The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest - Larsson

As I am writing this book review there are almost 1,700 other reviews currently posted on Amazon for this book.  Of those, almost 1,100 have given Stieg Larsson five Stars for the final book in  his Millennium Trilogy, “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest”.  I too am tempted by the overwhelming appeal of this book by others to also rate it highly...but five stars means classic to me...not only a must read but something I would consider reading multiple times.  “The Great Gatsby”, “Catch-22”, “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”...and just to show that I can be in genre, Thomas Harris’s, “The Silence of the Lambs”.  Don’t get me wrong, this trillogy, and in particular the character Larsson creates in Lisbeth Salander, is fantastic.  Whereas Clarice Starling may have a rival in Lisbeth Salander, no character in this book rises to the level of a household name such as Hannibal Lecter.  Even after 1,200 some odd pages Salander is the only draw, and, given the length to this  expose and the title of each book, we still are just getting to know her.  Which is why most fans, including me, would have liked for Larsson to have stayed with us a lot longer.

Hornet’s Nest is a great  book and a must read for all fan’s.  Simply put you must finish the series. Larsson end’s what he starts...in fact looking back it is clear he set out to write a single novel in three parts.  It all fits together.  “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” only worked, and I speculate here, because everyone knew that it’s was the first of the series and that there was more of Salander ready for us...already written, already printed.  Had it not been that way, had the series not continued, we would have been left with half a character and the hope there the author would write more.  It wasn’t until “The Girl Who Played With Fire”, that we learned, as we already suspected, that Salander wasn’t a fluke, she was definitely someone we could cheer for, and hope for, and care for, as did Blomkvist.  

Yet this third book is strained.  It is too long.  It is too repetitive. And ultimately the character who is so compelling to us, as some of the her mystery fades, also loses some of her charm.  Many of her secrets are revealed, she does have a conscious and she does require help from others...in this case the old and feeble mystery conspirators who conveniently off the more interesting protagonist, Zalachenko, before Salander can finish what she had started with an ax to his face by killing him with a pencil.  A scene we must imagine for ourselves because the conspiracy intervenes early in the book.   Basically I think Larsson simply ran out of intrigue for her and we are left with a boy meets girl, girl likes boy, girl hates boy, boy saves girl’s life, girl still hates boy, girl likes boy in the end story.  And then they live happily ever after, but only after girl tries to kill all her family members, but actually doesn’t holding her morality untarnished, yet they die nevertheless, as they certainly deserved to die.

I’m glad I read this trilogy...I’m glad I read  “Hornet’s Nest”...I’m glad to be done.  Four stars for a very good series.  I will not be re-reading any of these books, however, but I will continue to watch the movies...but only the Swedish versions...the Hollywood version adds nothing to the story...except maybe the James Bond title sequence accompanied by Led Zepplin’s “Immigrant Song”.