The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest - Stieg Larsson

I read the final book in the Millennium trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest while on my reading binge in Thailand - and I have to say that I think Thailand saved this book for me in some way - given that if I had been reading it at home I don't think I would have finished it.
I was really disappointed in this final book in the series - I guess I should have probably known this was coming from my less than enthusiastic response to the book before but that book ended with a bang for me and I was really keen to read the last one.
I felt the third book really just went over and over territory and material already covered extensively in the first two books. I didn't feel as though the last book progressed the characters in anyway for me - sure, Lisbeth became a little more personable and we got some "resolution" (however unrealistic and Hollywoodised that may have been) but by that stage I just didn't care. I kept reading away hoping that something new and exciting would happen as it did in the first two books - but it just never happened.
I have heard some people say that this was their favourite book of the series but for me the fun ended with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and after that all that was really needed was a really good editing.
I did get to read the book in this setting though so I guess it wasn't all bad!

The Girl Who Played With Fire - Stieg Larsson

I had read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo last year and had mixed reactions as you can see here. However, I was still keen to read the rest of the series - I just needed a little break from the violence for a while! I ended up taking the second book in the series, The Girl Who Played With Fire with me on our recent holiday to Thailand - what better place than a tropical island paradise to read about death, murder and violence in Sweden??!!!
I was gobsmacked by how many people at our resort were reading the books from this series - I swear nearly every second person had one in their hands - in every language - it even inspired people to come up to me when I was reading by the pool to share their thoughts and to see how I was liking it. Whatever you think of the books themselves I think you have to stand in awe of the reaction they have elicited from readers (and probably a lot of non-readers) from around the world.
It took me a while to get into The Girl Who Played With Fire - I read past my normal test of 100 pages in the hope that I would get inspired - I eventually did but it took a rather brutal murder to get me interested which is a bit of a worry! I found that the first section of the book took a lot of time (way too much in my opinion) to set the scene and go over information again, and again and again - I was getting bored. Once the action took place though the pace picked up and I was hooked until the end - even chasing down a copy of the third book in a rare English language book shop in Koh Samui so I could read the conclusion to the series.
What did I think of the third and final book? Stay tuned...

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson

It took me a while to pick up The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - I was really intrigued by all the wonderful reviews I was reading but the genre of crime/mystery is not usually one that I enter into - too close to my work and just not something that tends to relax me. Part of the buzz of reading for me is being taken to another world - and this type of world just isn't really the kind of world I want to visit!

However, I bit the bullet with this one when I was in Borders with my partner a couple of weeks ago and he had two books in the "Buy 3 Get one Free" deal but just couldn't find a third - Dragon Girl called out to me so I brought her home with me.

Am I glad that I did? Well, yes and no...

Yes because this was a really great book in so many ways. Not being a big crime/mystery reader I'm probably not really able to compare this book with others in its field but I thought this was one of the best character novels in this genre that I have read. The main characters seemed solid and well developed and not without their flaws - definitely multidimensional. The character of Lisbeth Salander was a particular favourite - so vulnerable but such a tough ass at the same time - I loved her!

I thought the mystery element of the novel was well built - the premise of disgraced finance journalist, Mikael Blomkvist being called upon by ageing Industrialist Henrik Vanger to solve a decades old family mystery was combined well with Blomkvist's own personal and professional dramas with a high rolling Swedish businessman. The interactions between the different story lines and characters was written quite well - I sometimes felt the narrative was a little stilted or strange but I am wondering if this was a result of the translation process??

This book captured my reading time from the moment I picked it up but unfortunately it also captured my non-reading time - particularly my sleep! I soon discovered that for me this was not a book I could read before going to sleep - the violence depicted in the novel - particularly personal violence against women - was brutal and graphic. I have worked with women who have had violence perpetrated against them and this book reminded me of many of their stories. To be honest, if I had known this was the context of the book I probably would not have read it - so in many ways I am glad I was in the dark about this content as this is a book I am glad to have read. I will also be looking forward to reading the other two books in the series - after I have a little bit of a break from the violence and mystery.