime-fiction, so-good-i-stayed-up-to-read-it, favorites, read-in-2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I am happy with this third and final installment in the Millennium trilogy. Throughout the entire series, I was astounded with the depth that Larsson went into several plot lines and a majority of the side characters. In this one, I especially liked the length of the sections surrounding individual characters--I was never really bored of one angle of writing before he jumped to the next viewpoint/storyline.

There were some aspects that I found highly implausible--the "best of th...moreI am happy with this third and final installment in the Millennium trilogy. Throughout the entire series, I was astounded with the depth that Larsson went into several plot lines and a majority of the side characters. In this one, I especially liked the length of the sections surrounding individual characters--I was never really bored of one angle of writing before he jumped to the next viewpoint/storyline.

There were some aspects that I found highly implausible--the "best of the best" Sapo people being completely oblivious to the fact that Blomkvist et al. figured everything out in those months. (That whole, "the worst he could have is the 1991 report" rubbish.) Also, we are led to believe that Neidermann was a monster of a man but he can blend into normal society by growing a moustache and putting on overalls?--yeah, right.

Also, WTF is up with mentioning Lisbeth's twin throughout three entire books and then...nothing. Thanks for driving me up a wall, Stieg Larsson. Oh, she's "abroad"? Thanks, that totally helps. Is she like Lisbeth? Would she have corroborated the story? Can she feel no pain? (Muahaha, just kidding) I guess we'll never know.

I liked the whole courtroom drama at the end. In fact, I think the latter third of the entire book was some of my favorite writing ever...mostly because I read from page 230 or so right to the end in one afternoon. (Not that I liked it because I read it in one afternoon, I liked it SO much that I read it in one afternoon) The story moved along at a rather rapid pace--though I really wanted them to get to the trial faster than they did. Oh, and I enjoyed Jonasson's character but wanted him to get more play than he did. More play than bodybuilder huge-muscles-on-a-woman-but-still-somehow-super-sexy Monica. After hooking up with her, Salander, and Erika, I think it is safe to say that Blomkvist will tap that...no matter who it is.

Remember when he had an ex-wife and a kid that only existed as characters in the first novel? I totally forgot about them until I just wrote that last sentence. (less)

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Feb 15, 2011

Truly rated it

· review of another edition

"Itu dia.”
”Maksud Anda?”
”itu Lisbeth Salender. Gadis yang dicari-cari selama beberapa minggu ini karena tiga kasus pembunuihan di Stockholm”

Dr. Jonasson sama sekali tidak mengira, gadis yang dibawa masuk ruangan UGD adalah gadis yang paling dicari. Yang ia tahu adalah bagaimana menyelamatkan pasiennya, sisanya harus menunggu. Lisbeth Salander ditemukan dalam keadaan yang mengenaskan. Sementara sang ayah yang juga musuh bebuyutannya Zalachenko ditemukan dengan luka meng...more

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Dec 05, 2007

Casey Toussaint rated it

· review of another edition

A wonderful finish to this incredible 3 volume novel. He still manages to surprise you, right up to the end - the mark of a successful whodunit for me. The characters are well drawn, and feel like old friends - not always 100% believable at this stage, but if you've gotten this far you really don't care any more. This is one of those reading experiences that leave you feeling a little lost when it's all over. I was feeling very much at home in Stieg Larsson's Stockholm and I miss it.

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Aug 23, 2010

Julie rated it

Shelves: mystery-crime-thriller, scandinavia-theme-setting, disappointments-of-2010, much-ado-about-not-much, read-2010

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I'll go for 2.5 stars.

"The incident at Stallerholmen was connected with the discoveries at Nykvarn and was actually the purview of the Strängnäs police district in Södermanland county."

WTF? Okay, so I follow the words and accept this as a simple statement of fact (within the context of this HUGELY implausible fiction), but this may be one of the most ridiculous sentences I've read since stumbling painfully through Sarah Palin's I'm-quitting-as-governor-of-AK s...more

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Jul 02, 2010

Alyn Turner rated it

I left it in Chippewa Falls! Crap. I have to wait to finish it. So far my opinion is that it is better than the first but not as good as the second.

Update: Upon finishing the series I feel like the reason for reading these books is to so that one can partake in the current events discussions about them. That might be all, though. I appreciated the attempts at injecting genuinely strong female characters, and though people have been berating the series for its obsession with violent c...more

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Oct 14, 2009

Leia rated it

· review of another edition

Wonderful whilst bittersweet - the trial to decide Lisbeth's fate did not disappoint, yet I could not help the feeling of sorrow that came when I realized these were the last moments I would be spending with these fabulous characters. Any good story leaves you wanting more, and I will always wonder what Stieg Larsson had in store for us.

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Goodreads Librarians: The Girl Who Fixed the Hornet's Nest	3	43	Feb 05, 2012 07:02pm
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What would be your bet on the follow-up books?	7	65	Dec 22, 2011 02:16pm
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About Stieg Larsson

Stieg Larsson (born August 15, 1954 in Skelleftehamn, Sweden as Karl Stig-Erland Larsson) was a Swedish journalist and writer who passed away in 2004.

As a journalist and editor of the magazine Expo, Larsson was active in documenting and exposing Swedish extreme right and racist organisations. When he died at the age of 50, Larsson left three unpublished thrillers and unfinished manuscr...more

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