The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (Millennium, #3) in Nordic Noir

May 12, 2011 Anne (Booklady) Molinarolo rated it really liked it

Shelves: winter-2011-12, thriller-suspense, thriller-mystery, good-fiction, permanent-library

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Lisbeth Salander has been shot in head and buried alive by her father and half-brother. The one woman vigilante with a puncheon for violence against those who commit crimes against women must suffer one last colossal betrayal. But will the forces trying to destroy her prevail? Not bloody likely; after all Lisbeth IS the girl with the dragon tattoo who played with fire and will sting when she kicks the hornet’s nest with Mikael’s sister, Annika, in a secret court that will expose the so-called Za Lisbeth Salander has been shot in head and buried alive by her father and half-brother. The one woman vigilante with a puncheon for violence against those who commit crimes against women must suffer one last colossal betrayal. But will the forces trying to destroy her prevail? Not bloody likely; after all Lisbeth IS the girl with the dragon tattoo who played with fire and will sting when she kicks the hornet’s nest with Mikael’s sister, Annika, in a secret court that will expose the so-called Zalachenko Club’s own perversions while circumventing Sweden’s constitution and their own secret existence. That exposure roils the entire Swedish government and finally sets Salander free to become the woman she wants to be.

THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST picks up right where THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE left off and the pace never misses a beat. Her father is just down the hall from her hospital room, and with the help of his buddies deep and secret within the government’s Secret Service they set to destroy Lisbeth Salander. She is the only one besides Zalachenko who knows about them and what they did to keep her silent. Being convicted of the three murders Salander allegedly committed would silence her. A life sentence in a mental institution under the care of her old psychiatrist would be best for all concerned, except Mikael Blomkvist. He knows she is innocent and investigates.

The court scene was brilliant, so was the way Mikael got Lisbeth’s PDA and Wi-Fi to her while she was in the hospital so she could use her “skills” while she and Annika came up with her defense. The sympathetic doctor was believable too. I loved her hacker friends, but didn’t understand when she hacked into Erika Berger’s computer to thank her. I don’t remember Salander’s access to Berger’s machine. And I’m not sure what she did for Salander either. Larrson deftly tied up the Erika/Mikael subplot much to my satisfaction. I really didn’t like Berger that much. All in all, many loose threads were tied together by the end of the trilogy which is good, because I liked how Larrson left Blomkvist and Salander. Though Stieg Larrson left a partially written 4th Millennium book and outlines for a 5th and 6th at the time of his death in 2004, I’m so glad they remain unpublished. I find writers who continue a series after the series originator dies does the series an injustice. They do not know the protagonist/antagonist as well as the late author and almost always the series suffer for that lack of intimate knowledge. The Millennium Trilogy has a prominent place in my permanent library and I will revisit the girl with the dragon tattoo and Kalle Blomkvist on a regular basis.
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Aug 31, 2010 Dalia rated it it was amazing

This is by far my favorite of the trilogy. I could barely put down this book!

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Aug 26, 2011 Laura rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I finally closed out this trilogy! While this book was less evenly paced than the other two, it wad still a good conclusion to the series. Some if the political background was a little dry for me, but the trial scenes and those that followed were great.

A few characters became more developed (Annika) or were introduced (Modig, Linder) that were intriguing and I'll wonder what the author's intentions were for them. But if you've read the earlier two books, you've got to check this out. ...more

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Jun 09, 2010 Naomi rated it it was amazing

Possible Spoilers!

This book was not as good as the other two books in the series because it was way to focused in a courtroom, but it ended the series nicely.

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