The End of (Another) Trilogy

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Being the third in the trilogy this book picks up where the Girl Who Played with Fire left off...namely at the end of the action.  This book is 593 pages of closure.  Most of the heart-racing do or die moments have already taken place and the majority of this one is setting everyone up for their justice.  Somehow, thanks to Larsson's detailing of his engaging characters' every movement, I was still drawn in and kept racing along.  It is a good ending to a fantastic, gripping story.  

There were some flaws that afterwards left me a little puzzled.  Why the story with Erika Berger going to SMP?  Why the story with her stalker?  In truth it had nothing to do with Lisbeth except that she helped figure out who it was.  Seemed completely irrelevant and unnecessary.  

Also, there were two story points that felt entirely unresolved, perhaps due to Larsson's untimely death:

1.  What happened to Camilla Salandar?  she's alluded to and a complete mystery.  Reading the message boards it seems that Larsson planned 10 books around Lisbeth so I'm guessing at some point she would have been introduced back into her life.

2.  Why was nothing found for Lisbeth to do or to spend her millions on?  The obvious (maybe cliche) choice would be some sort of foundation for women.  Especially the money left from her father should have gone to stopping trafficking or domestic violence or something.  They kept focusing on Lisbeth becoming a responsible citizen but in the end she's left sort of wandering aimlessly.



Otherwise I will say that I felt a sense of relief to "be" in the courtroom when Teleborian was torn apart.  Most novels like this stop when the person gets caught but Larsson lets you see his bad guy twist on the stand and you are an eye witness to justice being served.  Almost all the ends were tied up satisfyingly.  Such a good story, sad we won't have any more from him.




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