The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

The final installment of Stieg Larsson's iconic trilogy is both intricately designed and masterfully told, as the novel picks up where The Girl Who Played With Fire left off. Lisbeth Salander has just been rushed to the hospital with a bullet in the grey matter of her brain. At this point, it is impossible to determine whether Salander will survive, or if she is doomed to die before she can voice her account of the ongoing murder investigation. With a homicidal father intent on her death a mere two rooms away, Salander begins a painstaking and edgy trek towards recovery. Meanwhile, Blomkvist, Armansky and an array of police investigators, who are convinced of Salander's innocence, discover a secret section of the government with a hidden agenda. With any luck, their mission to expose the sector's true intentions will also assist Salander's journey towards innocence.

Although I thought the second book in the Millennium series was good yet lacked the excitement within the original, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest made up for the sequel's disappointments and far surpassed my expectations. The entire series has been centered around a man vs. women guiding conflict and theme, however, within the final installment of the trilogy, the guiding theme shifted ever so slightly. Throughout The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, there were a series of epigraphs at the beginning of each new section (a tradition Larsson has carried on throughout the span of the trilogy). Within the first novel, these epigraphs were composed of statistics, depicting different percentages of women abused in Sweden. Within the second novel, the epigraphs were centered around complex math equations, which Salander was intrigued by, and acted as a metaphor for the murder investigation. The epigraphs within the final novel surrounded the idea of women acting as warriors in ancient civilizations and serving in other modern militias. I thought this was a truly strong indicator of a central theme that guided the action of the story; women acting as a powerful and important part of society.

Now as much as I love Salander's character for her intelligence and incessant spirit, in comparison, Blomkvist seems rather dull and monotonous. Throughout the entire series I have felt that Larsson may have attempted to make Blomkvist seem interesting as well as possess an exciting personality (by means of his investigative journalism and constantly changing love affairs) yet somewhere his chemical makeup failed. Portions of the series with Blomkvist, especially this novel in particular, seemed increasingly dull and I found myself dozing off more than I should have. Subsequently, I thought the relationship between Figuerola and Blomkvist was unnecessary. First of all, it did not seem plausible that they would form a relationship under those circumstances, while secondly, the relationship just seemed like just another medium used to increase Blomkvist's interesting factor. Overall, I was most certainly not impressed with Blomkvist, although I noticed it in this novel more so than others.

Throughout the entire series I have thoroughly enjoyed the way in which Larsson manages to weave an interesting and compelling sub-plot into the action of each novel. The sub-plot within The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's nest was perhaps my favorite thus far. The sub-plot revolves around the fact that Blomkvist's best friend, and occasional lover, Erika Berger, has left her post at Millennium in order to work as editor in chief at Sweden's largest newspaper. With the beginning of her new job, Berger begins to receive graphic emails and threats via the Internet. Her stalker maliciously attempts to embarrass her at work, and endanger her safety at home. One night Berger's house is broken into and an array of various items of importance are stolen. When her stalker is finally caught, Berger realizes that he is not only a fellow employee at the newspaper, but also an old high school acquaintance who holds a grudge. At the end of the book I was not quite sure why Larsson had decided to focus on Berger so deeply or weave her sub-plot into the novel. I quite enjoyed learning about Berger and her life, however, and felt like this sub-plot added an extra dimension to the multi-faceted story.

Overall, I would truly recommend reading the Millennium trilogy. There were far more elements I enjoyed about the novel than ones I did not. I have said it before and will say it again that Larsson's writing is nothing overly spectacular, yet the concept behind the books and the hidden themes that plague the series are truly a form of art. I have learned so much from reading this trilogy and I hope that everyone who chooses to read it will take away as much as I did.