Book Review: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet by Stieg Larsson

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
Millennium #3
Author: Stieg Larsson
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Published: 2007
Review Source: Purchased
Available: Amazon
Reviews: Book 1 / Book 2

Summary: (from goodreads) 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 stand trial for three murders. With the help of her friend, journalist Mikael Blomkvist, she will not only have to prove her innocence, but also identify and denounce those in authority who have allowed the vulnerable, like herself, to suffer abuse and violence. And, on her own, she will plot revenge—against the man who tried to kill her, and the corrupt government institutions that very nearly destroyed her life.

Once upon a time, she was a victim. Now Salander is fighting back.

Since I could not stop after the second book, head in I went to the third and last in the series and was again impressed by it.

After her meeting with her Dad, Lisbeth Salander is rescued by Mikael Blomqvist . Her condition being very serious, she is then flown to the hospital, where she undergoes a series of surgeries to save her. This doesn’t stop the persecution by her dad’s followers and the Swedish government to implicate her. Kept in isolation, her friends need to find creative ways to communicate and use her extensive knowledge of computers to help investigate. They need to find out why she is considered a threat and a danger to the secret government agency, enough that they try to destroy her and commit her, once again to a mental facility.

In this book, once again you find yourself in a fast, thrilling investigative journey to save an innocent outcast of society. The complex plot has a lot of insight in the society in Sweden and outstanding exploration of the characters mind. This book series has been addictive and impossible to put down, one of the best mystery / thrillers I have read. It saddens me to know that there will be no more added to the series.

Book Review: The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

The Girl Who Played with Fire
Millennium #2
Author: Stieg Larsson
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Published: 2006
Review Source: Purchased
Available: Amazon

Summary: (from goodreads) Part blistering espionage thriller, part riveting police procedural, and part piercing exposé on social injustice, The Girl Who Played with Fire is a masterful, endlessly satisfying novel.

 
Mikael Blomkvist, crusading publisher of the magazine Millennium, has decided to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation. On the eve of its publication, the two reporters responsible for the article are murdered, and the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to his friend, the troubled genius hacker Lisbeth Salander. Blomkvist, convinced of Salander’s innocence, plunges into an investigation. Meanwhile, Salander herself is drawn into a murderous game of cat and mouse, which forces her to face her dark past.

From the Paperback edition.

2nd book of the Millennium Trilogy

Even as much as I liked the first book, I loved this one even more. This second installment is mostly dealing with Lisbeth Salander character and her history. At the beginning of the book , there is recount of her adventures in traveling where she tries to erase newly alien feelings that she has for Mikael. Mikael Blomkvist is a journalist that she did some of her unique research in the previous book to help solve a crime and literally saved his life. Once she returns, she is in a mission to help organize her life and buys a new apartment away from all that is known to ensure her privacy. After she settles in her new life, she does her search in all the computers she has hacked into to find out what has been going on. In Michael’s computer she find articles and research for a new book that brings unexpected memories and surprises. The couple that had been the authors of the research and articles are found killed as well as her appointed guardian, and she finds herself the center of the police manhunt and thought to be the killer. Only those that are considered close to her step up the plate and defend the innocence of Salander, they use their own resources to initiate and independent investigation in hopes to prove it. During the investigation, we learn a lot of facts and history where we are introduced to the reasons why she is the peculiar character that she is.

There is no shortage of mystery, action packed drama and electrifying adventure throughout the whole story. There is excitement in every page you turn to end in an astonishing and heart wrenching climax. There are some lose ends that are probably door openers for the 3rd and final installment. I can’t release the hold the story has on me, so my to be read pile has gone to standby mode, and I ‘m going straight to the 3rd book.

Book Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Millennium #1
Author: Stieg Larsson
Translator: Reg Keeland
Reading Level: Adult
Pages: 465 Hardcover
Published: Originally in 2005
Review Source: Purchased
Available: Amazon

Summary: (from goodreads) Once you start The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, there's no turning back. This debut thriller--the first in a trilogy from the late Stieg Larsson--is a serious page-turner rivaling the best of Charlie Huston and Michael Connelly. Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch--and there's always a catch--is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues. Little is as it seems in Larsson's novel, but there is at least one constant: you really don't want to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo.

This is definitely up my alley, a mystery within a mystery , like a double sided puzzle, loved it.

Mikail Blomkvist, is a partner and financial magazine editor for Millennium, accused of libel after publishing an article about a company. He unexplainably decides not to defend himself in court when is found guilty and sentenced. Once sentenced, he decides to separate himself from the magazine and leave it in the hand of his other partners to minimize the damage to the reputation and credibility of the magazine, as much as possible. On his sabbatical he is approached by the attorney of the head of the wealthiest family in Sweden and is offered a job. He is to write the Vangers family biography with the condition that he will investigate and try to solve the mysterious 40 year old disappearance of his niece, using the book as an underlying excuse to investigate the family. He is coaxed into it by the promise of details that will be given to him in a year, to help his case uncovering the company that brought his demise. Once the job is accepted he seeks assistance in the most unlikely candidate, Lisbeth Salander, a tattooed and pierced introverted young girl that is a wiz hacker with a photographic memory. Tracking the new clues he finds, damaging skeletons and a mysterious terrifying past on the family where the solution to Harriet’s disappearance had been hidden.

Recommended book to those that like mind puzzling crime mysteries, I for one can’t wait to read the next book which I been told is even better.