The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest by Steig Larsson, is the final book in the Millennium Trilogy. I really enjoyed both, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl who Played with Fire, so it was only natural that I needed to see how this trilogy was going to end. Genre: Fiction, Crime
Publisher: Quercus
Year: 2010
Rating: 4/5
The Trial
Lisbeth Salander - outsider and apparent enemy of society - is charged with attempted murder. The state has also ruled that she is mentally unstable, and should be locked away in an institution once again. But she is closely guarded in a hospital, having taken a bullet to the head, so how will she prove her innocence?
The Enemy
Pulling the strings of the prosecution is the powerful inner circle of Säpo, the state security police. Determined to protect the secrets and corruption at Sweden's rotten core, Säpo is not an adversary to take on alone.
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornetss' Nest
Only with the help of Mikael Blomkvist and the journalists at Millennium magazine can Salander avoid the fate that has been decided for her. Together they form a compelling and dynamic alliance.
I was very excited to read this book. I really loved the first two books in this trilogy so when I got my hands on a copy of this book, and saw that it was a tome of a book at 743 pages, I was even more excited! I love big, fat books!
This story, although interesting, was quite slow. The majority of the book revolves around Salander recovering in hospital, after being shot in the head. As she recovers the big bosses who work in the inner circle at Säpo (the people who gave Zalachenko political asylum) are doing what they can to make sure she is once again locked away in an institution, her human rights revoked.
Blomkvist races against the clock to prove Salander's innocence, mental stability and capability to look after herself. He is joined by his sister Giannini, who takes on the job of being Salander's lawyer, and a police officer from Säpo named Figuerola, who knows nothing of this inner circle or Zalachenko. A woman who believes in justice and the law.
Although Salander does not trust anyone, used to a life of abuse, disappointment and betrayal, she must learn to trust these people who are on her side, or face the rest of her life in an asylum.
This book, like the previous two, puts together a bleak view of the justice system in Sweden. It touches on the issues of human rights, loss of Independence, corruption within the security service, the lengths people will go to hide their mistakes and how unfairly society judge those that are a little different. This book takes a good look at the way women are treated by men and how modern society views the role of the female.
Larsson does a great job of putting together the story, slowly unveiling pieces of the puzzle as the novel progresses. He also has a great way with his characters, Salander and Blomkvist really came alive not only in this novel, but in the previous two. All the characters in this trilogy are well fleshed out and Larsson does a great job of making his reader love or hate certain people.
Although, not on par action wise with the first two novels, the final book in the trilogy does a great job of wrapping up a big part of the Salander story. It is quite obvious that there were meant to be more books in this series (I am pretty sure I read that Larsson was part way through the 4th manuscript when he died) and this story does feel like there is suppose to be more to it. There are things hinted at in this book that were not resolved and I am sure they were intended for another novel. I am disappointed that Larsson left this world so soon, before he could finish his Salander novels. She really is a character I have come to love. She is deeply flawed, and has her fair share of self-made problems, but she is gutsy and different. She never backs down. I think we all could learn a little from Salander.
