The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Millennium #3) by Stieg Larsson, 566 p.

CW: Sexual assault

"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."--Goodreads blurb

This is the final book in this series written by the original author, Larsson. It does continue on with different characters, however, I will be stopping at this book. This humongous series was absolutely worth the read and I'm glad I finally picked it up off my to-read list, but I'm also kinda glad it's over. Lisbeth will never be a very likeable character, and Mikael will always search for his story, but they should probably go their separate ways.

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

The Girl Who Played With Fire (Millennium #2) by Stieg Larsson, 503 p.

CW: Sexual Assault

"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."

I took a small break between reading the first book in this series and the second. This series is pretty violent, sometimes graphically. However, it is still a great series that go, go, goes from the first word. The characters still communicate poorly and make bad decisions, but the story drives on, bad guys are caught (or killed), and Lisbeth and Mikael get both farther apart and closer than ever.  
 

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson,  818 pages

The third book in the The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series (which I thought would be the final book) was a very slow and tedious read for me.  I did not care for this final book that follows Lisbeth Salander as she recovers in the hospital and faces trial for the murder of three people.  Aided by reporter Mikael Blomkvist, Lisbeth is entangled in a plot to find out who is behind the corruption and criminal activity in the government institutions that are trying so hard to put her away.  With many names, characters, and organizations to keep track of, I did not find the book exciting until the end when Lisbeth is made to face the person who wishes her the most harm.

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson, 724 pages

The Girl Who Played With Fire is the sequel to the book The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  It had been several years since I had read the first book in the series, so my memory was a little fuzzy.  But, the second book does touch back to some important details from the first book.  Names came back to me, more easily then places.  The books are translated from Sweden, so names and places were hard to keep track of because of spellings and similarities in pronunciation.  For this reason, I sometimes found the story hard to follow.

In The Girl Who Played With Fire, Millennium Publisher, Mikael Blomkvist is about to publish a revealing article on sex trafficking in Europe.  Right before the article and a book are to be published, the authors (a man and a woman who are close friends of Mikael) are violently murdered.  Hitting close to home, Mikael has to find the murderer before his good friend and computer hacker, Lisbeth Salander, is charged with the crime after the murder weapon is found with her prints. Suspense, thrills, and mystery follow as Mikael and Lisbeth work to prove her innocence.  The story was a little slow in the beginning, but as it went on I had to finish the book to find out what the twist would be.  And, there is a twist that reveals Lisbeth's shocking secret.  The surprise ending leaves Lisbeth fighting for her life.