The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest

The best of the three books. Couldn't put it down. I wish there were more!!!

The service was excellent and the book itself is a must. This trilogy is a fantastic read, such a shame the author did not leve to see how successful it has become.

Having read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on holiday last year, and having enjoyed it enough to want to read the next instalments in the trilogy (although admittedly not having been blown away by it, initially finding it difficult to "get into"), I read The Girl Who Played with Fire earlier this year, and could not put it down; the characters had all been developed nicely from the first book, and there was little introduction needed as to who was who. The second book ends on something of a "cliffhanger" and therefore I quickly got round to reading the final, and longest, book of the trilogy. It is difficult to write a review for those not having read the second book and therefore runining the surprises within, but this one concerns conspiracy and cover up with the Swedish Secret Service, and refers to a number of events which have actually happened in Swedish politics (for us reading in England, and unaware of these events, there is a useful page or two of notes at the end, so we understand the events being referred to!), adding further weight to how things are covered up by those in power. Personally, I found this one the most in-depth of the series, and it suffered a little (and I really do mean a little) for this - there are so many different stories going on, and so many characters with similar sounding names, it is sometimes difficult to keep up, particularly if you are not blessed with the ability to be able to sit down and devour it in sizeable chunks; it will be interesting to see how the film has been adapted, as it surely cannot cover every story going on here in two (or so) hours! In addiiton, the "Girl" is more of a side-story in this one (although the events of her past, and which have been covered in earlier books, certainly form a main part of the story), spending much of the time where she ends the second one (sorry, don't want to give away again!). However, the pace really ramps up come around page 500, and the last 240 (or so pages) are some of the most exciting of the trilogy. Another minor gripe; some of the stories which have appear in earlier novels (remember Blomkvists daughter, who plays an important part in solving "the Harriet mystery" in Part I? Salander's twin?) are left hanging, and you wonder whether the purported unfinished fourth novel developed on them. In all, a fantastic trilogy (which as a trilogy would certainly receive 5 stars), which has brought something different to the overcrowded crime genre market, with my personal favourite being the second instalment.

Now this is the best part of the trilogy. How can you put it down once you have started!

The third of the trilogy, while still using a very fast pace and page-turning techniques, is badly flawed. Everything the baddies are planing and doing is shown with the result the book is shorn of suspense and the main goodies are either seen leaping from one flash of intuition to another - or they simply get everything by hacking into a computer (hardly Sherlock Holmes stuff). The first part of the book builds the Section into something to take seriously; the rest shows it to be clownish and amateurish. Against the baddies are arrayed: a magazine, hackers that could apparently bring a country down (if they felt like it), police, security agents, the Swedish PM, the ex-Swedish PM, a first-class security company: real drama or struggle is virtually non-existent. The court case has a defense lawyer scoring points off a baddy before bringing out a sledgehammer piece of evidence the reader knows is coming. And does anyone believe that Mikael has really fallen in love by the end? The couple enjoy a bit of banter and a lot of sex, but not much else. It all feels like an overwritten plan that didn't get the editing it should. Such a shame after the first in the series. Read Nora Ephron's The Girl Who Fixed the Umlaut for an antidote.

Easy to see why this is best seller. Read the whole trilogy on holiday. Want to see the films now

Oh yes! By far and away the best of the trilogy. I've noted with the first two that they took the first half of the book to get going. Not this one. You are pitchforked into the plot right from the first page. But be warned, it will be less satisfactory if you have not read the other two books first. But an absolute gem and delightful to see the key characters wind up with a (sort of) happy ending. They deserved it!

These three books by Stieg Larsson are fantastic, absorbing reads. Just sad that he met with an early death. He would have swept the world with any follow ups he had planned. Per Sabroe

The Millenium books are the best books I've read in a while! Something I can really get my teeth into! A real shame there won't be any more!

The third of the Millenium trilogy. Lives up to the first two. As advertised,difficult to put down. No wonder there is such universal acclaim.