Author:  Stieg Larsson
Title:  The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest
Publisher:  Alfred A. Knopf Publishers

Lisabeth Salander, the Swedish, pixie-sized girl with unbelievable survival skills has amazingly made it to the end of her trilogy. Her story started with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, progressed with The Girl Who Played with Fire, and now finds its completion in The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

Author Stieg Larsson finished all three books that made up his Millennium-series just before he died in 2004. He didn't live to see them published in 40+ countries to the sales of over 20 million copies, making him one of the most successful writers of the last decade. His background as an expert in right-wing extremism in Sweden, as well as his experience as a magazine editor, lent not only to the plotlines of this series but also made him several political enemies in the real world. Many believe that he patterned the secondary character in the book, the journalist Mikael Blomkvist, after himself. 

For those who haven't read the first two books in the series, don't start with the finale. Larsson did not write these books as stand-alone novels. While many authors will provide enough background in each book of their series so they can be read independently, Larsson simply starts the first chapter of Hornet's Nest where Played with Fire ended. He expects that his readers are already up to speed and jumps right back into the conflict. For those who have been waiting for months to find out what happened after the bloody business in book two, this works marvelously. For those readers jumping into the fray for the first time in book three, they will have too many characters and relationships to try and figure out on their own—like trying to put together a puzzle without the outside pieces.

Fans will be pleased with this last book. Larsson includes new wrinkles in the story by reaching back into history and providing the background for the conflict that has already taken place in the first two novels. It also creates a new story arch with a secretive group in the Swedish government who has too much to lose if the truth about Lisabeth Salander comes out. In the end, all of the puzzle pieces come together and the picture makes perfect sense.

Though I was impressed by the intricacies of Larsson's storytelling, the colorful characters, and the pacing of his plot, I never fully, emotionally embraced his characters. Although there was a battle between those who wanted to protect and those who wanted to destroy Salander, I stayed a distant observer. Her victimization certainly found my sympathies, yet her own moral ambiguity left me looking for a hero when there wasn't really one in this story to be found.

For a well-told story that is most certainly on its way to the American box office, people who enjoy reading books before watching the story unfold on a big screen will want to pick up this trilogy. The movies will most certainly be R rated as the plotlines are full of violence, corruption, and the sex trade. Even the sexuality of the characters in the books should be considered only for a mature reading audience.


**This review first published on June 3, 2010.