The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (Luftslottet som sprängdes) by Stieg Larsson
Category: Crime Fiction
Challenges: Thriller and Suspense Reading Challenge 2010
Synopsis: Own translation from Adlibris.com Does contain some spoilers if you have not read The Girl Who Played with Fire.
Two badly injured people are taken to the emergency room at Sahlgrenska hospital in Gothenburgh. One is Lisbeth Salander who is wanted for murder of two people. She has a life threatening gunshot wound in the head and has to be operated on immediately. The other person is Alexander Zalachenko, an older man who is seriously injured since Salander hit him with an axe.
The third and final instalment of the Millennium series continues the story where The Girl Who Played With Fire left off. Lisbeth Salander did survive being buried alive but her problems are far from over. Zalachenko was previously an assassin with the Soviet Secret Intelligence. He is also Salander’s father and he is the one who has been trying to kill her. Strong forces are trying to shut her up for good.
At the same time Mikael Blomkvist is writing an expose that will clear Lisbeth’s name and shake the government, säpo and the whole foundation of the country.
My Thoughts: Small little anecdote to begin, the hospital at the start of the book, my mum worked there when I grew up. When I was in third grade the neurosurgeon on duty diagnosed me as having tonsillitis on Christmas Eve and gave me a prescription for antibiotics. This has nothing to do with the book but I so rarely get to have a personal connection to the books I read that I like the ones I have. I KNOW what this hospital looks like :D.
Thank you for indulging me :) On to the book itself.
I liked this one. Not loved but liked. The issues I’ve had with previous books didn’t seem quite as prevalent in this one. Yes it could still have done with a good edit but I think I have gotten more used to the writing style.
I really enjoyed learning more about Lisbeth and why she acted the way she did. What was done to her was horrific and it went a long way to explaining her actions. It also led to some really quite funny scenes.
Previous books in the trilogy had a couple of instances where I felt like I had been punched in the gut. At no point in this story did I feel like that. Instead the story flowed along nicely while still being exciting. This book ties up what happened in the previous book very nicely although the end feels tacked on. The storyline it ties up is important to tie up but in a way it feels rather random. Part of me will always be left wondering where he was going with some of the storylines. There are some parts that are semi-important for the story but also feel like they are actually there to set up events that he had planned for the future books. The storyline with Erika and Lisbeth felt like one of these. Although Erika’s story is important for the story in this book it also feels like her connection with Lisbeth is being strengthened for future books.
Another story that I wish Larsson would have had time to tell is the one of Lisbeth’s sister. I have a feeling that she would become an important part of the story in later books.
Overall I liked this book. It had a nice mixture of action, intrigue and human relationships.
Book has yet to be released in the US (and yes I feel a certain sense of joy at the fact that I get a book first here) but it can be bought from BookDepository.co.uk.
Previous Books in the series:
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Copyright ©2009-2010 Zee from Notes from the North.
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2 comments:
That's too cool to have a connection to the book like that. I haven't read the previous two books, but everyone keeps talking about them and I may have to just to keep up with the conversations.
I have been eyeing this series since The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo came out. I guess I should just bite the bullet and start reading. :)
Don't you love it when you can visualize the places being talked about in a book because you've actually been there?
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