The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest (Millennium Trilogy, #3)

by Stieg Larsson

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest is the last novel in the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson. The third installment picks up where The Girl Who Played With Fire left off, our hero Lisbeth Salander hanging on through life and death after being shot in the head. When she is "captured" and taken to the hospital she is put under security until she can be transferred to jail and await the trial. Meanwhile, those at Millennium and Milton Security are working hard to prove her innocence.

I felt The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest was just as fast paced as it's predecessors and grew a stronger bond to the characters making it more difficult to shut the book. Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander could be compared to a modern day Nick and Nora Charles. They banter, drink freely and have sex without a second thought. They are on the case first, discovering clues that others have glaringly missed making it look as easy as tying your shoes.

I do have two small complaints, that while sometimes a bit annoying still did not detract from the storyline for me. One is that Stieg Larsson goes into great detail of the politics of Sweden and while it can be interesting could have shortened the novel by at least a hundred pages if half had been removed. Second, there were a plethora of evil-doers all conspiring against Salander and sometimes I got confused or mixed up on who was who, having to flip back and forth to make sure I had it straight.

Like the two before, the ending was a pageturner and sped read as fast I could go, waiting on pins and needles while reaching the conclusion of the Millennium Trilogy.