The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

Title: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Millenium #3)

Author: Stieg Larsson

Pages: 576

Genre: Thriller

Grade: A

Synopsis: This book picks up where the last one (The Girl Who Played With Fire) left off .  Lisbeth Salander is recovering from gunshot wounds to the head and shoulder in a hospital.  The police are keeping a close eye on her as they're expecting to charge her with the murder of three individuals.  Mikael Blomkvist is still convinced of Lisbeth's innocence and has put his heart and soul into proving her innocence and uncovering the story behind it.

My Review: After spending 9 or 10 weeks reading The Infinite Atonement, I was looking for a book that would be a quick read and hard to put down.  This one certainly fit the bill.  Just as with the previous two books, this one is well-written and full of unexpected twists and turns.

Disclaimer: There is a lot of language, violence and discussions that are sexual in nature.  This is certainly not a book for children.

The Girl Who Played With Fire

Title: The Girl Who Played With Fire (Millennium #2)

Author: Stieg Larsson

Pages: 630

Genre: Thriller

Grade: A

Synopsis: Mikael Blomkvist, the publisher of the Swedish magazine Millennium, has decided to run a story about sex trafficking in Sweden and through the Baltics which will expose a number of high-profile individuals involved. Just before the story and an accompanying book are to be published the two reporters writing the stories are murdered in their apartment. The murder weapon is found in the building with Lisbeth Salander's fingerprints on it, who is Blomkvist's genius hacker friend. Blomkvist embarks on a journey to try and prove Salander's innocence.

My Review: I really enjoyed this book. It was certainly one that I couldn't put down or get out of my mind while I was reading it. Larsson's books are typically more complicated and deeper than many other books in this same genre, which I find to be quite satisfying.

Disclaimer: There is a lot of hard language and violence in this book. Not really and sex, but it is referred to often.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Title: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Author: Stieg Larsson

Pages: 644

Genre: Thriller

Grade: A-

Synopsis: Originally published in Swedish, this book is about Mikael Blomkvist who as a financial reporter got suckered into writing an article for which he was sued for libel and lost.  After taking a leave of absence from his magazine, he is hired to look into the disappearance of Harriet Vanger, who is the daughter of the very wealthy, long time CEO of the Vanger Corporation.  Blomkvist, along with Lisbeth Salander, a young genius hacker, take on the assignment of trying to figure out what happened to Harriet many years before.

My Review: Once again this was an excellent book to read while on vacation.  In fact, as I've purchased this book twice from the DI, I left a copy in Jamaica for the next traveler to enjoy. The story is engrossing and unusual, the translation into English is excellent and while the book is long, it was easy to follow along with the story.

Disclaimer: There's a lot of lovin' in the book as well as some rape/abuse, although it was mildly uncomfortable I don't recall it ever being explicit.